Quote:
Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere
I feel like now that Kicking Horse is done, which really needed to be addressed for capacity and safety reasons, the focus should be on getting more kms done through cheap sections.
So far the BC Government seems to be focusing on the expensive parts first, which is a curious strategy to me.. All the major bridge structures, etc. seem to be getting done before the cheap open straightaways. Politically you could get a lot more KMs done cheaper and appear to be making more "progress" on the twinning if the focus was on the cheap parts.
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I think that doing the expensive/more challenging parts first makes the most sense. Doing them sooner instead of waiting until the end will minimize inflation on the construction costs of these segments over time (costs could inflate faster for these sections given the complexity). Doing it this way might end up resulting in an ultimately lower total cost for the highway twinning.
Another factor to consider is safety and how that plays into the growing use of this corridor for logistics. The industrial land shortage in the Lower Mainland is resulting in an increasing amount of industrial or commercial capacity preferring to relocate or centralize their western Canadian operations to Calgary/Edmonton and ship out to Vancouver, meaning you’ll see a lot more trucks here in the future, much like we see on the 401 in Ontario today. Dealing with the most dangerous sections first is a way of getting ahead of this trend to minimize potential accidents. If trucks are dangerous on the 401, they are especially dangerous here.
I’m ultimately happy to see KHC finally done, and am looking forward to the next phases of twinning starting. The feds really need to help out more though. This is shaping up to be one of the most important highway corridors in the country and it needs to be ready for a future of heavy Alberta-BC commerce.
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