The province has unveiled its plan for replacing the George Massey Tunnel. The new bridge system costing a budgeted $3.5 billion is scheduled to be completed in 2022. This would be the most expensive bridge in the history of the province.
The replacement bridge is to be 10 lanes. There will be three general traffic lanes in each direction, plus one HOV lane and one truck lane in each direction.
There is an old cliché that "generals always fight the last war." Perhaps the saying also applies to traffic engineers. The last major project was the expansion of the Port Mann Bridge and converting it into a toll bridge. The result was a rush to the Pattullo Bridge to avoid the tolls. Will local drivers divert to the Alex Fraser Bridge to avoid the toll?
Will tolls on the George Massey affect business at the new malls for better or worse? South Delta residents will probably be less likely to head north to shop if they have to pay a toll. So that helps the local malls by creating a captive customer base.
Unfortunately that local market is quite small and, I fear, not big enough to keep the malls afloat. The tolls on the Bridge/Tunnel would certainly discourage anyone from north of the tunnel from making a trip to the TFN malls. I don't know who would have the net benefit.
Not knowing the costing of alternatives, it is difficult to say if the proposal is the best way to go. There wasn't much discussion before a new bridge was announced. It was also surprising to me that, when the recently defeated transportation plebiscite was held, the tunnel replacement was not part of the plebiscite, although the Pattullo Bridge was included.
It appears the province did not want to risk the new crossing being kyboshed.
As with any proposal in South Delta, there is opposition to the project. There are the usual environmental concerns, which have been raised. The bridge itself, not
being in the water, shouldn't create any long-term environmental issues. Without thousands of vehicles spewing out pollution inching their way to the tunnel, there will be a vast improvement in the air quality in South Delta.
Another contentious issue is the role that Port Metro Vancouver is playing in getting the new link done. The thought is that the size of ships heading up the Fraser River will increase. Recently there have been proposals to ship coal and liquefied natural gas from up river of the current tunnel. The port is playing down the assumption that the tunnel creates a hurdle for increasing traffic.
This then becomes a question of who contributes to the cost of the replacement bridge. With the port saying it would have no benefit from the removal of the tunnel, it could claim it shouldn't contribute significant funds to the project and stick the commuters using the bridge with the cost of construction. (I've been dubious about the port's veracity because of all that black stuff on my deck, which they claim is not coal dust.)
Perhaps we should toll all future oversize ships that go beyond the new bridge.
Tom Siba is an ex-publisher of the Delta Optimist who still faces the tunnel regularly.
