study: Report says it wouldn’t run close enough to major population centres
William Boei
Sun
LOWER MAINLAND – Rapid transit will not work in the Trans-Canada Highway corridor “for the foreseeable future” because new development east of the Port Mann Bridge will not be dense enough, says one of the studies done for the Gateway Program.
Gateway is a $3-billion provincial government proposal to widen the highway, twin the bridge and build new truck routes on both shores of the Fraser River by 2014.
A rapid transit line along the highway and into the Fraser Valley as far as Chilliwack has been suggested by some regional politicians — including former Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell — as an alternative to the Gateway plan.
But a study on future transit needs notes that rapid transit in the highway corridor wouldn’t run close enough to the region’s major population centres.
As for future growth, “Although there will be a significant growth in the population east of the river, it will be over a large area — significantly larger than the City of Vancouver, for example — and will tend to be less dense over the larger area,” says the study report.
That means high-capacity rapid transit for the area east of Langley is not practical “for the foreseeable future.”
In the long run, a rail-based commuter system might work if it runs on existing tracks to keep capital costs down. The report says regional planners should try to keep that option open.
“In the shorter term, the focus of transit planning in the corridor should be on providing fast, easy access to the existing rapid transit system by both bus and car,” the report says.
Lanes designated for transit over a twinned Port Mann Bridge should be used for express bus operations, possibly shared by car pools and van pools, it says. If rail transit eventually becomes practical, that space could be converted for its use.
The report also says capital costs would be too high to extend the Millennium SkyTrain line to Langley, Cloverdale and new developments along the Fraser Highway, and buses should be used in those areas.
Another report outlines a $50-million plan for cycling infrastructure in the highway corridor. Most of the money would go to build multi-use cycling and walking paths on the new Port Mann Bridge and its approaches.
About $7 million would be used to connect the bridge paths to cycling networks in municipalities adjacent to the bridge.
The report says there is also potential for $10 million in shared-cost projects to connect municipal cycling networks on opposite sides of the highway.
There would be no bicycle paths on or along the Trans-Canada, but the North and South Fraser Perimeter Roads could accommodate cyclists on their shoulders, the report says.
Another report, on land use, counters arguments that the Gateway Program will encourage strip development and urban sprawl along the highway. It says local governments have enough planning powers to “direct land development patterns towards community objectives while maintaining the benefits of transportation improvements.”
It cites several U.S. examples, including the East Portland Freeway, which was built 30 years ago and did not result in development outside designated growth boundaries.
The studies can be found on the Gateway Program’s website, www.th.gov.bc.ca/gateway/.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006