TransLink has deferred public consultation that was set to get underway about the Pattullo Bridge.
“This deferral will allow TransLink time to work with the Mayors’ Council on regional transportation to respond to last week’s request from the province that the council work with TransLink to develop a plan for transportation in the region. As the Pattullo Bridge is one of the key priorities for the region, TransLink needs time to confirm with the Mayors’ Council how options for this project will fit into the regional plan, which the mayors have been asked to deliver by June 30, 2014,” stated a TransLink release. “TransLink anticipates completing this work as quickly as possible and commencing Phase 2 public consultation of the Pattullo Bridge Review later this spring. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Meanwhile, New Westminster MLA Judy Darcy said she intends to continue pressing for relief from traffic gridlock.
In a statement in the B.C. Legislature following the Throne Speech, Darcy said the Port Mann Bridge and its tolls have created a “nightmare” on local roads. At the same time, she said South Fraser Perimeter Road doesn’t have a proper connection to the Port Mann Bridge, so truck drivers prefer to take the Pattullo Bridge.
“It’s flooding through New Westminster. We are tired of being treated like an intersection from this government,” she later told The Record. “I challenged him (Transportation Minister Todd Stone) directly on the issue of increased traffic as a result of the Port Mann tolls. He stood across from me and said that’s not true. That’s not happening.”
Darcy said the province refuses to accept that the Pattullo Bridge traffic has increased because of tolls on the Port Mann Bridge and the absence of a comprehensive regional traffic plan - despite anecdotal and statistical evidence she says proves it’s happening.
Darcy echoed calls from New Westminster city council for the transportation minister to visit New Westminster to talk traffic and see the congestion for himself. (Council had asked the premier to meet to discuss the issue, but her office referred the matter to the transportation minister’s office.)
“We need action now,” Darcy told the Legislature. “We need action that brings people together in a consultative way, not in a dictatorial way, because my community and other communities need real solutions.
