Organizers hoping to see a bridge or two spanning the Beaton Arm are cautiously optimistic after a meeting with BC Hydro this week.
“Things are just evolving here,” said Earl Frerichs, president of the Beaton Arm Crossing Association, the newly formed group hoping to replace the aging Galena Bay-Shelter Bay ferry with a fixed-point crossing – perhaps twin bridges where the Revelstoke arm of Arrow Lakes forms a Y.
“We had a meeting with BC Hydro and they didn’t just laugh at me. They didn’t burst out laughing and say ‘On your best day,’ or anything like that… they listened,” he said.
“There were people there form various parts of the Columbia – they seemed to be interested, at least,” he said.
The BACA plan calls for two crossings – one a bridge that could be constructed by the transportation ministry, and one a bridge-over-dam that could, in theory, generate power for BC Hydro.
“There’s a lot of work that would be have to done on that aspect of it – the dam and the power, the environmental impact – there’s a tremendous amount of discussion that would have to happen, you know,” Frerichs said.
“One anonymous critic of the idea, identified only as Nameless 2 on www.arrowlakesnews.com, this paper’s website, scoffed at the concept – and provided an alternative idea.
“A fixed link causeway/bridge there will never happen. There no bottom to build it on, just soft mud. When I worked on the Celgar piledriver in the area we did not even drive many of the piling, just pick them up and lower them into the mud until they floated and then tied them together and hoped they did not fall over. Build a floating bridge or a highway down the west side to Arrow Park and build a bridge there and carry on with highway to Needles and to Grand Forks or Castlegar,” the writer said.
In a March presentation to the Nakusp Village Council, Frerichs outlined the group’s rationale.
“The existing ferry is inadequate in summer months,” Frerichs told council. “In peak seasons there are sailing waits as long as five hours – when Music Fest and that sort of thing is on. Then there’s no service for six hours at night. There’s also limits on service vehicles.”
The new crossing would provide 24-hour service, cutting down on the long waits, adding that a new fixed-link crossing would cut the travel time in half, since people don’t have to wait for a ferry on either side.
“It considerably lessens the carbon footprint,” Frerichs said, pointing out that vehicles won’t be idling as long.
In November, Mayor Hamling announced they were in talks with the Ministry of Transportation for a larger ferry.
However, that new ferry would emit four more tonnes of CO2 daily than the current one, according to an article in the Arrow Lakes News.
Frerichs and Nagy also said a bridge link would provide a boost to the economy since there would be faster, more reliable highway access.
“Within ten years, we would break even on the cost of putting that ferry in,” he said.
For a proponent, Earl Frerichs seems to have at least listened to opponents of a fixed link plan. He said he’s talked to individuals opposed to a bridge and the traffic it could bring.
“You have a real nice valley here, why would you want to destroy it?” one man told him.
Destruction isn’t the issue – it’s about survival, said Frerichs, who studied economics at the University of Calgary.
“The businesses here just struggle – we need more people,” he said. “If you have a store and 100 people go by on the street, so many will come in the store, so many will purchase from you. We need more people going by,” he said.
“Music Fest is a prime example. Over the last two years, (attendance) is going down and down. The problem is, when you go to the ferry line and sit there seven hours, you think, ‘I’m not doing this again,’” Frerichs said.
“On the other hand, there’s people who don’t want to see it get big … They say there’s not room for development. There are a lot of people retiring here, but they don’t spend the kind of money growing families spend. Getting a doctor’s a problem – and if you can’t get doctors, how do you keep the hospital going?”
Frerichs said last week he’s getting generally positive feedback as the BACA effort picks up steam.
“In general, people are saying, ‘Yeah, it has to happen – finally.’”
The group may have to go to the expense of getting engineers and studies involved, but talks are in early stages, Frerichs said.
“Until we get the opportunity to talk to the government and get an indication they’re at least half-interested, there won’t be any of that happening, for sure,” he said.
So far the group has garnered letters of support from Paul Peterson, the director of the Regional District of the Central Kootenays, as well as Interfor, the Village of Nakusp and the Chamber of Commerce.
Frerichs said MLA Katrine Conroy has told him she will give a letter of support.
The fledgling group’s efforts seem to be making more than a regional splash.
Frerichs got a call from CBC reporter Bob Keating this week, who had seen the report in the paper.
“He asked me a bunch of questions – I don’t know where that will go,” Frerichs said.