City of Victoria abandons Johnson Street Bridge rail plan
Victoria, B.C. – forget commuter rail entry into downtown
SaanichAi??News March 10th
http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/saanichnews/news/117699518.html
The City of Victoriaai??i??s faint hope of finding funding partners to save the E&N rail on the Johnson Street Bridge fizzled Wednesday.
ai???Itai??i??s a reluctant decision that we have to take,ai??? said Coun. John Luton. ai???Many in this community are committed to supporting commuter rail into downtown Victoria.ai???
With the exception of Coun. Geoff Young, all on council voted to nix the $12-million project to include rail on the bridge.
That means the new $77-million bridge will have three lanes of traffic, two bike paths and a multi-use trail, but no train tracks.
The trainai??i??s final stop will likely be situated in Vic West instead of downtown. The city will preserve the rail corridor in case funding for a rail bridge is prioritized in the future.
E & N Budd RDC
Victoria, the capital of British Columbia on Vancouver Island, had an opportunity to bring possible commuter rail service into downtown.
But that now has been precluded by a City Council decision to bar E-&-N (now known as Southern Railway of Vancouver Island) from sharing a new $77 million highway bridge.
Web site of the Island Transformations Organisation. http://vicito.jigsy.com/
A coalition with a vision to dynamically transform the way Vancouver Islanders live, work and play in their communities. We envision Vancouver Island being a safe, progressive, environmentally sensitive, energy self sufficient and lifeA?ai??i??A?sustaining place for all its inhabitants.
It is just plain stupid that an existing rail connection across the Johnson Street Bridge is not duplicated on the new bridge. Such sort sightedness will cost tens of millions in the future.