City reaches out for more blue bridge funding sources
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: October 29, 2009 4:48 PM
The B.C. Infrastructure Stimulus Fund may be dried up but there are other wells to tap, says the City of Victoria. Facing a $42-million bill to replace the Johnson Street Bridge, the City of Victoria is looking for an ally in the Capital Regional District.
Last week it sent a request to the CRD parks committee to back its plea for provincial dollars to bring the E&N Rail Trail across the bridge.
“We’re looking at any ministry that has any funding, whether it’s Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, anything,” said Christopher Causton, parks committee chair and mayor of Oak Bay. “We can make an argument for a trail under any category.”
Once complete, the E&N Rail Trail will connect Victoria to the West Shore. In June, the CRD learned its bid for a $20-million trail grant fell short by $9 million. The parks committee responded by replacing plans for a paved trail with a gravel trail.
Despite the cash shortfall, Causton is amenable to the idea of co-operating with Victoria. “We need to bring all these pieces of the pie together, because one doesn’t work without the other.”
The matter will come to the CRD board Nov. 18.
Last Saturday, the federal Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure pledged $21 million to replace the bridge. The B.C. Transportation Ministry has made clear it would not follow suit.
“Any infrastructure program is always oversubscribed and that requires some very difficult decisions,” said B.C. Minister Shirley Bond, in an e-mail to the News. “That is the case with the Blue Bridge. It is unfortunate that we are not in a position to provide support for this project, however Victoria and the South Island have seen hundreds of millions of dollars of provincial investment.”
rholmen@saanichnews.com
v2
