TransLink predicts increase in road usage

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SURREY, B.C. — TransLink is predicting a 50 per cent increase in heavy truck traffic in the Lower Mainland by 2012.

The regional transit authority says transport trucks will be travelling an average of 4.5 million kilometres each day in the Greater Vancouver Area, which is an increase from three million just three years ago.

There will also be about a four per cent jump in overall vehicle traffic, TransLink predicts. Based on regional transport studies, TransLink is predicting that 850 kilometres of the region’s roads will be congested at the busiest times of each day by 2021. That compares to 390 lane kilometres now.

The B.C. Trucking Association (BCTA) responded to the figures by saying road congestion costs businesses half a billion dollars per year.

“If we do not (provide more roads) our economy will suffer,” TransLink planner Clive Rock tells local media. “We will fritter away our advantage…The Port of Vancouver is a great port, but the transport is really suffering.”

TransLink has established an $8.9-billion ‘wish list’ of roads and bridges it would like to build or improve.

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