Commuters could face faster travel times, reduced congestion and lower traffic volumes with a new tolled four-lane Pattullo Bridge.
TransLink officials visited New Westminster and Surrey councils Monday to update them on plans for the bridge and to inform them that replacement has been deemed to be a better option than refurbishing the existing bridge. New Westminster city council has officially endorsed a plan for a four-lane replacement for the Pattullo Bridge.
Bob Paddon, TransLink’s executive vice president of strategic planning and stakeholder relations, said the mayors’ council on regional transportation’s vision supports a four-lane Pattullo Bridge that’s designed in a way that doesn’t eliminate the ability for it to be expanded to six lanes in the future if needed. He said more work needs to be done to determine what would trigger the additional lanes, but all parties involved in the bridge would need to agree to the expansion.
Paddon said TransLink has committed $300 million to rehabilitating the Pattullo Bridge. While it must spend $100 million of those funds to address short-term needs, he said it would like to avoid spending $200 million and put that money into a new structure that better meets today’s seismic and operational needs.
Some people have questioned why TransLink would replace a four-lane bridge with another four-lane bridge.
Paddon said the existing bridge is more like a “three-and-a-half lane bridge” as trucks often straddle the dotted line and take up two lanes. He said the new crossing would have “improved capacity” as it would have lanes that meet today’s road standards.
According to Paddon, a new four-lane bridge should result in faster travel times, a 15 per cent reduction in congestion in New Westminster during the morning peak time and a 75 per cent reduction in travel times in Surrey. He said tolls are anticipated to reduce daily crossings on the bridge from today’s 84,000 to 60,000 or less.
TransLink officials visited council Monday to seek support for its plan for the Pattullo Bridge.
“We need to make the final decision on replacement no later than late 2015,” Paddon said.
If a decision isn’t made on replacing the Pattullo Bridge by the end of this year, Paddon said TransLink will need to take action to replace the bridge’s deck so that work can begin in late 2015. That would mean spending the $200 million that could go toward a new structure on bridge repairs.
“We have to do some detailed design either way,” he said. “There are certainly some costs that could be avoided.”
Mayor Wayne Wright said the city worked to ensure the new bridge would be four lanes rather than six, as some people had preferred. He said the city is on the same page as TransLink and will have a stronger say in the plan as it moves forward.
“Everything is moving forward. We have a good handle on what it is and we are with them at the table,” said Wright, a member of mayors’ council and one of two mayors on TransLink’s board of directors. “Whenever there are any discussions, we are going to be there to give our two cents.”
A referendum on funding the region’s transportation system is expected to take place in the spring. While he can’t predict whether all components included in the mayors’ council’s vision for transportation will proceed if the referendum fails, Paddon said TransLink views replacement of the Pattullo to be a “critical project” that can’t be delayed.
“We see this as a project that can proceed on its own merits,” he told New Westminster city council.
No decision has been made about the specific alignment of a new Pattullo Bridge, said Geoff Cross, TransLink’s senior manager of policy. He said there’s still “a lot of work to be done” to address issues such as river flows, best location for connections in New Westminster and Surrey and to consult with First Nations.
“That is still TBD,” Cross said of the alignment.
Wright told The Record the city will be able to have a say in the design and engineering of the bridge. He’s hopeful truck routes in the city will be considered as part of the planning of a new bridge.
“The concerns that we have now is where do we get the egress and access onto the bridge,” he said. “We are going to be sitting there, we will be able to go over it and make sure it’s the right thing to do.”
