What’s happening?
Transportation Investment Corporation, a provincial Crown corporation, is delivering and overseeing the $1.377-billion Pattullo Bridge replacement project. The new bridge, designed and built by Fraser Crossing Partners, will open sometime next year.
“Right now, the bridge is planned to be opened in 2024,” said Wendy Itagawa, executive director of the project. “As we get closer to that, we can provide more details.”
Four lanes? Six lanes?
The new bridge will have two vehicle lanes in each direction, separated by a centre median. There will be dedicated pedestrian/cycling lanes on each side of the bridge, and they’ll be separated by a traffic barrier from vehicles.
Itagawa said the lanes on the 1937 Pattullo Bridge don’t meet modern design standards and the bridge requires lane closures at night for safety reasons. Along with providing a safer crossing for people who are driving, cycling and walking on the bridge, she said the new bridge’s wider lanes will improve goods movement.
“Right now, as you know, trucks do straddle, and sometimes it operates as a single-lane bridge in either direction,” she told city council at its April 3 meeting. “So there will be added capacity ... because of that, so it will be more efficient. So there will be more traffic flow. However, the pinch points still remain on the New West side.”
The new bridge has been designed in a way that would allow it to be expanded to six lanes for vehicles in the future, but it would first have to go through various approvals and public consultation.
Improved connections for motorists, cyclists, pedestrians?
Itagawa said the new crossing includes high-quality walking and cycling paths that will connect to the bridge.
“Another important component of the project is to create and improve safe walking and cycling paths,” she said. “There are a number of new multi-use paths. Some of these include: East Columbia walking/cycling overpass, which will connect the bridge multi-use path to the Central Valley Greenway; the Royal walking and cycling overpass, which will connect the Agnes Greenway to the multi-use path on Royal Avenue; and a new multi-use path connection from the Agnes Greenway to the bridge.”
Itagawa also highlighted some of the changes coming to the new bridge for motorists.
“The new bridge will connect directly to McBride Boulevard. There'll be a new direct off-ramp to connect northbound bridge traffic to East Columbia Street, so that's a new connection, and then a new on-ramp from East Columbia Street,” she said. “These two connections are key in the design and will reduce the reliance on local streets to access the bridge. So those are a key new benefit of the project.”
What construction milestones have been reached? What’s next?
Itagawa said the project “hit some major milestones” in 2022 by completing the pile installation, with a total of 90 piles being installed. She said work is underway on the eight off-ramp foundations, including the off-ramp for East Columbia Street and seven new off-ramps’ foundations for Highway 17 in Surrey.
“Construction of the bridge tower … is well underway, and it’s scheduled to be done later this year,” Itagawa said. “Construction of lower cross beam is complete, and that will support the bridge deck.”
Bridge and road closures planned
The Pattullo Bridge will be closed between New Westminster and Surrey in both directions on the Easter long weekend. Pedestrians, cyclists and emergency vehicles will still be able to use the bridge, but it will be closes to motorists starting on Thursday, April 6 at 10 p.m. and reopening on Tuesday, April 11 at 5 a.m.
The bridge will be closed to vehicle traffic to allow the Pattullo Bridge replacement project to complete soil densification activities and relocation of the seismic warning system. TransLink will conduct sign relocation, line painting, concrete patching and routine bridge inspections during this time.
A number of road closures are planned in New Westminster in the coming weeks and months as part of the Pattullo Bridge replacement project. Stay tuned for a separate Record story outlining some of the traffic closures planned in New West.
First Nations engagement?
According to Itagawa, there has been “continuous and strong” First Nations engagement on this project since 2017. She said the project team is working very closely with a number of Indigenous groups.
“It’s because of the place – this is the river, and the lands that have been actively used by the First Nations since time immemorial, for fishing, harvesting, and home to many cultural sites, as well as two former reserves of Kwantlen and Musqueam that are within the project’s footprints on the Surrey side,” she said. “That area was known as Qayqayt, and will feature largely in the project’s upcoming foreshore habitat restoration and cultural recognition initiatives.”
What will the new bridge be named?
Council members expressed an interest in hearing whether the new bridge gets a new name. The current crossing was named in honour of Thomas Dufferin Pattullo, British Columbia’s 22nd premier.
“We are working through that right now. There will be more information as we go,” Itagawa said. “As I mentioned, we are closely consulting with Indigenous groups on this project. Cultural recognition is one key features of the project. And so there will be will be more details to come.”
Will there be snow bombs on the new bridge?
Coun. Daniel Fontaine said “snow bombs” have been an issue on the Port Mann and other bridges in the region. He questioned what’s being done to prevent that from being an issue on the new structure.
Itagawa said the bridge’s design has incorporated lessons learned from other bridges. Like the Port Mann, she said the new crossing is a cable-stayed bridge, but unlike the Port Mann, it won’t have cables over any of the travel lanes.
“So that’s one mitigation. It doesn’t solve it completely but it does help,” she said. “And then it will, from day 1, have a snow and ice removal system that will be deployed remotely. … I don’t think there’s an absolute foolproof solution, but there was quite a bit of thought that went into the design, specifically the cable design.”
Why can’t we keep the Pattullo Bridge for use by pedestrians and cyclists?
“One of the key things is that seismically it’s not safe, so it can’t be retrofitted to meet today’s codes. Also, there is scour on the foundation. So it does need to be removed,” Itagawa said. “We are looking at how we can commemorate it, so there’ll be more information on that, but those are the key reasons.”
Saying farewell:
Several members of New Westminster city council expressed a desire for some sort of community event to be held to say farewell to the Pattullo Bridge before it’s demolished.
Mayor Patrick Johnstone said the Pattullo has defined the city’s skyline for 80 years and the shape of the bridge is frequently seen in graphics representing the city. He hopes the project team can have a chat with the city about ways of “saying goodbye” to the Pattullo and possibly with providing opportunities for the city to recover bridge artifacts for its archives and for other art opportunities.
“I think that'd be something that would go a long way to bring … closure to this project and to bring the city along with what is ultimately a great improvement to our transportation realm,” he said. “But it's still going to touch people whenever they see that old bridge go.”
Coun. Ruby Campbell urged the project team to connect with local community partners and business if it’s doing an event to celebrate the completion of the project, so everyone can get involved.
Fontaine said he will be bringing forward a motion later this month about allowing the public access to the Pattullo Bridge so community members can say goodbye.
“We have been thinking about what we could do once we get to that point,” Itagawa said. “So, open for feedback.”
Later this month, Fontaine will ask council to consider a motion asking the mayor to write a letter on behalf of council to the BC Ministry of Transportation to determine the feasibility of opening the Pattullo Bridge to pedestrian, cycle and other non-vehicular modes of transportation for a period of three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) subsequent to the opening of the new bridge. The motion will also ask that council enter into discussions with the Ministry of Transportation to facilitate a community-based celebration of the existing Pattullo Bridge by way of an ‘on bridge’ day-long street festival during the three day public access period.
📢 SOUND OFF: Are you looking forward to the Pattullo Bridge replacement? What do you think about the project? Are you happy or unhappy about the configuration and the lane structure? Send us a letter.
