27 July 2005
City Reaches Agreement With Feds on Mackenzie Crossing
Revelstoke - Revelstokians can finally look forward - with
confidence - to the installation of a full-protection system at the controversial
Mackenzie railway crossing.
Council was expected to approve a plan that would see Transport Canada contribution of $125,000
towards the system. The City is expected to pay $100,000. Canadian Pacific Railway will build the new
crossing.
To my mind this is the ultimate fix, "Mayor Mark McKee said in an interview last Friday. This is
a viable long-term solution that eases everyone's concerns. I will be surprised if it
fails."
He said the City's contingency fund will cover its portion of the cost and taxpayers will not be
expected to kick in a single new dime towards its construction.
The only question is timing.
"This not off-the-shelf stuff," McKee said. It will have to be ordered. What I have
asked CP to do and what they have agreed to do is to do their best to see that it is completed by the
end of the year. I'm confident that they will, but if not then this is one of their first projects for
completion in the spring."
However, he said that even if CP does complete the crossing by, say, 1 Dec 2005, it could
take some time before Transport Canada inspects it and issues an order that permits a cessation of
whistling.
In theory we could have this whole thing resolved, lock-stock-and-barrel by this time
next year," McKee said. And that could mean nighttime closure could still occur, as an interim
measure, between the construction of the crossing and the date that Transport Canada officially
approves it. "That's a compromise that I hope those people who are opposed to it (nighttime
closure) can live with," McKee said. "There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Everybody
has to do a little bit of give and take."
Glen O'Reilly, who actively opposed the City's initial plans for a nighttime closure, said he is glad
to see this issue "finally being resolved." "I think the end result will be a solution
everybody can live with," he said.
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