Editor:
The political parties in Canada are completely infected with decision constipation. It is amusing to see one of the most common sense and agreed up on decisions to improve the commute and main transportation artery take over a decade.
There are two options: a bridge or tunnel.
The bridge would take way too long and cost way more than it needs to be with lots of land acquisition, preparation and ridiculous traffic for many years to come. The bridge will also be priced at one level and go way over budget by the time that it is built. Also have we thought about the ice bombs in the winter?
The tunnel would take way less time. It can be pre-fabricated, dropped in and pumped out while the existing tunnel stays in place. Once that is set and working the traffic could be diverted through the new tunnel while the existing tunnel is removed and replaced. Traffic would not change in this time and the project would be started and over within way less time than the bridge.
There is no environmental study that needs to take place. All of the items were completed with the bridge decision by the Liberal government but of course they could not even get this done. It is just another way to pass money around.
There is already a tunnel there so we don't need to see if a tunnel will be viable. The real reason (s) that the Deltaport would like to make the channel deeper so that the can move bigger ships down the lane. The second reason that they are holding off is that Richmond does not want the improvements to be made because people who are fed up with traffic will stop in Richmond ad wait it out.
If an improvement is made the city would like to have lots of major improvements to move on and off the bridge which would not cost them anything. The new casino could provide a significant amount of their profits to reinvest back into the Delta community and contribute to the overall project amortized over the next 50 years.
Common sense should prevail.
Pasquale Valana
