CStudies are often little more than a process whereby someone pays a consultant a rather large sum of money to go through a process to create a document which usually says something very close to what the group writing the cheque wanted it too.
Or, the resulting final report, thick with supporting documents, is paraded at a press conference, or two, then quietly placed on a shelf, to be referred to only on those rare times something happens which by sheer happenstance happens to dovetail nicely with the near forgotten study.
The two results are of course not the only possible outcomes. There are times studies do unearth previously unknown aspects of an issue, and the final report does become a cornerstone of some real change. In Yorkton and area we can only hope such is the case with a Yorkton Regional Transportation Study, being done in cooperation with the Ministry of Highways, City of Yorkton, RM of Wallace and RM of Orkney.
The study is investigating what the roads surrounding Yorkton may look like in the future.
In an article in these pages last week (July 13), Monique Kealey, Senior Transportation Engineer with Associated Engineering (Sask) Ltd. says that the study is designed to see what the city needs to take into account in order to handle expected growth in the next twenty years. The study will be looking at how roadways will have to be developed in order to meet the needs of the city.
“For example, if people feel that Highway 16 through the city is something they don’t want to continue to have, they might say let’s build a new Highway 16. Where should it be then? Should it be a freeway style bypass or should it be more of an industrial road that gives good access to adjacent properties? To create a dialog and get the opinions of local businesses and residents on what transportation systems and roadways are needed for future growth.”
That sounds like a very open approach to what the system should look like, but history tells us a few things right off the bat, and that is who will pay for dramatic concepts that change current realities?
If you are looking at transportation, it should include rail lines, and it has been discussed on more than one occasion that the lines passing through the city are a hindrance at best to traffic, a potential barrier at worst to emergency vehicles in times of need, not to mention the threat to the populace of a derailment.
But moving the lines out of the city is a non-starter based on price tag.
The City does not have the funds. The province certainly has no money for such things either.
Finding out there is interest in such a move will not overcome the financial realities which prevent it being realistic.
And crystal balling what lies ahead for any region is at best a rather shot-in-the-dark while blindfolded effort.
Had a study been done even a year or two ahead of the dual announcements by Richardsons and Louis Dreyfus which outlined plans by both companies to build canola crushing plants, such a development would not have been dreamed of.
In fact, when the two companies first made their announcements, one on the heels of the other, most expected one of the companies would decide to look elsewhere before construction began.
The two plants were not expected, yet have had a major impact on truck traffic as millions of tonnes of canola have flowed to the plants since being opened.
Had the study been done amid the more recent exploration of the area by potash companies, in particular BHP Billiton, which seemed poised to start a new mine locally, it would have significantly altered the vision for transportation.
Now it seems much more likely a new mine will be years, maybe decades out, meaning the impact is at best a very long term guess.
That said there are positives from the process.
It is encouraging that the City and the local RMs are working together on the study since neighbouring RMs will be affected by any plans that do come from the study.
But whether a truly reliable plan can be the result, given that developments such as the canola plants, or a mine arise and often disappear overnight remains to be a question only truly answerable well into the future, although hitting the mark would seem to be a long shot.
