Category Archives: Transportation

Transportation

Transport Canada Responds To Questions About Renovations Underway on Cortes Airstrip

Given the amount of neighbourhood concern about the renovations underway at the Cortes Island airstrip, Cortes Currents asked Transport Canada: 

  1. Do the owners of private airstrips have a duty to consult with their communities before undertaking extensive expansions?  
  2. What will Transport Canada do when, as appears to be the case on Cortes Island, this does not occur? 

Sau Sau Liu, Senior Communications Advisor at Transport Canada, replied, 

“All aerodromes on private property are required to meet the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs), regardless of their registration status. Aerodromes that are building a new runway, or increasing the length of a runway by more than 100m or 10%, are required to consult communities, as per Canadian Aviation Regulations 307and the related Advisory Circular 307.01.” 

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Cost of Climate Change, Transportation

The need for more electricity in an expanding EV market

British Columbia is feeling the strain of a rapidly expanding EV market.  

On January 11, 2024, BC Hydro stated there are more than 150,000 EVs on the province’’s roads. While It is more difficult to access local data, ICBC figures show that in 2022 there were 11 EVs registered on Cortes Island, 19 in Quathiaski Cove, 172 in Powell River, 190 in Campbell River, 228 in Comox, and 370 in Courtenay. 

In addition to being hailed as a partial solution to the climate crisis, an increasing number of drivers find they prefer EVs to gas cars. 96% of the EV owners who responded to a BCAA survey last year stated they found EVs to be more affordable and intend to purchase another in the future. 

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Politics, Transportation

SRD Asking Transport Canada About The Cortes Island Landing Strip

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There were questions about what can be accomplished, but the SRD will be asking Transport Canada about the safety requirements, noise levels and frequency of planes using the Cortes Island Airstrip.

At their May 22 meeting, Cortes Island Director Mark Vonesch told the SRD Board:

“There is an airstrip on Cortes Island that’s been there for a long time. A new buyer bought the land and has  been upgrading the runway significantly.  I’ve heard numbers: allegedly a thousand gravel trucks. They’re paving it and  there’s a big concern from the community regarding: safety issues, what kind of planes can now land, frequency of planes that can now land,  whether they need permission from the owner to be able to land. And also further gentrification of Cortes Island as it becomes more accessible.”

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Cost of Climate Change, Transportation

Quadra Project: The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal and the Suez Canal are both magnificent feats of engineering that allow marine shipping to move east and west across the mid-latitudes without having to make the long journey around the continents of South America and Africa, respectively. The Suez is mostly a big ditch that was dredged in the sand to connect the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. No locks are required because the two seas are at the same elevation. Building the Panama Canal, however, was a much more complicated engineering problem, solved with remarkable ingenuity.

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Transportation

The Transportation Solutions Project for Cortes, Quadra and some Outer Islands

A new passenger transportation solutions project was launched for Cortes, Quadra and some of the Outer Islands. Kate Maddigan, of the Cortes Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA), obtained a grant to fund the project and will oversee developments on Cortes. Quadra Island facilitator Jennifer Banks-Doll will be overseeing the project on Quadra and the Outer Islands. Their first step is fact gathering but unlike past initiatives, they intend to implement some of these ideas. A survey being launched this Monday, May 13, and an online forum on May 21. 

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