The leader of the BC United Party has committed to build the long awaited interconnector in Quesnel should his party form the next government.
Kevin Falcon made the announcement on Thursday (Jan 18) during a visit to Quesnel.
“I am here to say that one of the very first things that we will get moving is, I know that the Ministry has done early design work on it, so really the only thing holding up this project is committed dollars and the Ministry moving forward, and we are going to hit send and make sure that that interconnector gets built.”
Falcon noted that this project has been an idea that has went back as far as Alex Fraser, adding that he remembers when it was called a bypass when he was Transportation Minister.
While acknowledging that it won’t be cheap, he says the benefits would outweigh the costs.
“When we think about cost too often people misunderstand the price we’re already paying, the price we’re already paying in terms of the community impacts of trucks driving back and fourth through town, there are safety elements obviously. There are inefficiencies in terms of speed at which trucks can obviously safely drive through a downtown core, so there lots of other costs that we don’t really factor in when we think about projects like this.”
On the benefits, Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes talked about a few recent examples of why this project is needed not only for Quesnel, but for B.C. as a whole.
“We learned when the wildfires of 2017 happened and the Highway was shut down at Kersley. We all learned very importantly the shipment of goods and services and what that looks for the province of British Columbia. Again we’ve learned through other climate incidences such as what happened with the flooding in Ashcroft the supply chain can desperately be impacted by events that can trigger shutting down significant portions of the Highway. And finally we just experienced it on Tuesday. One accident that can critically shut down the flow of both people and goods and services throughout the entire north is something that the government needs to be taking action on.”
The last cost estimate, in 2018, was 275 million dollars.
We asked Falcon if he was sold on the proposed route.
“I know they’ve done some public consultation and they’ve come up with a proposed route, but I wasn’t part of those conversations, so I haven’t been briefed in terms of what the community thought about it to be honest with you. I understand that there generally seemed to be community support, and if that’s the case that’s good enough for me, but I would want to confirm that certainly with Coralee and the Mayor and Council and make sure that there is basic alignment. I have been involved in lots of major projects and it’s hard to get unanimity, but you get a sense of ya this is something the community can get behind.”
The current proposed route for the North-South Interconnector, would include the replacement of both the Quesnel River Bridge and the CN Rail Bridge as well as a a new 3.7 kilometre stretch of Highway from North Star Road to River Park Road.
Falcon went on to say that this project is a critical component of the Cariboo Connector.
He also said the BC United Party would also bring back that project to 4-lane Highway 97 from Cache Creek to Prince George.
– with files from George Henderson, My Cariboo Now staff