Editor:
Someday perhaps there will be surface connection between the Coast and the Lower Mainland. Like any major infrastructure, it will be an expensive project, and design decisions made at the outset ought to continue to make sense 40 and 50 years after it’s built. So if we’re thinking of building a bridge now, we should consider the changes that the future is likely to bring.
Our current transportation paradigm largely revolves around roads and cars, but seen from a 2040 perspective this may seem terribly dated. If we are to minimize cost, maximize efficiency and seek a low-carbon solution, why not consider an electrified rail link? This is a solution that makes much more sense considering the economic and environmental challenges that we are now – oh too slowly – responding to.
A rail bridge should cost less than a road bridge (requiring less width), the transportation would be much more energy efficient, and likely faster. Stations may be spaced out on the Coast, and as for the final few miles, each would have a pool of rental or co-op cars – all electric and self-driving, of course (and they may even be able to find their own way back to the station parking lot!). With the looming environmental issues of today, we have to think outside the box and leave behind the business-as-usual mindset.
Julian Taylor, Gibsons
