$3 billion's a lot of money. Will bridges be cheaper than the ferries? You think they'll toll it after not tolling Hwy 99/Sea 2 Sky? What's the acceptable alternate route?
They do these studies regularly. Here's links to another bridge project touting economic benefits. First promised 50 years ago when they built the dam, they even had the design done in 2005, and it was purportedly two months away from starting construction.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...-hold-1.558066
http://politicsinbc.blogspot.ca/2005...e-too-far.html
http://conf.tac-atc.ca/english/resou...s6/furtado.pdf
The ocean, marine transport, is the cheapest way to move resources, not a highway and or bridges. That's why so many raw logs get shipped overseas or down to Bellingham on the coast when that doesn't happen in the interior. It's related to why Alberta wants a a pipeline at tidewater. Once you're on the ocean, cheap transport's easy for things like resources. Yeah some goods like groceries and home hardware is on trucks via the ferries. It's consequential to Gibsons/Sechelt's cost of living, but an economic argument-no.
It's great engineers get a fun, neat project to work on for a bit. There's many of these projects and studies if you use the wayback machine on MOT's website. They were going to build a highway between Harrison Mills and Pemberton/Mt Currie in the late 1990s. A road between Cumberland and Port Alberni. Between Port Alberni and north Qualicum via Horne Lake. Between Port Alberni and Lake Cowichan.
Where do we get the biggest bang for our buck? My vote with transit is Broadway subway. Or the whole Mayor's Plan. Throw some money CN's way to improve the tunnels on the old BC Railway, so they can double-stack containers. Match the recent federal investment at the Ashcroft Inland port to take pressure of the ALR. Or help out with a CNG locomotive pilot, or port handling innovation, port logistics upgrades for bigger ships, or the Deltaport expansion. We've got to compete with a Panama Canal expansion bringing costs down on the east coast.
For roads it's any of Hwy 15 from #1 to US Border, Hwy 5 north of Kamloops, Highway 16, TransCanada to Alberta, Cariboo/Hwy 97, Hwy 3 in the Columbias/Kootenays (Alberta border to Kingsgate i.e. to Spokane), Hwy 97 in the Okanagan, Malahat, Hope Princeton to suck some commerce from north Washington State. Lots of more worthy road projects out there to spend more than $3 billion on. Hell, they should lower gas taxes rather than bridges to Gibsons/Sechelt. 3.5cent/L is what $200-300 million per year? Stimulate the economy that way. Just spit-balling.