Don't panic. Federal bureaucrats are hedging this way and that, in their efforts to do something, anything, to solve the critical transportation challenge of replacing the venerable Lake Champlain Bridge.
Clearly, something must be done, but what that is the federal government continues not to say. NDP MP Hoang Mai puts it in perspective when he said, "It's a good thing they made the pre-feasibility study public but we still need an answer on when they're going to start on a new bridge."
Or, if it will even be a bridge. The Consortium BCDE study puts the price of a replacement bridge at $1.3 billion, but has calculated a tunnel's cost at $1.9 billion. This is all further complicated by the costs of maintaining the current span while the new bridge, or tunnel, is under construction. According to the consortium, "annual expenditures rising from $18 million to $25 million over the next 10 years, increasing at a constant rate, would be necessary to prolong its life, without in any way improving the level of seismic performance or rehabilitating the bridge deck."
In other words, to maintain the status quo of sixty million vehicle crossings every year, will require a sum total of about a quarter of a billion dollars in stopgap maintenance. These calculations are further complicated by the estimated cost of then dismantling the current bridge, a three year project with a price tag of 155 million dollars.
Complications increased Tuesday when Federal Transport Minister Denis Lebel said he would not publicly release the engineering studies for fear of causing unnecessary panic, but then reversed himself the next day, by making public the pre-feasibility study on replacing the Champlain. Though it presented no new data that should cause alarm, the Delcan study may cause alarm. Is the Lake Champlain Bridge at risk of collapse? Bridges do fall down, and this bridge has been in constant use since 1962.
The BCDE study analyzes different options but makes no recommendations, takes no position on tolls, and only says more studies must be undertaken. the bottom line is that all bridges are temporary, even the new one. To wit: the study suggested the new structure's service life to be 75 years, but there is enough knowledge these days to make it last a hundred. The question on people's minds then becomes: are they going to try to make the current, fifty year old bridge last another fifty?
Clearly, something must be done, but what that is the federal government continues not to say. NDP MP Hoang Mai puts it in perspective when he said, "It's a good thing they made the pre-feasibility study public but we still need an answer on when they're going to start on a new bridge."
Or, if it will even be a bridge. The Consortium BCDE study puts the price of a replacement bridge at $1.3 billion, but has calculated a tunnel's cost at $1.9 billion. This is all further complicated by the costs of maintaining the current span while the new bridge, or tunnel, is under construction. According to the consortium, "annual expenditures rising from $18 million to $25 million over the next 10 years, increasing at a constant rate, would be necessary to prolong its life, without in any way improving the level of seismic performance or rehabilitating the bridge deck."
In other words, to maintain the status quo of sixty million vehicle crossings every year, will require a sum total of about a quarter of a billion dollars in stopgap maintenance. These calculations are further complicated by the estimated cost of then dismantling the current bridge, a three year project with a price tag of 155 million dollars.
Complications increased Tuesday when Federal Transport Minister Denis Lebel said he would not publicly release the engineering studies for fear of causing unnecessary panic, but then reversed himself the next day, by making public the pre-feasibility study on replacing the Champlain. Though it presented no new data that should cause alarm, the Delcan study may cause alarm. Is the Lake Champlain Bridge at risk of collapse? Bridges do fall down, and this bridge has been in constant use since 1962.
The BCDE study analyzes different options but makes no recommendations, takes no position on tolls, and only says more studies must be undertaken. the bottom line is that all bridges are temporary, even the new one. To wit: the study suggested the new structure's service life to be 75 years, but there is enough knowledge these days to make it last a hundred. The question on people's minds then becomes: are they going to try to make the current, fifty year old bridge last another fifty?
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