BC Liberal transportation critic Jordan Sturdy says he thinks the Sunshine Coast fixed link study was an important initiative and rejects the suggestion it was a distraction from other transportation issues, such as ferries.
Sturdy, the MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, was one of the key proponents of a study when he was on the government benches.
“There was a high level of support for doing the assessment. We have, for years, had speculation and anecdote as the underpinning to the conversation [on a fixed link],” he said. “We needed to have an informed conversation about what the options are.”
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s announcement of the $250,000 report’s release Dec. 7 said, “The study concludes that a fixed-link crossing would have considerable technical and financial challenges. Therefore, the province will not be proceeding with a fixed link.”
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons called the report’s conclusion “self-evident,” but Sturdy argues a flat-out rejection of the idea is premature. “There’s some pieces there that need further investigation, or better understanding,” he said, pointing to the example of increased ferry ridership that could show a greater future demand than the study reflects.
Sturdy also said he has questions about Binnie’s choice of a 25-year life cycle to compare the fixed link options to the existing road and ferry network. “I think we understand the life of any of those pieces of infrastructure are not 25 years. So if you’re trying to capitalize that over 25 years – well, that’s not an accurate reflection, it seems to me… That certainly makes the whole thing much more expensive.”
The idea of a fixed link study had strong advocates in the Third Crossing Society in Powell River and the group Sunshine Coast Tolled Fixed Link.
Will Christiansen is the current administrator for the group’s Facebook page. “While disappointed, we are not surprised,” he said in message to Coast Reporter. “There is a bigger picture here that involves more than just our part of the Coast. We need to keep thinking outside the box and not bury our heads in the sand. Growth is inevitable, there is a deep need to address all our infrastructure needs and how we are going to pay for them. There were a lot of positives that came from this process. We need to keep moving forward and do what we can to promote a dialogue.”
Sturdy said the decision to go ahead with public consultations and a feasibility study “wasn’t about some shiny object to distract people.”
“I know that to not be the case,” he said. “When [the Liberal government] did our ferry consultation, one of the outcomes was that we needed to look at alternative service provisions and that started with the Gabriola [Island] fixed link assessment. We have to look at alternative service provisions and fixed links are part of that.”
Sturdy also said the fixed link exercise points to the need for better joint planning of transportation throughout the Lower Mainland, the Sunshine Coast and neighbouring regions.
“None of these jurisdictions can really look at their transportation and development and growth projections in isolation,” he said. “It is one of the weaknesses that we have in our existing structure, in that the Sunshine Coast looks at the Sunshine Coast, the SLRD looks at the SLRD [Squamish Lillooet Regional District], Metro [Vancouver] does their stuff and the Translink Mayors’ Council and the Fraser Valley. But we all live in the Lower Mainland, in some respects, we’re all part of the same catchment.”
