10 May 2006
Mackenzie Crossing Work Begins... Finally
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A CP Rail work crew laboured away at Mackenzie Crossing last Monday
on a full-protection system.
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Revelstoke - Just in case you missed it, work crews began work on the Mackenzie Avenue
crossing last Monday. "All our plans have come to fruition," said Mayor Mark McKee. "We're into the implementation
phase."
He said it will take about two weeks to install the crossing mechanisms. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be good to go.
Transport Canada officials will still have to inspect the device and sign off on it. Once they do that it will go into operation. That
could take two months, he said. "This is what should have been done in the first place," said CPR Hill resident Louis Rota.
Although he finally got behind the full-protection system last year, Glen O'Reilly was critical of Council for its handling
of the issue. "Who's accountable for this?" he asked Saturday. "How much money has been spent on this?"
O'Reilly, a staunch opponent of the plans to change the status quo and install gates for nighttime closure followed by a
full-protection system, wondered what happened to a temporary electric arm system that had been installed but never used.
It was apparently removed from the crossing sometime within the past few months.
Many residents of CPR Hill were critical of the City's handling of the railway crossing issue. A City Committee spent hundreds of hours
over more than a year to boil down the City's options. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent on installing a gate that could be used
to close the crossing at night, something that won't be even be used until the crossing gates are installed and even then only until
they are approved.
The entire issue erupted after local businessmen who are deeply involved in the tourism industry began hearing complaints from customers
about trains blowing their whistles as they passed the uncontrolled crossing.
Months of sometime acrimonious discussion and complaining and claims that a full-protection system could cost almost
$1 million finally resulted in City Council voting in favour of installing a full crossing protection system. The final tally on this
project was estimated last July at more than $125,000 with the City paying about $100,000 and Transport Canada paying the rest. CP Rail
was to pick up the tab for all of the installation work.
Mayor McKee personally invested a lot of his own time lobbying Transport Canada and Canadian Pacific Railway to sign onto the project
on a cost-sharing basis. They finally agreed to do so if it was undertaken for safety reasons.
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