Bridge

[The Rev Peter Sarkey]

How many of you readers feel that the dumass idiot proposing a SURVEY into the feasability of a 1.5 bn bridge is actually a bridge too far? One thousand, five hundred million pounds of cost is hardly going to be recoverable so why waste time and expense persuing it- especially if it will have a previously debated negative impact on our environment and our culture. If each vehicle using the bridge paid £50 to travel on it, you would require 300 million vehicles to use it before it would be paid for. That really is a shedload of cars. To put it in perspective, if all the cars in europe used it (wiki reckons there are 522,000) once, in and out, £50 each trip, and the bridge took up a span of say 14 miles,( 24640 yards) and there was 2 lanes each way with 25 yards between each vehicle. There would be a flow of 4,000 vehicles on the bridge at any one time. At a flow rate of say 40 mph for a steady 8 hours this would give us approximately 1000 vehicles per hour coming in and 1000 per hour to make it pay. i.e. 8000 vehicles per day. At this rate, the bridge would be paid for in 37500 days or in other words 102 years. I you think I'm a little generous with the number of vehicles, then it will take longer, If I am too generous with the rate, then once you have doubled it, the 100 cars or so who would use the bridge would never pay for it. You do the maths.
This is the proposal of our Environment Minister as reported in the Beano. What does our Culture Minister have to say? (Oops - do we still have one)?

Answers please in the usual fashion...................

[Fritz]

The same sort of arguements were used against the, "Chunnel".
It may take a million years to recover the costs, (If money is all you are concerned about), but it will still be a magnificent Civil Engineering project.

I would love to see this , "Bridge To France", constructed. I would like to see a permanent, solid connection to the UK as well.

[danrok]

It's obviously a dumb idea.

But, I'm sure all those consultants will enjoy being paid millions to carry out a pointless study.

[danrok]

The same sort of arguements were used against the, "Chunnel".
It may take a million years to recover the costs, (If money is all you are concerned about), but it will still be a magnificent Civil Engineering project.

I would love to see this , "Bridge To France", constructed. I would like to see a permanent, solid connection to the UK as well.

Far from the same situation.  The Chunnel connects two major countries, a heck of a lot of freight passes through it.

[Fritz]

I,m sure the French would go halves, (at least), on the cost.

I,d go for the Gorey to Carteret link.

Carteret really comes to life when the annual Jersey to France rowing race takes place.

[Fritz]

A , "Heck of a lot", of locals would use the bridge just to do their weekly shopping.

[The Rev Peter Sarkey]

A , "Heck of a lot", of locals would use the bridge just to do their weekly shopping.

Numbers please and at at what rate?

[David Rotherham]

It doesn't take a million pounds to work out the feasibility. Giant bridges and tunnels are viable when there are large amounts of economic activity needing people and goods in the hinterlands of each end. Between little Jersey and a remote corner of rural Normandy there is not even enough traffic to keep a ferry-boat in business for long.
However, a really huge multi-unit tidal power station could pay enough to make linking the units with a road bridge affordable, although it would be more likely a drain on the profits than a boost.
What would Jersey gain from bringing in thousands of French-based commuters, anyway? We would have the offices for them to work in, but they would take their salaries back to France to spend in the econmy and pay taxes.

[The Rev Peter Sarkey]

I,m sure the French would go halves, (at least), on the cost.

My family have lived in France for over 30 years, I can assure you that you are wrong with this assumption. The French would value the tourism they would get and consider it not worthwhile.

[Razzard]

This is what you get with Fred Cohen. World famous consultants, more expense, masterplans and visions all of them nightmarish and totally out of touch with reality. I think this guy's ego is growing faster then his bank balance.

[Razzard]

This is the proposal of our Environment Minister as reported in the Beano. What does our Culture Minister have to say? (Oops - do we still have one)?

Actually we do in the form of an Assistant Minister with special responsibility for culture. There is also a thing called the 'cultural strategy that tells the assistant minister what to do and think. It was written by; yes you guessed it, a UK consultant.

Nothing's ever happened as a result of the strategy being agreed by the states in 2005 (with the possible exception of a small conference which seemed to annoy more people then satisfy them) as that might cost some money but at least we can say we have one and that the assistant minister is a Deputy in a parish where her family own half the land and other potential candidates are too afraid to stand because they know they'd get annihilated. So the Deputy gets returned unelected and the strategy gets dusted off once in a while should one States member not sleepwalking think to ask a pertinent question like – WTF was the point of the cultural strategy and why has nothing of any use been done with it in three years?

BTW the answer is - A Government can't run culture. Culture runs itself.

[moot]

It doesn't take a million pounds to work out the feasibility. Giant bridges and tunnels are viable when there are large amounts of economic activity needing people and goods in the hinterlands of each end. Between little Jersey and a remote corner of rural Normandy there is not even enough traffic to keep a ferry-boat in business for long.
What would Jersey gain from bringing in thousands of French-based commuters, anyway? We would have the offices for them to work in, but they would take their salaries back to France to spend in the econmy and pay taxes.

David, you do make sense. Where would the commuters pay their income tax ? Here or in France ? If a bridge was built house prices in Jersey would plummet and if there is one thing sacred to our government is house prices
Even now they are falling terms used are : stabilising, levelling off, easing off etc
But the "falling" seems to be a banned word to avoid panic. However Estate Agent Alan MacClean said today on BBC talkback that we would see a very different picture regarding house prices in 6 months time. I wonder what he means...

[Malachi]

Are your sums correct? I think you've added an extra zero to create 15 billion euros/squids instead of 1.5 billion

1.5 billion (i.e. 1'500'000'000) divided by 50 equals 30 million instead of 300 million (and your 102 years becomes a little over a decade)

Not that that changes anything; it's still a bonkers idea.

[jez strickland]

What cost for a tunnel?

[The Rev Peter Sarkey]

Are your sums correct? I think you've added an extra zero to create 15 billion euros/squids instead of 1.5 billion

1.5 billion (i.e. 1'500'000'000) divided by 50 equals 30 million instead of 300 million (and your 102 years becomes a little over a decade)

Not that that changes anything; it's still a bonkers idea.

Ya callin me a Liar?