When will the province build a bridge to Vancouver Island??

[drsp]

I can understand people on the islands live there for the "island lifestyle" and therefore wouldn't want a bridge to ruin that. But what is the main industry on the islands? I'm guessing tourism is a big one. So, those people against any bridges are basically like, "You chumps can wait in line at the ferry terminal and 1.5 hours for a sailing, but give me your money to support my lifestyle!" It seems like biting the hand that feeds you.

[Nutterbug]

^ But the ferries are a tourist draw in and of themselves.

If they ever do build a fixed link, I hope it's rail only, like the Seikan and Channel Tunnels.

[SpongeG]

yah the ferries are part of the tourist draw

but is comox and powell river a good crossing point?

[urbanfan89]

^^ Waaaay too far to the north, and waaaay too far from the population centres on both coasts. There are only like four ferries per day on that route during the summer.

[SpongeG]

yah but thats where they put the pipeline since it was the best crossing - no? its short and not too deep or something

[G-Man]

A northern crossing at Campbell River is the only logical spot for the crossing. It would be:
- comparatively cost effective.
- Could provide for cheap freight access from the mainland
- Is far enough away from pop centres on both sides that it would discourage suburbanization.

That all said a northern crossing could allow high speed rail from Victoria - Naniamo to Vancouver in a couple of hours.

Everyone else can keep talking about a tunnel or floating bridge near Victoria but it will NEVER happen. To do so would be a huge waste of taxpayer money especially when there is a route to the north that would cost 1/4 as much money which IMO would still be too much.

[amor de cosmos]

Originally Posted by G-Man

A northern crossing at Campbell River is the only logical spot for the crossing. It would be:
- comparatively cost effective.
- Could provide for cheap freight access from the mainland
- Is far enough away from pop centres on both sides that it would discourage suburbanization.

That all said a northern crossing could allow high speed rail from Victoria - Naniamo to Vancouver in a couple of hours.

Actually John MacDonald wanted to have the transcontinental railway continue to Vancouver Island there, & link up with the E&N which would have gone all they way to Campbell River. The Liberal Party under Alexander Mackenzie considered the E&N to be a local project, not part of the transcontinental railway, leading people in BC to talk about secession. MacDonald & the Conservatives did think the E&N was part of the national railway, and Macdonald said there WOULD be a crossing at Campbell River. However, the CPR engineers that built the E&N said the crossing would require a total of 7 spans, 6 that were 1100-1350ft and the seventh, 640ft. According the them, it would have cost $20,000,000 more than the line to Burrard Inlet, which of course in the 1870s was a ridiculous amount.

here's what the CPR's Marcus Smith had to say about it at the time:

From the head of Bute Inlet, the line follows its western shore 50 miles down to the Arran Rapids, which separate Stewart Island from the mainland. The whole of this on the rocky slopes of high mountains, very irregular and broken... With undulating grades, and curves as sharp as 900 feet radius, the work on this portion will be excessively heavy; there will be a great quantity of rock excavation... and a great number of tunnels from 100 to 3000 feet in length, amounting in the aggregate to eight miles.... From this point on the mainland to the west shore of the Seymour Narrows the line crosses by Stewart, Valdes (now called Quadra) and Maude Islands, in a rather circuitous course, to avoid high rocky hills. The distance is about 29 miles and there are six intervening channels of great depth, through which the tide flows at the rate of four to nine knots. The rock excavation in crossing these islands will be heavy, with a few short tunnels; altogether the works on this section will be of a most formidable character.

edit: here's a map of the area from discoveryislands.ca


edit again: In case anyone wonders where the railroad would go from Bute Inlet (as I did), there was originally a plan to build a wagon road from Bute Inlet to Alexandria, and then to Quesnel & Barkerville. The road was never built but CPR considered the same route at point & opted to build the railroad to Burrard Inlet instead. So is it any wonder that the ambitious people in the capital & elsewhere on Vancouver Island agitated for secession when it sounded like the federal government wasn't going to build the national railroad there?! Compare what happened when Vancouver got hooked up to the continental rail system, and Victoria didn't!

