Bridge over the River WHY?

So over the last couple of weeks there was a lot of discussion around not only maintaining bridges in this province but also building new ones. It looks like this may be one battle ground neither party is willing to shy away from.

The NDP came out swinging with promises of a new bridge in Prince Albert. Something that was requested of them while they were in power for so many years and did nothing about it. Interesting it is so important to them now that they are in opposition. The SaskParty rifled back with the announcement of moving up a new north perimeter bridge in Saskatoon. An city with many more seats. I would say with a much more pragmatic approach of ensuring the design work and funding are in place with all levels of Government on board before making a formal announcement.

We have seen in Saskatoon that crossing the river isn't as easy or cheap as it may seem and isn't something you plan in a couple of years. The traffic Bridge is still some years away from even having a consensus on what should be done. The existing bridge in P.A. although suffering from fatigue, crossing of the river has only been slowed and not shut down to most travelers. The SaskParty was already committing to full funding of the repairs when the situation appeared. Another blow to the NDP's want to make some political points before the fall election. Score a point for the SaskParty.

So what does this mean for people in this province .... no matter who takes power this fall we will be seeing more money going into roads and I for one am happy to see it. If we want future generations to benefit from our new found growth, we need to spend the money now and build the infrastructure of the future. Putting a bunch of money into a so called savings account for future generations will only mean they will to spend more for what we can do now.

It may take a toll on our fiscal resources but then again maybe a "TOLL" is what we need.