Final report - Integrated Land Management Bureau

Transportation Assessment of the Central & North Coast of BC
communities intend to soon issue a Request for Proposal to update the engineering
requirements and estimates of the 2003 study. 48
This project would make it possible for residents of Metlakatla and Lax Kw’alaams
to commute to Prince Rupert for work on a daily basis. It would do much to
alleviate the high unemployment situation in these two communities and offer a
new source of employees for major Prince Rupert employers, especially the port
based ones. Other important benefits would be faster access to the Digby Island
airport and much improved access to Tsimshian Peninsula recreational and housing
opportunities. The only sand beaches in the area are situated on the west side of
the peninsula and are not currently available to local and non-resident daytrippers
unless they boat over there.
KITIMAT
2.2.8 Rail
Provincial Highway 37 connects Kitimat to Terrace, a distance of 73 miles. The
latter is an important junction with Highway 16 and the location of the Northwest
Regional Airport (Terrace-Kitimat). With heavy daily industrial traffic (e.g., Btrain
trucks hauling wood chips to Eurocan), and 400 to 500 workers commuting
from Terrace to Kitimat, this stretch of Highway 37 is the busiest highway west of
Prince George and North of the Okanagan. 49 No traffic count is available for
Highway 37, but renewed construction and economic activity in Kitimat will no
doubt translate into a higher volume of traffic in the years to come.
Farwest Bus Lines offers a bus service between Kitimat and Terrace.
The western terminus of the CN Rail system is located at the Port of Prince Rupert.
CN Rail, the Port of Prince Rupert and Maher Terminals have cooperated to offer
North America’s first ship to rail intermodal facility. The excess capacity on CN
Rail’s line between Prince Rupert and Prince George was a key point of leverage
for constructing a new container terminal at the port.
CN also has a cargo line that extends south to the Kitimat port and for more than
forty years an “AquaTrain” service has operated between Prince Rupert and
Whittier, Alaska. This service makes approximately 30 (10 day) round trips per
year using a 150’ long barge that can carry 45 railcars on 8 tracks.
VIA Rail offers a scheduled passenger rail service between Prince Rupert and
Jasper, called the “Skeena”.
48 The BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MITI) is involved with this project too as there are
stakeholder-based working and steering committees, which include MITI representation.
49 Source: Diane Hewlett, District of Kitimat.
Chisholm Consulting 35