Road maintenance - Letters

[Urban Cowboy]

Again I say that when the roads were maintained by the government there was substantially better maintenance and road closures were rare ... personally I'd pay the extra $1 a year in taxes to go back to having safer roads in winter that I could be confident in being open.

LOL. Quite the buying power you figure that one dollar has.

To meet some of the people's expectations you'd better be prepared to spend ten bucks.

Too bad we can't transport some people back to the 70's for a winter, to give them a bit of perspective on just how much better things actually are.

[wisdom01]

LOL. Quite the buying power you figure that one dollar has.

To meet some of the people's expectations you'd better be prepared to spend ten bucks.

Too bad we can't transport some people back to the 70's for a winter, to give them a bit of perspective on just how much better things actually are.

$1 or $10 I'm not that concerned ... point is tho I'd rather pay to have a reliable highway system than it being shut down every time it snows ... I mean really, it's pretty pathetic.

And, I was driving in the 70's ... unless we were on different planets it was better ... a lot better ...

[Urban Cowboy]

LOL. Quite the buying power you figure that one dollar has.

To meet some of the people's expectations you'd better be prepared to spend ten bucks.

Too bad we can't transport some people back to the 70's for a winter, to give them a bit of perspective on just how much better things actually are.

$1 or $10 I'm not that concerned ... point is tho I'd rather pay to have a reliable highway system than it being shut down every time it snows ... I mean really, it's pretty pathetic.

And, I was driving in the 70's ... unless we were on different planets it was better ... a lot better ...

I was here. You on the other hand were clearly on a different planet.

The Hope Princeton was closed a lot too, and would have set records if winter was like this one.

And FYI, I do care whether I pay one dollar or ten, because I don't feel it's up to me to subsidize the entitled few, so they can drive the Coquihalla like arseholes in the middle of winter.

[LTD]

Again I say that when the roads were maintained by the government there was substantially better maintenance and road closures were rare ... personally I'd pay the extra $1 a year in taxes to go back to having safer roads in winter that I could be confident in being open.

LOL. Quite the buying power you figure that one dollar has.

To meet some of the people's expectations you'd better be prepared to spend ten bucks.

Too bad we can't transport some people back to the 70's for a winter, to give them a bit of perspective on just how much better things actually are.

to bad you cant look back twenty years and see how much better the job was being done i pay more taxes now and am getting 50% less service go figure

[wisdom01]

I was here. You on the other hand were clearly on a different planet.

The Hope Princeton was closed a lot too, and would have set records if winter was like this one.

And FYI, I do care whether I pay one dollar or ten, because I don't feel it's up to me to subsidize the entitled few, so they can drive the Coquihalla like arseholes in the middle of winter.

Man, if u r that bad off I'll pay your $10.

So you are saying it's better to penalize those of us that can drive appropriately in winter conditions because of a few "arseholes" ... humm, they call that management to the lowest link ... a nanny state where we set the rules for the dumbest 5%

My friend, there will always be "arseholes" ... what we should be doing is managing for the middle of the bell curve ... the normal, responsible adult ... and penalizing the heck out of those that can not keep up ... it's the way you raise the collective bar in society.

[wisdom01]

to bad you cant look back twenty years and see how much better the job was being done i pay more taxes now and am getting 50% less service go figure

100% agree.

And I bet if the gov't took it back over it wouldn't cost much if anything more ... many of these "cost saving contracts" are anything but. It was an ideological move by the Socreds to contract everything out way back when ... it had nothing to do with saving money and everything to do with propping up the private sector.

And so we pay and pay and pay ...

[daveandanne]

The tax money does not all go to General Revenue as some of it goes to Corporal Punishment as some to the Privates and it is the Admiral thing to do.

[Urban Cowboy]

I was here. You on the other hand were clearly on a different planet.

The Hope Princeton was closed a lot too, and would have set records if winter was like this one.

And FYI, I do care whether I pay one dollar or ten, because I don't feel it's up to me to subsidize the entitled few, so they can drive the Coquihalla like arseholes in the middle of winter.

Man, if u r that bad off I'll pay your $10.

