Talk about burying the lead.
Metro Vancouver mayors and First Nations chiefs recently sent a letter to Premier John Horgan that had a couple of major themes: they had reached a consensus when it comes to a replacement for the George Massey Tunnel and they want immediate action on the traffic bottleneck. Tucked away near the end of the letter, after the regional politicians had listed nine agreed upon bullet points, was this little morsel: “We believe only tunnel options, including a cost-effective deep bored tunnel if possible, should be considered.”
What? Up to that point a tunnel replacement had only been referred to as the “project” or the “crossing” so that paragraph tucked away at the bottom of the second page was as enlightening as anything in the letter given there’s been a bridge vs. tunnel debate for several years now.
Delta Mayor George Harvie had been a vocal supporter of a bridge, even campaigning on the issue last fall, but I guess if a tunnel is what’s necessary to get other mayors on board and finally get this issue addressed, then a tunnel it must be. In a previous life as the city’s top bureaucrat, Harvie had made it clear that a bridge was a superior option to a tunnel, but he’s quickly learning that politics is the art of compromise.
Now that regional politicians are on the same page, the project should theoretically move forward at a faster clip, although Horgan seemed receptive but non-committal when asked about this latest development. At the very least, the business case for a new crossing, scheduled to be complete late next year, should be expedited. After all, the NDP’s goal was to devise a plan that would satisfy local government, which has already been done given mayors and chiefs have agreed that an eight-lane tunnel, complete with two lanes dedicated to transit, is the way to go.
An analysis of the preferred option is necessary, as is public consultation, government approval and an environmental review, but can all of that happen, as well as actually constructing the crossing, by 2025 or 2026 as the mayors and chiefs would like if we’re going to wait another 18 months for a business case?
The consensus moves this forward, but it’s up to the NDP to maintain that momentum.
