Highway 1: Get the Job Done
Published Tuesday February 3rd, 2009
People who regularly travel Highway 1 between St. Stephen and Saint John know how terrible the drive can be.
About half of the journey - 55 kilometres - is on undivided highway. During busy periods or bad weather, a long train of vehicles clog the route both ways, encouraging impatient drivers to take unnecessary risks on passing attempts.
From Oak Bay to St. George and Letang River to Lepreau, there's little of the modern wildlife fencing with special culverts to let moose and deer cross safely. Sections that skirt by the ocean and different lakes are often hit by white outs in the wintertime, increasing the chances of collisions.
Overall, the drive's a lot slower and more dangerous than the twinned sections of highway between the three major cities.
It's a shortcoming that must be addressed if the provincial government is serious about transforming the region into an energy hub that will drive the economy and make New Brunswick self-sufficient. The busy Boston-New York area is a key part of the this region's trading corridor. Without the infrastructure in place to move goods and people efficiently, the hub could turn into a dud.
Premier Shawn Graham stressed the importance of the corridor during a recent editorial board meeting with the Telegraph-Journal. He said his government was on track to improve Route 1, including the important interchange with Highway 7 to Fredericton, by 2014.
To guarantee it's finished on time and on budget, the province will forge a public-private partnership for the $420-million upgrade. A request for proposals will be issued for builders in May, and a final deal with the winning applicant should by signed by next year. The terms of the contract will guarantee that construction is completed within four years. Funding for the upgrades will be shared between the province and Ottawa.
Operation and maintenance of most of Highway 1 - from St. Stephen to Riverglade, west of Moncton - will also be managed through a private-public partnership for up to 30 years. No tolls will be put on the highway. The Liberals learned the hard way during the 1999 provincial election that highway tolls in New Brunswick are unwelcome.
The one part that's still up in the air is the Harbour Bridge, which is federal government property. Graham opened the possibility of privatizing the span, saying preliminary discussions have begun with Ottawa to transfer ownership to the province, which would then have the right to turn it over to a private partner.
This would probably suit the city's MP just fine. Conservative Rodney Weston wants the tolls and the bridge debt gone - they're the unpopular legacy of a bygone era when city leaders rushed ahead and signed agreements without thinking of long-term implications. In New Brunswick, it's still the only major bridge that carries a toll.
It would earn Graham plenty of devotees in the area if he manages to pull off a deal that gets rid of them.
Paying $420 million to improve the highway's safety and speed only to bottle traffic at the Harbour Bridge is not the model of efficiency this region needs.
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I certainly hope our provincial leaders and media opinion makers look at the long-term implications of 30 year partnerships before they rush ahead and sign them. I'd rather see an actual toll booth than the "invisible tolls" we currently have on the Trans-Canada.