RHVP Inquiry to cost $20 million

Vincent J. Curtis

10 Dec 21

You should have been able to hear the belly laughs all the way from Alberta.  Instead of spending $300k on an engineering study to get the facts quickly, city council voted to hire a judge to determine “root causes” and uncover “corruption” and in general to point fingers.  Council didn’t blanch at the differences in initial estimates of costs, $300k versus $7 million.  No amount is too much for our legal profession!

Here is the root cause: accommodating environmental concerns, and sacrificing a little engineering good sense for the sake of the squirrels.  Hence, instead of straight, we got winding.  To slow water run-off which might cause erosion of the precious creek, we got too little banking in the curves.  We got no lighting on the upper half to not disturb the tranquility of the endangered Red Hill flying squirrel.  Use asphalt soft enough to compensate for these weaknesses, and the pavement will be falling apart in just a few years with all the heavy truck traffic.

How much and how long will it take for the lawyers to discover the above answers?  Will they accept them politically, given the implications against powerful political interests?  How much of the re-paving could have been covered with $20 million?

This waste of money was foreseeable from the start, but it cost the councillors none of their personal money to cover their asses with a “judicial inquiry!”

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