Just say no to Port Mann twinning: B.C. politician
VICTORIA, (Mar. 18, 2005) — The B.C. government’s plan to widen Hwy. 1 and twin the Port Mann Bridge as part of the Gateway project is running into opposition by a handful of politicians and interest groups.
Former Vancouver city councillor Gordon Price told Maple Ridge politicians that putting another span across the Fraser River will only add to pollution and traffic, according to Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
He said people stuck in traffic on the Port Mann and Hwy. 1 are looking for solutions to the gridlock, but that doesn’t necessarily have to mean more roads or bridges. He said better use of land and public transit — such as a TransLink bus service across the Port Mann Bridge — would better serve the community.
According to the newspaper, Price compared the proposal to the Alex Fraser Bridge just south of the border in Seattle, which he says saw traffic jump 20 percent “overnight,” and the city was forced to widen it to six lanes just over a year after being built.
The Port Mann Bridge plan would link industry on either side of the Fraser River with the Trans-Canada Highway and commercial centres in the rest of Canada and the U.S.
B.C. Trucking Association President Paul Landry told Today’s Trucking recently that he’s not surprised various interests would try to block the project, considering the backlash from some Lower Mainland politicians when the plan was first floated. “It confirmed our worst fears that these local politicians do not want to see roads built in the Lower Mainland,” he said at the time.
But he urged Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon to press on, adding that the bridge — “the most congested piece of road in British Columbia” — can get backed-up for 50 blocks on a daily basis. According to B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation, 127,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day.
“It’s like that in the morning as people try to cross the bridge to get from Langley and Surrey, Chilliwack and the rest of Canada into Vancouver. It’s just crazy,” he said.
— with files from the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News
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