The Surrey Board of Trade is reiterating its support for a six-lane replacement for the Pattullo Bridge – at a time when construction of the four-lane crossing over the Fraser River continues.
In an Aug. 11 letter to BC Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming, the Surrey Board of Trade, questioned what would trigger a decision on increasing the number of lanes from four to six on the new crossing.
“Your ministry has indicated that it will not be opening a six-lane bridge on opening day, even after our members have indicated that a six-lane option is needed now,” said the letter from Anita Huberman, president and CEO of the board of trade. “We have heard that though it will open with wider four lanes and that the bridge can be expanded to six lanes. Our members need to know what event or policy will trigger the expansion from four lanes to six lanes.”
The Surrey Board of Trade is calling on the province to create a policy that indicates what time frame or event would trigger the new bridge to be expanded to six lanes.
“What our organization, our business members, and residents know is that we need the six lanes now,” said the letter.
New Westminster mayor-elect Patrick Johnstone said the Surrey board of trade makes the same request for a six-lane crossing every eight months or so and it gets the same response from the province.
“To be clear, the ministry of transportation, TransLink and the cities of Surrey and New Westminster have an agreement in place that we worked out through a couple of years of dialogue about the needs, the capacity needs, around that along that corridor,” he said. “And New Westminster is very happy with there being a four-lane bridge and two lanes for active transportation.”
Johnstone said there is no capacity on this side of the bridge for New Westminster to be building increased highway capacity for through-traffic. He said he’d be happy to speak to Huberman about the climate crisis and about the Transport 2050 regional transportation plan.
“I think our approach to moving people around is different than it was even when we were designing the replacement for the Pattullo Bridge,” he told the Record. “So I think that if I was to have a chance to sit down with Ms. Huberman, I would talk to her about how I can help advocate for increased investment for sustainable transportation options south of Fraser. I think that transit expansion south of Fraser is a really important part of our regional transportation mix, and I think that would be an excellent area for her to advocate.”
If a decision were to be made about expanding the Pattullo Bridge replacement project to six lanes for vehicles, Johnstone said it would need to be supported by the four parties that signed the initial agreement.
And, given that the new bridge is still under construction, he said it’s too early to even consider that.
“It's much too early to ponder this,” he said. “I think that expanding it to six lanes does come with a significant cost, and I don't think anyone's come up with that money yet. I would be asking that anyone who's spending money expanding freeway capacity to Pattullo Bridge be asked whether there was another opportunity to spend that money on active transportation or sustainable transportation transit south of the Fraser. I think that's where the money is better spent.”
Looking back
For years, New Westminster city council has stated there's no room on this side of the Fraser River to accommodate six lanes without infringing on Queen's Park or residential areas.
A position paper developed by the City of New Westminster — A Reasonable Approach: A Perspective on the Pattullo Bridge, supported a four-lane, tolled replacement bridge.
In the spring of 2014, members of New West city council visited neighbouring councils to garner support for its pitch for a four-lane crossing, rather than a six-lane bridge that some cities preferred.
Those visits occurred after TransLink had narrowed down 25 options for replacing the Pattullo Bridge to six options it felt had merit for further evaluation, including: rehabilitating the existing Pattullo Bridge to three or four lanes; building a new four-, five-or six-lane bridge at the existing crossing; or building a new four-lane Surrey to Coquitlam Bridge (with a two-or three-lane rehabilitation to the existing Pattullo Bridge).
In June 2014, the Mayors Council on Regional Transportation approved a 30-year transportation strategy. That strategy included support for a new tolled four-lane Pattullo Bridge and a series of other transportation and transit initiatives.
In February 2018, the province announced it would build and assume ownership of the new un-tolled crossing. The province said the bridge would include four lanes, but it would be designed in such as way that it could be expanded to six lanes down the road, if needed.
The bridge, scheduled to open in 2024, will include wider lanes for motorists, separated by a centre median barrier. It will also have dedicated walking and cycling lanes, separated from traffic by a barrier, on both sides of the bridge.
