Government and Tsawwassen First Nation officials were on hand for an official opening of the 41B Street overpass Tuesday morning at the TFN Recreation Centre.
Part of the Roberts Bank Rail Corridor program, the $9 million, two-lane overpass enables local drivers, farmers and truckers to cross Deltaport Way without idling or being delayed by long trains and heavy traffic.
The Roberts Bank rail corridor consists mostly of single rail track and currently carries up to 18 trains per day, ranging from 6,000 to 9,500 feet in length. The volume of train traffic is expected to increase to 38 per day by 2021, and some train lengths are expected to increase up to 12,000 feet.
Federal Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway Ed Fast said the overpass, one of nine being built along the corridor, will help people get to their destinations quicker while trains will be able to keep moving.
Provincial Agriculture Minister Don McRae noted strengthening infrastructure to move goods to expanding Asian markets is a pillar of B.C.'s Jobs Plan.
TFN Chief Kim Baird said she's excited what the project will do for her community as well as the region and Canada.
Also on hand for the event was Delta Farmers' Institute president John Savage, who said the overpass will reduce excessive wait times for farmers moving harvested product to cold storage or other processing facilities.
"All of this (consultation) is in a constructive manner. We must move forward and I think it's a blessing we are able to work together, albeit we lost some farmland to port development and so on. I must say farmers are very rigorous in their opportunities and will move forward in a positive fashion and we'll work with all levels of government," he told the audience at the recreation centre.
Some members of the local farming community, however, are making their displeasure known.
"Everyone got an invite to attend this opening of the 41B overpass and some of the farmers suddenly got their backs up and said, 'Why the hell should we go to this opening because for years and years, ever since they put in this rail line, there's been a flat rail crossing with trains that will often stop there.' It caused farmers a huge inconvenience of not being able to cross Deltaport Way onto lands south of Deltaport Way to do their farming," said Ian Paton, a Delta farmer and councillor who said he'd boycott the event.
"Then suddenly this treaty gets put in place and TFN get to do whatever they want on farmland, and suddenly the provincial and federal government decided they'd better put in an overpass. Well, I don't think the overpass is necessarily going to be for the farmers because who the hell is going to farm out there anymore? All that land is being robbed for TFN development and that overpass will be really to accommodate all the industrial development at TFN."
Lydia Ryall of Cropthorne Farm Farmers said farmers may have originally wanted an overpass, but that was with the idea there would be land to farm on the other side.
Saying she doesn't understand why members of the DFI would attend the opening, she added the project is simply going to be an overpass to an industrial park that was once some of the best farmland in the country.
Her comments were echoed by Ken Bates, who noted farmers have wanted an overpass for 35 years, only to see one built for a TFN industrial park.
Noting she couldn't decline the formal invitation, Mayor Lois Jackson, who spoke at the event, told the Optimist the overpass will help with the movement of goods from the TFN, but said it will also "definitely help out farmers."
