Sweeping plan includes twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and Highway 1 from Langley to Vancouver — and probably a $2.50-per-vehicle fee

Frank Luba, with a file from John Bermingham
Province

Lower Mainland commuters, frustrated with congestion on the Port Mann Bridge, are getting a $3-billion solution.

Premier Gordon Campbell announced yesterday that the province is going ahead with the region-wide Gateway Program, including twinning of the Port Mann and the Trans-Canada Highway from Langley to Vancouver.

But neither he nor Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon could answer how the Gateway plan will be paid for, although a toll on the Port Mann is a distinct possibility.

“It would be irresponsible to not put forward the option of tolling,” said Campbell.

The anticipated $2.50 toll for cars would pay for another Port Mann twin worth approximately $800 million. But the government hasn’t determined how to pay for other parts of the plan like a new Pitt River Bridge or the South and North Fraser Perimeter roads.

The idea of tolls was overwhelmingly condemned by motorists interviewed by The Province.

“I could understand paying a toll if the bridge was privately financed, but since the government is building the bridge with our tax dollars, we shouldn’t have to pay to use a bridge that we’re already paying for with our taxes,” said Tim Shrigley of Vancouver.

Campbell said tolls weren’t the only solution to paying for the improvements and promised wide public consultation.

“Clearly, by the time we’re through this project, we’ll know how it is going to be funded,” he said.

“It may be funding partly by public-private partnerships, partly by tolling. I can’t give you the answer to that,” Campbell said.

For his part, Falcon doesn’t have any problem with tolls.

“Is it worth a couple of bucks?” said Falcon.

“I think most people will say it is. Certainly from a business point of view, there’s no question that’s an easy answer.”

But NDP transportation critic David Chudnovsky, the MLA for Vancouver-Kensington, questioned the business case for the plan.

He pointed to data from Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Business Association of B.C., that indicated construction costs have risen 45 per cent over the past five years and is likely to continue for the next five years with average yearly inflation of 10 per cent.

Chudnovsky, who doesn’t deny there’s a congestion problem, predicted construction costs could translate into another $1.5 billion for Gateway.

“I don’t know who they’re trying to kid with the costs,” said Chudnovsky. “Come clean. Where is the money going to come from?”

But Falcon said the project would come in on budget.

“That $3 billion will be sufficient to get this project built exactly as we said it would be built,” he said.

Surrey Mayor Diane Watts liked what she heard.

“I think it’s great,” she said.

“The level of frustration is very high and it has certainly increased over the past number of years,” Watts said of the congested bridge and lack of transportation options south of the Fraser.

“We need options,” she said. “We need choices in transportation.”

In contrast to his position before being elected, Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan appeared to be in favour of twinning the Port Mann and levying tolls.

I am right now keeping an open mind,” said Sullivan, who has yet to read the Gateway report. “I’m going to listen to the options.”

But he liked tolling. “I think that’s a very interesting option and I would support it,” he said.

The plan included an artist’s depiction of a new Port Mann Bridge with cyclists, an HOV lane and even a light-rail transit train.

The plan also pledged $50 million for cycling improvements

Trace Acres of the B.C. Automobile Association applauded the plan, saying that “doing nothing is simply not an option.”

But he cautioned that “over the longer term it’s widely understood that if you build it, they will come.”

Acres said that BCAA polls show 70 per cent support for tolling on new projects and 50- to 55-per-cent support for tolling on highway expansion projects.

In the Lower Mainland, there is support from 50 to 55 per cent of BCAA members for tolls on an expanded Port Mann Bridge.

The plan’s details, all 90 pages of them, are available on the Internet at www.gatewayprogram.bc.ca.

GATEWAY FAST FACTS

– Traffic on the Port Mann Bridge is 20 per cent higher than San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, despite having fewer lanes.

– In the past five years, the number of registered vehicles in the GVRD grew by 12.5 per cent –greater than the population growth.

– There have been no significant increases in major road capacity since the completion of the Alex Fraser Bridge in 1986.

– If tolls are implemented, they would likely be about $2.50 each way for cars. Trucks would pay more and motorcycles would pay less.

– The province claims that tolls on cars will reduce the amount of traffic on the bridge. Without tolls, they say, the bridge would be congested in 10 years.

– Tolls, along with improved transit service, high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, transit and commercial-vehicle priority lanes, could keep congestion below current levels until 2031 or beyond, planners say.

– The government estimates that, after the project is complete, a commuter travelling from

Langley to Vancouver could save from 50 cents to $1.50 in operating costs and approximately $5 in travel time savings in each direction.

 

© The Vancouver Province 2006

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