Divided board approves bridge twinning, roadwork
Andy Ivens
Province
Artist’s conception of the Port Mann Bridge after it is twinned under TransLink’s Gateway Project.
The cities of Vancouver and Burnaby oppose it, but Greater Vancouver yesterday gave the green light to the Gateway Project proposed by the province to relieve traffic congestion on Highway 1.
A fractious TransLink board meeting yesterday produced an 8-4 verdict in favour of the $3-billion plan to twin the Port Mann Bridge, widen the freeway from Vancouver to Langley and build the North and South Fraser perimeter roads.
A condition attached to TransLink’s approval was that tolls be placed on the Port Mann Bridge to fund the project, manage traffic volumes and promote efficiency.
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan was outspoken in his criticism of the plan to widen the highway and twin the Port Mann Bridge, which he said would inundate his city with traffic to and from other regions.
“We cannot accept one more car,” Corrigan said. “This is fundamentally a wrong decision.”
He called it “a complete U-turn on what we’ve been doing with the Livable Region Strategic Plan. It was a trip back to the ’50s — that building more highways will solve your problem.”
Corrigan predicted the two more lanes of highway slated for Burnaby would be congested in five years.
Surrey Coun. Marvin Hunt said adding three lanes to the Port Mann crossing — increasing it to eight lanes from five — will speed up the flow of goods and reduce pollution from the thousands of cars crawling through the notorious bottleneck.
One feature of growth in the suburbs has been the increase in north-south traffic over the Port Mann, he noted.
“One-third of traffic entering [Highway 1] in Surrey exits in Coquitlam,” said Hunt.
The TransLink staff recommendation that the two perimeter roads be built before twinning the Port Mann and widening B.C.’s busiest highway was also passed by the board.
The North Fraser Perimeter Road would run from Maple Ridge, over a new Pitt River Bridge, through the New Westminster waterfront to Queensborough Bridge.
The South Fraser Perimeter Road would connect Deltaport to the new Golden Ears Bridge at 200th Street in Langley by skirting the southern shore of the Fraser River.
Corrigan was joined by Vancouver’s three TransLink board members — Mayor Sam Sullivan, Coun. Peter Ladner and Coun. Suzanne Anton — in opposition.
“I agree with Mr. Corrigan,” said Anton. “There are alternatives, and we should delay the planning of this bridge.”
Anton noted Vancouverites walk more than they used to, and the city’s opposition to freeways, dating back 30 years, has made it more livable.
“Adding roads, traffic and this great big bridge is the wrong way to go,” she said.
Corrigan listed alternatives to increasing the bridge and highway capacity — extend SkyTrain to Guildford; use waterways and existing rail corridors to move goods and services.
“Goods and services have to move at night,” he said.
“When they must move [by] day, they should use the [high-occupancy vehicle] lanes in non-peak hours.”
© The Vancouver Province 2006