Editor:
It’s time to reconsider a road link between Langdale and Squamish.
For those of us who need or want to get to the Lower Mainland at our convenience, the advantages of a road link are obvious. We could use the route literally anytime and would not be held hostage by the ferry system.
The usual objection is that it would be too costly. While a proper study by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure would be necessary, the cost of such a road link might not be as prohibitive as some think. I have heard that it might cost around $10 million per kilometre to build the road. Someone with more knowledge about that might want to weigh in on the discussion.
The best route would have to be determined, but let’s say, conservatively, that it would be in the 40 to 50-km range. That would mean a cost of maybe $400 to $500 million. This a capital cost, so let’s compare apples with apples. What does a ferry cost? The three Coastal Class vessels cost between $500 and $600 million. So the road link, roughly speaking, might cost about the same as three modern ferries, possibly considerably less, once a proper study is done of the road cost.
I don’t know how much it costs to maintain a 40 to 50-km stretch of road, on an annual basis, but I would be surprised if that cost were not considerably less than the cost of operating even one ferry between Langdale and Horseshoe Bay.
Many of us have suggested, often, that the ferries should be seen as our highway. So, I’m asking our government — Minister Todd Stone in particular — to please explore seriously this cost/benefit comparison.
Robert Cannon-Brown, Gibsons
