Bridge project under fire

By Dan Hilborn
Published June 28, 2006


In a decision that should surprise nobody, Burnaby city council formally voted against the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge on Monday night while calling on the provincial government to conduct more thorough environmental reviews of the proposed $3-billion Gateway transportation infrastructure program.

In a split decision that saw the three Team Burnaby members of council voting in opposition, council approved a nine-part decision that supports construction of the North and South Fraser perimeter roads while calling on the Ministry of Transportation to look at options other than twinning the Port Mann Bridge and widening Highway No. 1 through Burnaby.

"Just look at the news today," Volkow said as he kicked off an hour-long debate on the Gateway project. "We have the first air quality alert of the year in the GVRD and we don't even have a twinned Port Mann Bridge."

Volkow, a truck driver, pointed to a 35-page Burnaby planning department report that indicates the Gateway proposal will lead to traffic volume increases of at least 10 per cent on more than a dozen city streets.

The city report also indicated that the long-term impacts of the Gateway proposal have not been fully investigated, and called for a variety of environmental reviews before construction begins.

"This opposition to the Port Mann/Highway 1 component of the Gateway program reflects the firm view that the proposal works against the adopted common objectives for regional growth management and shaping, as set out in the Livable Region Strategic Plan and Transport 2021," said the report prepared by retiring Burnaby planning director Jack Belhouse. "Furthermore it is considered to have many negative implications for the city."

The report says Gateway is "in violation" of four key aspects of the Livable Region plan: protecting the green zone; building complete communities; achieving a compact metropolitan region; and increasing traffic choice.

Volkow also indicated that the new federal government may not be completely on-side with the province's plan to twin the Port Mann Bridge, and noted that David Emerson, the federal minister responsible for Gateway, has stated that the Ottawa's main concern with any future transportation improvements in the Lower Mainland is in the movement of goods.

"The Port Mann Bridge is all about commuter traffic, and the federal government isn't interested in that," Volkow said, raising the spectre that Ottawa may not contribute its full share of funding. "We'll be paying for it for years to come."

Volkow said that Burnaby has already done its "fair share" in helping to move commuter traffic through the suburbs into Vancouver, and pointed to the widening of the Barnet Highway in the mid-1990s, the new HOV lanes on Willingdon and the opening of Southridge Drive as examples of the city's ability to cooperate in the regional transportation plan.

Those arguments had little impact on Coun. Garth Evans, who said twinning the bridge and widening the highway are a vital aspects of ensuring that B.C. has a vibrant economy in the years to come.

Pointing to the fact that the current Port mann ridge was built in 1963 when the population of the region was just 700,000, Evans said the region's population is now 2.1 million and the transportation infrastructure has simply not kept up with the pace.

"We are not talking about adding infrastructure to allow more urban sprawl, we are talking about adding infrastructure to deal with the growth that has already taken place."

While Evans supports the twinning of the bridge, he also agreed with council's BCA majority that a new bridge must have an HOV lane, a bus lane, priority for commercial vehicles and a graduated toll designed to limit traffic during peak periods.

Coun. Dan Johnston voted against the twinning of the bridge, and said that the similar infrastructure projects in Seattle, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles indicate that highway widening plans typical result in increased traffic congestion instead of less.

Johnston said a wider highway will only take people off public transit, such as the planned Evergreen rapid transit line to Coquitlam, while increasing pollution in the Fraser Valley.

"What we're doing is making it easier for people in the valley to come into Burnaby and Vancouver, to the detriment of the people living in Burnaby and Vancouver," Johnston said.

Coun. Sav Dhaliwal said his main concern is the possible impact the Gateway project could have on the environment, in particular Burnaby Lake regional park and other nature reserves near the highways, such as Deas Island and Burns Bog.

Instead of twinning the bridge, Dhaliwal suggested the province look at several suggestions in a recent Suzuki Foundation report on the Gateway project such as the construction of new park and ride facilities on the south side of the Fraser River, while adding more buses and SkyTrain cars to the transit system.

Coun. Colleen Jordan said she has received more e-mails and phone messages about on the Gateway project than on any other topic since she was elected three years ago, and people are becoming frustrated by the province's refusal to answer question about the impact on the project.

"We get no answer except from the minister, Mr. (Kevin) Falcon, saying it will be done," Jordan said.

Coun. Pietro Calendino said he is concerned about the cost of the Gateway program. "I'm sure it will be $5 or $6 billion by the time they're through," he said.

And Mayor Derek Corrigan dismissed arguments that Burnaby council was simply trying to score political points by voting against the B.C. Liberal's bridge twinning plan. As proof, Corrigan pointed to his record as a former chair of TransLink when he supported a light rail transit line between Coquitlam and the University of B.C. instead of the Millennium SkyTrain plan that was built by the former NDP government.

"We've done our part," Corrigan said. "Burnaby has been a good municipal citizen in accepting our part in moving traffic through our borders.

Corrigan said he would have been willing to go through a true public consultation process with the province over the Gateway plan, but instead, what he's seen is an announcement from the minister followed by a flurry of bureaucratic report writing in an attempt to back up the minster's plans.

Corrigan also noted that at the last week's World Urban Forum held in Vancouver, a petition in opposition to the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge was signed by more than 200 planners from around the world.

Speaking in favour of the bridge plan, Coun. Lee Rankin said that he has seen a lot of growth in the region since he was the lone member of council to vote against the widening of Highway 1 through Burnaby during the mid-1990s, when it was proposed by then-NDP premier Glen Clark.

Since that time, council has approved major development projects such as a big box shopping complex in the Big Bend, without approving the highway infrastructure to make it easier for people to travel around the region, Rankin said.

"The business community cannot understand Burnaby's position," Rankin said. "We're talking about accommodating the growth that's already in the plans and that are already adopted."