It’s all about moving up the timeline.
Waiting until 2030 for another crossing to replace, or complement, the George Massey Tunnel is unacceptable, says Mayor George Harvie, who had organized a meeting of city leaders Thursday in Delta in the hopes of getting neighbouring communities on the same page to provide direction to the provincial government.
The meeting, which Harvie is calling Mayors of the 99 Corridor, was to include Richmond’s Malcolm Brodie, Surrey’s Doug McCallum as well as others, including the Tsawwassen and Musqueam first nations and a staff representative from the City of Vancouver.
“We’re no further along than we were a few years ago and my concern is they’ve ignored the environmental assessment for the previous (now scrapped 10-lane bridge) proposal. We need the province, because it’s their asset, to say whether they’re going to build an in-river solution or out-of-river solution. I’ve had some good conversations with the individual mayors at Metro over the last few months and at Mayors’ Council, and I’m hoping that united we can move a similar message for the province,” said Harvie.
The new Delta mayor added what’s needed is a new crossing that will reduce congestion, which means a 10-lane bridge isn’t necessary as long as the new span includes improved transit. He said what he’ll be pushing for is as many lanes as possible for some form of rapid transit for the corridor.
“Now it’s time to see if we can get a collective voice amongst the mayors who are affected by this congested corridor,” Harvie said.
Noting he’s in support of the planned subway to UBC, Harvie said what’s important is to encourage people to get out of their cars, and many want to if there’s a rapid transit option.
Last week, Harvie, Delta MP Carla Qualtrough and others gave François-Philippe Champagne, Canada's minister of infrastructure and communities, a tour of the Highway 99 corridor, including the aging tunnel.
The province late last year confirmed the bridge project initiated by the previous Liberal government was dead. The new options include a smaller bridge, another tunnel as well as keeping the current crossing as part of a solution. There was no timeline given for a potential replacement, other than a business case on a preferred option will be ready by the fall of 2020.
