Deal would privatize Harbour Bridge
Published Monday February 2nd, 2009
SAINT JOHN - Premier Shawn Graham says his government is mulling a deal with Ottawa that would privatize the Harbour Bridge.
A private company, or consortium of companies, will upgrade and maintain Highways 1 and 2, from St. Stephen to Moncton, with construction expected to be complete by 2014.
According to current plans, the Harbour Bridge will be the only portion of this critical transportation link that will not be controlled by private hands.
But the government is in preliminary discussions with Ottawa that would have ownership of the federal bridge transferred to the province, which would then hand it over to private partners.
"We would like to see one complete package if possible," Graham said in a meeting with the Telegraph-Journal's editorial board last week. "This is the only component of the highway that would not fall under the P3 model and we have had some preliminary discussions."
The premier declined to comment any further, leaving unanswered questions on the level of government that would be responsible for the bridge's debt and infrastructure upgrades.
Another looming question is whether motorists would still have to pay tolls to cross the bridge should it come under private control, given that the entire stretch of Highway 1 will be privatized with no tolls. Saint John MP Rodney Weston, who promised to remove the bridge's debt and tolls during the election last fall, said the provincial and federal governments would have to address the debt, upgrades and tolls in one fell swoop with a packaged deal.
Weston said he wants the province to take control of the bridge, but the outstanding costs should be shared by both levels of government.
"There is some responsibility from both levels of government; it's such a critical piece of Route 1," Weston said.
"There is $22 million in debt remaining on the structure and $35 million in upgrades that are required. We're looking at $57 million hanging out there. The two levels of government have to come to some sort of an agreement on how to deal with that and that's what we're working on right now."
The upgrades of Highways 1 and 2 will expand the roads to four-lane highways from St. Stephen to Moncton, with a total price tag of $420 million.
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
Comments (5)
All comments are subject to the site Terms of Use. For a full commenting tutorial click here.
Our editorial team relies on filtering technology and our visitor community to identify inappropriate comments. In the event that a site user has submitted offensive content that has evaded our filter, please select the option to Flag As Inappropriate presented within the comment. Thank you for helping to keep this site clean.
RIGHT and pigs can fly. Why would any company want to take control and maintain a highway system and NOT charge tolls to maximize profit. Something stinks here folks. I smell a Shawn Graham boon doggle.