Dear editor,
Councillor Eriksson, welcome to the Comox Valley. I know you are a member of the Courtenay council but you appear to have forgotten something about the Comox Valley. It's big on that "green idea". You know the "R" stuff: reduce, recycle, repair.
It is much less expensive to repair the bridge than to build a new one. It's better for the environment to keep a bridge which has another 35 years in it. A paint job has less impact on the environment. You sited the Craigflower Bridge in Victoria as an example of how good a new bridge might be. I'd refer you to the Johnston St. bridge with its faulty steel from China. The current bridge is made from good old North American steel. A lot of stuff built in the 1950s and ’60s is still in good working order, including a lot of us humans.
If the current bridge has another 35 years of life, then it will give Courtenay council that much time to "save" for a new bridge. The Craigflower Bridge in Victoria may have been built with money from Ottawa, but that is still tax payers' money. I'd prefer not to spend money when we don't have to. In 35 years, we may not need a new bridge, if people take to using the shoelace express or bikes.
There is nothing wrong with the current bridge that a paint job and some repairs won't fix. I love how it looks.
E. A. Foster
Comox