[twoNeurons]

Interesting map. Thanks. I'd agree that a north crossing that put rail as a priority is a great idea... but before that happens, there would need to be a bridge to the Sunshine Coast.

Speaking of the Sunshine Coast... what's the chances of building a bridge there?

edit: The longest crossing would be 2.5 km assuming you went via Bowen Island and Keats Island. To connect both parts of the Sunshine coast, you'd need 5 bridges of about 2.5 km. 5 bridges of 2.5km each would not be cheap but could be either cable-stay bridges or Suspension Bridges.

[240glt]

I sincerely hope they never build a road link to the island.

[amor de cosmos]

correction: There actually WAS actually a wagon "road" through the Homathko Canyon to the head of Bute Inlet, but not along Bute Inlet to the Discovery Islands. lmao sort of:

Building a rail line along there would make the Sea-to-Sky expansion look like child's play Actually if it was possible more than 100 years ago, it would sure be possible today.

Originally Posted by tintinium

Interesting map. Thanks. I'd agree that a north crossing that put rail as a priority is a great idea... but before that happens, there would need to be a bridge to the Sunshine Coast.

Speaking of the Sunshine Coast... what's the chances of building a bridge there?

As far as I'm concerned the priority should be to connect the 1000000 people on Vancouver Island to the rest of the continent's rail system. The whole idea behind that originally was to develop the ports of Vancouver Island, which are closer & more accessible to places like China, Korea, etc than Vancouver. I'd choose that over building bridges to the Sunshine Coast. (actually I'd choose both if I could )

Originally Posted by 240glt

I sincerely hope they never build a road link to the island.

If the pic above is anything to go by, there wouldn't be room for anything except the one rail line. The only alternative would be to build a causeway with hundreds of 70-story high piers I don't see that happening anytime soon.

[Nutterbug]

Originally Posted by amor de cosmos

As far as I'm concerned the priority should be to connect the 1000000 people on Vancouver Island to the rest of the continent's rail system. The whole idea behind that originally was to develop the ports of Vancouver Island, which are closer & more accessible to places like China, Korea, etc than Vancouver. I'd choose that over building bridges to the Sunshine Coast. (actually I'd choose both if I could )

Where would they have put the port? Tofino? Port Hardy?

Anyways if I were to build a rail connection to Van Isle, it would go something like this...

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...f147640477504b

It would be for mixed passenger and freight use. The water crossings would be through tunnels, except perhaps at the shorter hops like between Saltspring and Vancouver Islands, where a bridge may do. I picked Duncan as the connection point with the E&N, as a balanced compromise serving the Victoria area and the northern regions of the Island. It would go through Deltaport to pick up more cargo, and of course connect with the other railroads on both sides of the strait.

[G-Man]

Here is both a land route to the Sunshine Coast and my Crossing to Vancouver Island, which by the way completely ignores Bute inlet.

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&...1fe227890cbeb4

[amor de cosmos]

Is that a topographical map? It looks like a barren, featureless wasteland.

[SpongeG]

you can view it as terrain and see its all mountains and would require tunnels and impossible passes

[amor de cosmos]

Yeah I thought so...

[G-Man]

Alright topographical following valleys and coast

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&...383789&t=p&z=8

[amor de cosmos]

Originally Posted by Nutterbug

Where would they have put the port? Tofino? Port Hardy?

Believe it or not I will probably have a list of them by tonight. (& much more than that also)

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by G-Man

Alright topographical following valleys and coast

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&...383789&t=p&z=8

Awesome, a highway cutting along Princess Louisa Inset, and through desolation sound, two of the most beautiful prestine areas on earth. All just to add 40 hours to the commute time to Victoria....

Count me out!

[eduardo88]

Wouldn't it be much shorter to build a bridge from Powell River to Blubber Bay and then from there another bridge to Comox? Then again I really don't think there is the need, or will there be the need to build a bridge this century...IMO a complete waste of money...

[G-Man]

^ I agree it is a waste of money but a smaller waste of money than building one at the Strait's widest part.