Editor:
In 1972 I was a Grade 10 student at Delta Secondary.
As a project for our social studies class, a group of us were to look at traffic problem areas in Delta.
The sites we choose to study were 72nd Avenue and Scott Road, Highway 17 and 56th Street, and the George Massey Tunnel.
After three weeks we actually came up with the plans that we now drive on today.
That same year we attended a GVRD social studies conference at SFU. Secondary schools from around the Lower Mainland attended to raise concerns they had for their areas. The representatives from the GVRD were there and said they were impressed with what they saw.
Now comes the good part: They showed us their future plans for a new crossing of the Fraser. This four-lane highway would continue from Knight Street at Westminster Highway and run straight south over the Fraser almost parallel to the tunnel.
On the Delta side the highway would link up with highways 17 and 99 and River Road.
To appease the concerns of the farmers in Richmond, the plan was to have the highway elevated with the only Richmond on and off ramps being at Westminster Highway.
That would have eased up the flow to the tunnel and given the truckers a more direct route to downtown Vancouver. Political will, or lack thereof, that is the question.
Kevin Berryman