So you are saying it's better to penalize those of us that can drive appropriately in winter conditions because of a few "arseholes" ... humm, they call that management to the lowest link ... a nanny state where we set the rules for the dumbest 5%

My friend, there will always be "arseholes" ... what we should be doing is managing for the middle of the bell curve ... the normal, responsible adult ... and penalizing the heck out of those that can not keep up ... it's the way you raise the collective bar in society.

Normal responsible people, would stay off the Coquihalla during severe weather warnings, when announcements are made to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. After all that would be the very definition of normal and responsible.

Different people just have vastly differing views on what "absolutely necessary" means I guess.

The more entitled types tend to ignore the warnings, then vent their frustrations on social media, and are often the same ones who don't pack emergency kits, proper winter clothing, water, or food, to plan for possible road closures. Some even feel that the regulation to have proper winter tires, applies to everyone but themselves. Darwin's law often takes care of these.

Those who claim to have the ability to drive appropriately in winter conditions, shouldn't have much difficulty making do with the state of our highways, and if they have any doubt, well there are other options such as flying, or taking directives to stay off the roads to heart.

[Tony]

Again I say that when the roads were maintained by the government there was substantially better maintenance and road closures were rare ... personally I'd pay the extra $1 a year in taxes to go back to having safer roads in winter that I could be confident in being open.

LOL. Quite the buying power you figure that one dollar has.

To meet some of the people's expectations you'd better be prepared to spend ten bucks.

Too bad we can't transport some people back to the 70's for a winter, to give them a bit of perspective on just how much better things actually are.

In reality it may only be a dollar or two. Our taxes are going to pay the private contractors now, so that amount of money may only have to be increased marginally to turn it from private enterprise to public domain. The biggest investment would be the equipment, and I'm sure the DOT has a bunch of it already.

[Glacier]

I'd like to see less sanding, salting, and plowing. Darwin Awards for everyone who can't handle a little snow and ice. If you have proper winter tires, you can easily drive through 8 inches of fresh snow, and on the highways, I never see it get even half that deep without it being plowed off.

[Urban Cowboy]

I'd like to see less sanding, salting, and plowing. Darwin Awards for everyone who can't handle a little snow and ice. If you have proper winter tires, you can easily drive through 8 inches of fresh snow, and on the highways, I never see it get even half that deep without it being plowed off.

Exactly!

[Mark5]

We have had an unusually bad winter with a lot of snow. Contractors for road maintenance have to make a profit or at least break even. So when a winter is bad like this, can they go into the red? Will they? Every time they work the roads it costs them money. So naturally they are going to want to do the minimal amount of work I would think. The government on the other hand has deep pockets and can absorb some losses. Personally I think that road maintenance should go back to government control. We are talking peoples lives here. I can agree with contractors doing a lot of other work but when it comes to public safety and security, I do not believe the private contractor model is the best way to go.

[Hurtlander]

We have had an unusually bad winter with a lot of snow. Contractors for road maintenance have to make a profit or at least break even. So when a winter is bad like this, can they go into the red? Will they? Every time they work the roads it costs them money. So naturally they are going to want to do the minimal amount of work I would think. The government on the other hand has deep pockets and can absorb some losses. Personally I think that road maintenance should go back to government control. We are talking peoples lives here. I can agree with contractors doing a lot of other work but when it comes to public safety and security, I do not believe the private contractor model is the best way to go.

This really isn’t an unusually bad winter, it’s what winters used to always be like 25+ years ago...
I don’t have a problem with private road maintenance, we just need stricter maintenance standards. Perhaps one solution would be for the contractor to own the equipment and have their own employees, but bill the government directly for whatever it costs to meet the new higher road maintenance standards, similar to how the government pays for fighting forest fires. Most forest companies maintain the bush roads using a similar model...some years will be more expensive than others..

[christopher]

I'd like to see less sanding, salting, and plowing. Darwin Awards for everyone who can't handle a little snow and ice. If you have proper winter tires, you can easily drive through 8 inches of fresh snow, and on the highways, I never see it get even half that deep without it being plowed off.

I agree the sand salt mix turns the road to water and at night starting at around -7 it turns to ice by -12 its all ice