The City of New Westminster will explore a bike-friendly boat shuttle that would connect the Quay and Queensborough.
Council approved a request from its transit, bicycles and pedestrians committee to direct staff to explore the boat shuttle option as an interim solution before the official Queensborough pedestrian bridge crossing is complete.
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said the "deep sea passage" requirements and high water during spring freshet create problems for providing a crossing from the Quay to Queensborough, as a high structure is required. He said he'd like engineers and architects to consider what could be done in regards to a crossing, perhaps by examining "problematic crossings" elsewhere in the world and seeing what solutions were put forth.
When the city agreed to allow a destination casino to open in the city, it negotiated a financial package known as development assistance compensation (DAC).
The DAC funding included $10.3 million for a pedestrian crossing between Queensborough and the Quay, although city council recently agreed to reallocate an unspecified amount of that toward the civic centre project that's underway in downtown New Westminster.
