Council today decided to go forward with a non-rail bridge option for both replacement and refurbishment. I am very glad to hear that sanity prevails.
Of all the futures I can imagine in the next fifty years, there is none that has the E&N line being used for any significant passenger rail. In any case, ending at the roundhouse in Vic West is actually a better place because you can better connect to buses there than at the corner of Store and Pandora.
I believe that the council will chose the refurbishment option because they are smart enough to know that the new bridge option will not be able to pass a referendum. Refurbishment comes with a big crowd of avid supporters that will campaign for a Yes vote. Given the number of people that signed the counter petition, the refurbishment option will win by a landslide.
So what we are looking at is a debt of something in the order of $60 million for the City. What will the City do to ensure that this is firm cap? What will they do to reduce that number?
4 comments:
Charge a toll for all non-Victoria residents.
Are you sure a referendum will pass for $60 million? The numbers are much, much higher now.
It seemed to me that public outcry was as much about the price tag, and even the lack of public input, as it was about the heritage value of the bridge. What if the city presents the replacement as cheaper than the refurb?
I can not be certain, but the odds of refurbishment passing is realistic, the new bridge is dead in the water, no hope of that passing.
I know lots of people who signed to protest the lack of reasons given by council or lack of public input. And it's easier to get signatures on a street corner than bodies in a polling place. I agree that refurb might be politically safer, but I don't think replacement is that hard of a sell.
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