The decades-old dispute over the Bailey bridge appears to have reached its boiling point.
On Monday, Coquitlam council asked the province to intervene via mediation or arbitration in an effort to ensure a two-lane bridge be built to replace the existing one-lane crossing.
More specifically, the city has applied to the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development to arrange for a relatively new process - referred to as a Dispute Resolution Process - to take place.
That process can play out in one of two ways, either through binding or non-binding arbitration.
"It has festered for 20 years and it has created a lot of animosity between businesses that need to use that bridge, including business on the New Westminster side," Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said Tuesday. "I've heard from a large number of business on the New Westminster side that are completely aghast at the current situation. They cannot fathom that we, the two governments, have allowed the current situation to persist for 20 years."
The City of New Westminster fired back Tuesday, issuing a statement suggesting the two cities, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, Transport Canada and TransLink should hammer out a deal.
"We fully understand the frustration of the City of Coquitlam and the thousands of commuters that use this route to pass through our city each day," said Mayor Wayne Wright.
"However, given the industrial purpose of this part of New Westminster and the very real safety issues presented by the Bailey bridge feeding a heavily congested corridor with multiple railway crossings, any solution that aims to increase flow of traffic without area improvements simply won't work."
? New West also passed W a resolution of its own Monday. The resolution suggests the city cannot R "accept additional capacity on the bridge until it can be demonstrated that no adverse effects will occur within the Braid Street Industrial Park or adjacent neighbourhoods."
In late March, Coquitlam council unanimously endorsed a plan that called for a $1.7-million cost-sharing agreement with the City of New Westminster, along with a timeline to complete a new, two-lane bridge by September.
That stance was not supported by New West council and staff.
The bridge was initially closed in February for about two weeks after a structural engineer's report cited a "critical fatigue crack."
A 15-tonne weight restriction was put in place once the bridge reopened, which "significantly limits the usefulness of the bridge considering the demand for goods movement along the Braid/United corridor," according to a Coquitlam staff report. That weight restriction also prevents certain fire trucks from using that crossing.
"I really expect that we will end up with someone losing a life because of the inadequate response to our trauma centre. We can't get from Coquitlam to our trauma centre sometimes during the day," Stewart said.
Located within New West city limits on Braid Street, the Bailey bridge was built in 1995 and accommodates about 10,000 vehicles daily, according to a Coquitlam staff report.
