Editor:
It was with the sense of deja vu, that I attended "Tunnel Spiel" Saturday, March 16 in Tsawwassen.
Inside the room, the five options were placed on easels with little yellow post-it notes pasted around, with hovering experts ready to pontificate on each option.
But I knew the answer already, the preferred option is a new bridge and highway complex crossing into Richmond, near 80th Avenue in Delta.
How did I know? Almost a decade ago, while attending a same sort of meeting, with various options placed on easels, (as a historical note, the NDP started this easel trick with the Millennium Line) surrounded by post-it notes, a senior Ministry of Transportation bureaucrat told a small group of us that; "there would be no plans to extend the (then) proposed Richmond rapid transit line across the South Arm of the Fraser River, because it was already planned that the next bridge across the Fraser would be a six to eight lane bridge crossing the river around 80th Avenue in Delta into Richmond and a second bridge crossing the North Arm to connect with Marine Way in South Burnaby." One has only to look at the massive interchanges being constructed for the SFPR at highways 17 and 99, that the planning the 80th Avenue bridge is already underway and no one in the Ministry of Transportation has the moral fortitude to tell the public, so we have a sham series of public consultation, to appease the taxpayers and to pretend that; "they are contributing to the process."
Please, whoever is running this little dog and pony show to please stop and save the taxpayer some money and tell us the truth, the decision has been made.
As usual, honesty and can-dor have never been part of regional transportation planning and I guess I would be hoping too much for a hint of change.
Malcolm Johnston
