Editor:
Re: Expanded tunnel will up development pressure, letter to the editor, April 6
The George Massey Tunnel is not a "disgrace."
It's performed exceedingly well for over 50 years and is an example of creative engineering and thinking outside the box.
The tunnel is not "ugly." It's a structure to move traffic across a formidable river. Since when do these structures have to be pretty?
The tunnel is also not "inadequate." It is misused rather than inadequate. Placing Deltaport south of the Fraser River without considering the effect on the tunnel was misuse. If you recall about four or five years ago the truckers at the port went on strike for almost three months and during that strike the remaining traffic flowed freely through the tunnel.
Just so Don Halward knows, when the tunnel was being built the builder went to Delta council and indicated that for a few million dollars more the tunnel could be three lanes on each side. Just like Halward's comment, council said, "No thanks, we don't want any more traffic." Hence, 50 years of lineups.
The idea of expanding the existing tunnel would be difficult to impossible, and building a bridge with approach highways would surely top $1 billion.
So what to do? The answer is actually quite easy: Do not allow the port trucks in the tunnel. If they were forced to use the Alex Fraser Bridge, the tunnel would function for another 50 years.
If you Google port-dedicated truck routes, with a little effort anyone can see that major cities and ports all over the world are separating domestic and commercial traffic for all the right reasons.
Would the B.C. government do this? I doubt it as it can't think outside the box.
Greg Hoover
