I was reading the story in the daily news and the podunk site regarding Mayor Herb’s election promise for a fixed link to the Tsimshian peninsula as a municipal priority. Is this really a priority for the City of Prince Rupert? Is there a regional benefit to this? SHould this be a priority for the new mayor & Council? For the Province? For the SQCRD?
WELL SINCE HE IS NOT RUNNING ( sorry for caps not yelling) it was one of many broken promises that Herb made…yes it would have benefits but not at this present time I think some time in the future when the area is more viable then it will be looked at until then… its a ‘Bridge to Nowhere’.
a bridge to the airport would be nice but not sure our city can afford that any time soon
So at what point does it become viable? When people move their and the population increases, demading a fixed link? Or do you build it sooner rather than later so that people can actually start moving there and developing along the corridor? Would it be far easier for our Tsimshian neighbours sooner than later so as to eliminate the ferry costs and provide more routine and reliable access to Port Simpson/Lax Kwa’laams? Just some questions to provoke more discussion? I find it often is a bit of a chicken and egg thing. If the Province wants it then they are being proactive in meeting future demand and stimulating economic development. If they don’t want it then the line to trot out is “there is not sufficient demand to warrant a bridge” lol 
I’m not sure, but I think that Herb Pond originally promised the bridge during his first go at the Mayor’s seat… the one he lost. If I’m wrong and he also promised the bridge in 2002, isn’t it reasonable to let someone change their mind after three or more years as the Mayor?
change his mind is that what you think… 
LMAO like putting in a water slide at the pool; Herb also made that a promise.
he didn’t change his mind, there was no moneys coming from the federal and provincial government with the help of building the bridge. 
Yeah the last thing that the North Coast needs is a fixed link to encourage growth and development at our underutilized airport. Funny how the everybody focuses on the Tsimshian Peninsula portion of the so called mayoral promise.
The cost of a bridge to Digby Island is well out of the reach for any municipality. Some years ago a study estimated the cost at 200 million. The price of steel has doubled since.
Can somehow help me out with my recollection of this? Was it during Scott’s time at the helm that that original study was done? Given the recession we are facing the cost of steel may not be such an issue and certainly the cost of marine fuel to supply the outlying villages may make this more interesting to look at.
Certainly it is an issue that needs to be kept front and center and the economics examined every few years.
here Is my take on the issue, why build a bridge? would it not be cheaper to move the airport off the island?
If the bridge does get made in the next 20 years (which I really don’t think will happen unless oil and gas exploration takes place in the Hecate Strait, Queen Charlotte basin.) will it be a bridge that the tankers, Cargo ship can get through ? to move up into the Tuck inlet?
The issue is that there are few places where we have enough flat, stable ground to create an airport. I personally don’t see the issue with taking a ferry to our airport–makes the Rupert experience unique. As soon as you land, you experience the beauty of the harbour first hand.
In that case lil sniper… perhaps you should try business travel for a while… and the experience of long waits at the airport for the ferry the charm of a cold and uncomfortable school bus after traveling all day may intefere with the beauty of a storm swept local harbour.
Sigh. I was wondering how long it would be til you found fault with that post.
I fly as much as the average person, and I can honestly say there have been times I’ve hated that ferry ride.
Usually I enjoy it, though. I love the rain, I love the smell of the ocean. When I came home for Christmas… I think… maybe summer… last school year, the container port did look quite cool in the dark with all the lights on.
I fly as much as you do and I hate the bus+ferry only airport access.
And if I were a businessman I would jump off that horrid ferry ride this instant.
i was flying out of here 4 to 5 times a year for a few years, and yes for a few rides it was fine, but i have to agree with other posters its lost its appeal. 
I remember once upon a time there was going to be a bridge over by Butzes, a road along the inlet to the north and then some kind of cable ferry or bridge over to Digby and a road to Port Simpson.
That of course was back in the paleoithic era when the Lestersauraus roamed the islands and Dome Petrochemicals first suggest an LNG port for Simpson.
Dome went bust, the economy tanked and here we are some thirty years later discussing the same thing.
I betcha somewhere at the bottom of the Atlantic in ole Chuck Hays briefcase is the first design of the Digby connector… to service the sopwith camel fleet
Our airport is under utilized by a large margin. It currently has the capacity to handle cargo planes and can easily handle more than 2 passenger planes a day. A fixed link will drive prices down for not just the regular person making the trip down to Vancouver but also for the businesses shipping cargo in and out.
The access to the peninsula is merely an add on in order to make this a regional issue to encourage funding and gather support for the project.
if you build it they will come.
who is going to finance 200 + millions? the feds? the province?, Prince Rupert?, Metlakatla Development Corporation? or all of the above?