Multiple new truck parking or staging facilities in Surrey and Delta will assist freight movement and increase road safety, the federal and provincial governments and Port Metro Vancouver say.
The first, a Delta truck staging facility, is now open with room for 140 trucks, including early arrivals to the Port of Vancouver’s Deltaport container terminal. It’s designed to address long-standing Delta-area road safety concerns due to lengthy queues of port-destined container trucks along the Roberts Bank causeway.
The new staging facility is located on provincial land at the intersection of Highway 17, Highway 17A and Deltaport Way in Delta, British Columbia, and includes secure vehicle access control, commercial vehicle safety and enforcement area for truck safety inspections, a new highway exit ramp to facilitate access from Highway 17, a road exit to allow traffic access onto Deltaport Way and 24-hour remote surveillance by the port authority.
“This new facility will enhance safety and traffic flow, and also provide a separate area for commercial vehicle safety and enforcement to perform inspections.,” Vancouver Fraser Port Authority vice-president of planning and operations Peter Xotta said. “Projects such as this one help to increase community safety while ensuring that Canadian consumers can get the goods they need and local businesses have access to international markets.”
The project is a collaboration between the City of Delta, Transport Canada and B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. It is part of the Deltaport Terminal Road and Rail Improvement Project series.
“This work is being done to improve the movement of containers in and out of Roberts Bank by a capacity of 600,000 twenty-equivalent unit (TEU) containers, to a total of 2.4 million TEUs per year – all while reducing the impact of trade growth in the community of Delta,” the port said in a statement.
Delta MP Carla Qualtrough called the project a big win for the region.
“Trucks will be able to stage safely, and inspections will be more efficient. Traffic and goods will flow more smoothly, getting people and product where they need to go,” Qualtrough said. “As we gradually restart our economy, investments like this will ensure that Delta is well positioned to flourish.”
And, work will begin this month on another project, a North Surrey commercial truck parking facility.
"Investing in highway and road infrastructure is critical to keeping Canadians safe while on the move for work, travel or other daily needs," Fleetwood-Port Kells MP Ken Hardie said on behalf of federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Catherine McKenna. "New parking will ensure truck drivers in the North Surrey area have a secure place to rest while transporting goods and materials for businesses and in support of the economy.“
The facility is being built on provincial land on the north side of Highway 17, below and just east of the Port Mann Bridge. When completed, it will have room for about 100 trucks, and include washrooms, fencing, lighting and other security measures.
"This facility will help alleviate the shortage of commercial vehicle staging and parking in the Lower Mainland," B.C. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Claire Trevena said.
A $4.97 million contract for the first phase of work has been awarded to Jacob Bros. Construction. This includes construction of a signalized intersection along Highway 17 to provide safe access to the new facility, as well as site excavation and preparation work.
Initial work is slated to begin in coming weeks but the actual parking facility and amenities will be tendered in 2021.
The North Surrey Truck Parking Facility is a $30 million project. Ottawa is contributing $13 million, with the remaining $17 million funded by the province. The federal contribution is part of the larger $108.9 million Trans-Canada Highway 1 high-occupancy vehicle lane extension project under the New Building Canada Fund's Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component-National and Regional Projects.
Surrey city council land-use planners are also looking at development of a truck parking facility with temporary use development permit approved June 15 for a 176 Street site. Work involved now includes environmental assessment of the project.
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