Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
FGITD wrote:Going to venture a guess that the 1400 people living in Dawson City aren’t too concerned with building an iconic bridge. I don’t think they’re expecting to draw tourists to come see their bridge.
They just want to get across the River.
frmrCapCadet wrote:So what would the tolls have to be to pay for such a bridge. I am guessing about $1K. Subsidizing a helicopter would be cheaper.
seb146 wrote:There has to be a good economic reason. For goods to get to Dawson City, they most likely go through Whitehorse on a road open all year. Crossing the river takes a highway to the Alaska border and meets up with the road to Whitehorse. Economically, it makes no sense.
ArchGuy1 wrote:Building a bridge across the Yukon River would certainly allow for easier emergency vehicle access.
ArchGuy1 wrote:Currently, Highway 9 crosses the Yukon River in Dawson City by ferry during the summer and ice bridge during the winter. During the spring breakup period, the crossing is closed and there is no way across. A permnant bridge was proposed in 2004, but was never built. Therefore, a permnant bridge should be constructed to carry Highway 9 traffic across the Yukon River in Dawson City. Something like this was done with the construction of the Deh Cho Bridge on the Yellowknife Highway in 2012. Also, a similar bridge carrying Highway 9 over the Yukon River in Dawson City should also be built as an iconic landmark for the city.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deh_Cho_Bridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon_River
ACDC8 wrote:ArchGuy1 wrote:Building a bridge across the Yukon River would certainly allow for easier emergency vehicle access.
If that was such a concern, they would have built one by now.
Seeing that no bridge has been built or planned yet, that would be a good indicator that the current system is more than adequate at this time.
ArchGuy1 wrote:The ice bridge at the Yukon River in Dawson City is getting thinner due to climate change and that could cause issues for supporting the weight of trucks and emergency vehicles. Another reason a permnant bridge needs to be built there.
ArchGuy1 wrote:Seeing that no bridge has been built or planned yet, that would be a good indicator that the current system is more than adequate at this time.
The ice bridge at the Yukon River in Dawson City is getting thinner due to climate change and that could cause issues for supporting the weight of trucks and emergency vehicles.
ArchGuy1 wrote:Another reason a permnant bridge needs to be built there.
ACDC8 wrote:ArchGuy1 wrote:Seeing that no bridge has been built or planned yet, that would be a good indicator that the current system is more than adequate at this time.
The ice bridge at the Yukon River in Dawson City is getting thinner due to climate change and that could cause issues for supporting the weight of trucks and emergency vehicles.
They know this, it's been a problem in the past and they just build another ice bridge farther up or down the river. The folks who live in West Dawson have no electricity, no water - they're living in the bush. They have no desire to move to the other side of the river and they know how to get crucial services across even without an official ice bridge. I'm pretty sure spending big money on a bridge for a handful of people isn't their number one priority right now.
In regards to emergency vehicles, I don't know how it works where you are, but here in Canada, there are many areas that are inaccessible by emergency vehicles, and in some case, outside of their boundaries. I used to live off a forestry road, about 10kms up the mountain. We had no public electricity, gas or water, everything was off the grid. The only access was a gravel forestry road that got graded a handful times a year and in the winter, the lumber companies were responsible to plow it, so sometimes, we would be stuck up there for days before it got cleaned up. Emergency services were limited to about 7 kms down the road, so we were on our own if something happened. And there are lots of places like that in Canada, we can't expect to pave all these roads, maintain them just for some people who choose to live in remote areas.ArchGuy1 wrote:Another reason a permnant bridge needs to be built there.
You don't live there, let alone in this Country - I don't think you would be qualified as to what the city needs or does not need. They have Local, Territorial and Federal Governments that are responsible to make those decisions. They've been living with the ice bridge in good seasons and not so good seasons for the last 60 years, I think they have a pretty good grasp on how to best proceed forward.
ArchGuy1 wrote:West Dawson is a real town like Dawson City and Highway 9 goes all the way to Alaska, so it makes sense to build a bridge connecting Dawson City and West Dawson. There are also several bridges on the Yukon River that are further north.
ACDC8 wrote:ArchGuy1 wrote:West Dawson is a real town like Dawson City and Highway 9 goes all the way to Alaska, so it makes sense to build a bridge connecting Dawson City and West Dawson. There are also several bridges on the Yukon River that are further north.
West Dawson is certainly not a real town like Dawson City - they have no infrastructure, no services of any kind, its completely off the grid and consists of nothing but a handful of sparse cabins here and there. As far as Hwy 9 goes, pretty sure thats in not a heavily travelled route going to Alaska to warrant spending tens of millions of dollars to build something that is only going to cater to a handful of people.
Regardless, if it makes sense to build a bridge connecting the two, there would be a bridge connecting the two, but alas, there is not.
Instead of arguing that you think there should be a bridge there, maybe you should listen to why there isn't a bridge there - you might learn something.
ArchGuy1 wrote:What warrants the four bridges on the Yukon River in both the Yukon Territory and Alaska being built?
ACDC8 wrote:ArchGuy1 wrote:What warrants the four bridges on the Yukon River in both the Yukon Territory and Alaska being built?
I don't know about the bridge in the US because I don't know anything about Alaskan infrastructure. But for the 3 in the Yukon:
The Robert Campbell bridge in Whitehorse - Whitehorse has 20 times the population than that of Dawson and the neighbourhood that it connects to is an actual neighbourhood that has more residents than Dawson City itself and has actual infrastructure in place - Whitehorse is also the Capital City - so that has a lot of pull.
As far as the other two bridges, they're both on major roadways, so that reason is obvious. Dawson City is quite literally, the end of the line for 99% of the people who drive up that way.
ArchGuy1 wrote:What made the Deh Cho Bridge on the Yellowknife Highway justifiable?
Aaron747 wrote:ArchGuy1 wrote:Currently, Highway 9 crosses the Yukon River in Dawson City by ferry during the summer and ice bridge during the winter. During the spring breakup period, the crossing is closed and there is no way across. A permnant bridge was proposed in 2004, but was never built. Therefore, a permnant bridge should be constructed to carry Highway 9 traffic across the Yukon River in Dawson City. Something like this was done with the construction of the Deh Cho Bridge on the Yellowknife Highway in 2012. Also, a similar bridge carrying Highway 9 over the Yukon River in Dawson City should also be built as an iconic landmark for the city.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deh_Cho_Bridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon_River
Tourists will not come to Dawson City to see a bridge - few places with name recognition in NA are as remote as Dawson City. The bridge needs to be functional, not iconic.