PETERS: To replace the Red Bridge, the province presented 1 good option – and 2 bad ones

This is the option leaders on both sides of the river have been clamouring for. It’s the option businesses in the Mount Paul Industrial Park have sought since the moment the Red Bridge burned down two Septembers ago.

What’s worrying are the other two options presented.

The second option is a bridge only for modes of transportation considered ‘active’ – that is, smaller than a passenger vehicle.

This crossing would accommodate bicycles, e-scooters and people using their feet to walk or jog.

This option might be worth considering if the bridge connected a park or residential area to another park or residential area on the Tk’emlups side.

Instead, it connects to an industrial park served largely by vehicles and heavy trucks.

While the since-departed Red Bridge was never intended for heavy trucks, it makes sense that a new bridge would be able to take some truck traffic.

The third option is no crossing at all, but merely making improvements to the nearby highway network.

What improvements might take the place of a bridge? It’s a mystery.

Any good planner knows it’s important to build infrastructure not only for the present needs but for future growth.

With both the City of Kamloops and the Mount Paul Industrial Park in growth mode, a larger, more skookum bridge is a no-brainer.

Instead, it looks like the provincial government is contemplating building infrastructure neither for the present or the future, but for some alternate timeline when people and goods don’t need to traverse the river.

It’s a baffling look for a government seemingly intent on making cuts in all the wrong places.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by James Peters

PETERS: To replace the Red Bridge, the province presented 1 good option – and 2 bad ones

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