[spaustin]

So the Ekistics plan says $15-$20 million for daylighting the whole river. That's a big chunk of change. Has to be measured in terms of what has to be spent anyway and in the shelf-life of the project. My understanding of the situation is almost the entire pipe has to be dug up to replaced because it is at the end of its life and doesn't mitigate enough of the flood risk. The traffic signals at the intersection of Alderney are at the end of their life and need to be replaced and its my understanding HRM was looking at taking the opportunity to redo that problematic intersection at the same time. We're also looking at spending money to finally get something happening with the Greenway Park. This a lot coming together all at once. It's an opportunity that only comes around every few decades. In deciding whether daylighting Sawmill River is worth it, a key question is how the cost of daylighting compares to what has to be spent in the status quo scenario? Without that information, it's hard to judge, in a financial perspective, whether it's worth it.

It's also worth thinking in terms of the life expectancy of the whole project. The existing pipe was installed 40 years ago. $15-$20 million is a big sum up front, but over a long-time horizon like that, it diminishes. Could some of the cost also be offset by allowing additional development in that row of houses that have all been modified to hold busineses on Ochterloney at the end of Maple? Having a park and daylighted river would do a lot of their property value and development potential. Anyway, just some of my jumbled thoughts that I'm working on getting into a Spacing article