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Delta not even given five minutes, complains mayor

Mayors' Council does not want to hear what Delta has to say about George Massey Tunnel Replacement Project
lois jackson
Mayor Lois Jackson is upset regional mayors want to kill the bridge project and don't want to hear from Delta.

They won’t even give Delta five minutes.

That’s what a frustrated Mayor Lois Jackson had to say after the Mayors’ Council voted down her motion today to allow Delta CEO George Harvie to make a five-minute presentation about the George Massey Tunnel Replacement Project.

Also wanting to talk about the opportunity for the Highway 99 corridor to benefit from $500 million in transit improvements, the mayor was instead told the bridge is a provincial initiative outside of the council's mandate. The Mayors’ Council has been voicing opposition to the $3.5 billion bridge project, which also involves a series of road projects on both sides of the Fraser River.

“The TransLink Mayors don’t have even five minutes to consider one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in Canada,” said Jackson. “They are abandoning the 10,000 transit riders and the people who drive more than 80,000 vehicles through the George Massey Tunnel every day. Just this morning, Highway 99 was at a complete gridlock in Delta, once again, due to an accident north-bound at the Tunnel.”

Delta this month complied a comprehensive report with various technical studies and cost analysis highlighting the need for a crossing improvement and that the bridge is the most feasible option.

Jackson complained about the “myths” being spread about the project as well as the politics behind the call to kill the plan.

In response, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, chair of the council, maintained the project is too costly and that the billions could better be spent to accelerate the work on the Pattullo Bridge.

Richmond council is asking the government to stop work on project until other options are explored, including Richmond’s idea twinning the tunnel with either a two-lane or a four lane crossing.