Dear Editor:
Mayor Wayne Wright's latest comments about the future of the Pattullo Bridge are alarming because they show how little he understands the traffic problems faced by New Westminster. Wright opposes a new six-lane bridge because he fears it will create more congestion. I have news for him: New Westminster already has congestion, much of it involving traffic trying to leave the city, not enter it.
Has Wright not stood along Royal Avenue during rush hour recently and seen the long line of vehicles trying to get on the bridge to Surrey? Has he not stood along McBride to see two lanes of Surrey-bound traffic trying to merge into one? This congestion results in a cascade of consequences: roads are blocked; slow moving or idling vehicles churn out more air pollution; vehicles braking and gearing up cause more noise; accidents can happen as people try and cut in on each other or speed up later to make up lost time; emergency vehicles are impeded.
And yet the argument persists for a four-lane bridge. It would be absurd to spend a billion dollars to perpetuate the congestion we already have. A six-lane bridge is needed at the very least to move the existing traffic, and the cheapest and most logical place for it is near the current span. The new bridge should also be tolled, not only to cover its costs but to reduce the rat-runner truckers trying to avoid the Port Mann. In fact, an argument could be made to toll the Pattullo now to deter these truckers and raise money in advance for a new span.
Wright opposes a better bridge and yet endorses major residential and commercial projects, such as
the new towers at the New West SkyTrain station, the proposed Larco project on the waterfront, the Anvil Centre and the Brewery District, with hardly any improvements to road infrastructure. People say you can't build yourself out of congestion, but New Westminster is building in the congestion without handling its consequences.
The argument against major road and bridge improvements in New Westminster usually goes this way: the changes will automatically increase traffic congestion, including spilling more vehicles into residential areas.
I say that view is fundamentally flawed, and the reverse is true: road and bridge improvements would help unblock already existing congestion, freeing traffic to move more efficiently on arterial routes, thus easing pressure in local neighbourhoods.
David Lang, New Westminster
