Burnaby NewsLeader speaks out

Plans to twin Port Mann, widen Trans-Canada angered Burnaby Council
By Wanda Chow, Burnaby Newsleader  Dec.28
www.burnabynewsleader.com,

A massive $3-billion transportation plan sparked major debate in the region and Burnaby over the last year. The province’s Gateway Program includes long-discussed elements such as the North and South Fraser Perimeter Roads. But it was the proposed twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and the widening of Highway 1 that had municipal politicians like Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan up in arms.

The first sign that it was a “political decision” was when the provincial government was “lobbied by the Gateway Council then they decided to adopt their name for the program,” Corrigan said. “By the time we were finished we couldn’t discern between which was the business lobby group and which was the government agency ... [The Gateway Council] got everything they wanted.”

Those municipal councils opposed to the program didn’t like the fact certain elements go against the Greater Vancouver Regional District’s Livable Region Strategic Plan, which was adopted about 10 years ago to try and prevent urban sprawl, largely through encouraging transit use and discouraging single-occupant vehicles. But that all fell on deaf ears in the BC Liberal government. “I just get the feeling that [Transportation Minister] Kevin Falcon is monumentally disinterested in anything the municipalities have to say,” Corrigan said.

Referring to criticism that the majority of Burnaby council, members of the NDP-affiliated Burnaby Citizens Association, were uncooperative with Victoria on the issue, he said, “How do you cooperate with people who refer to the politicians of the Lower Mainland as dysfunctional? ... When [the province] didn’t get their way with the [Richmond-Vancouver SkyTrain] line, everybody was an idiot and everybody was dysfunctional. “Then they expect you to say, ‘Oh and by the way, as a group of dysfunctional idiots we’d like to work with you.’ It doesn’t work that way.”

Corrigan said it was frustrating the province did not consult with municipalities. But, he said, the reality was that the government had made a “political commitment” to commuters in the Fraser Valley that they would get a new bridge so “no compromise was available.” He said the province did not research the issue before making its decision.

“All of the experts would have said to them no city has ever built its way out of congestion” and that 10 years from now, we’ll be no better off than we are now despite spending billions of dollars, he said. “It was the kind of decision politicians make when they’re having a couple of beers and they write it on the back of a napkin. Then they go back to their staff and say, ‘All right, we’ve made this decision, justify it.’ ”

The issue divided the region into those that get a benefit and those that get a detriment. It’s understandable, Corrigan said. “People want immediate solutions ... It’s hard when you’re spending an hour-and-a-half in traffic to be looking at the greater good of mankind.”

He said his “faith was restored” when the GVRD board narrowly voted to “strongly oppose” the program. “Which, after all of the bullying and the pressure that they put on, [the province] still weren’t able to persuade the majority of the GVRD to go along with it. I thought that was pretty courageous that the GVRD stood up.”

But in the end, the provincial government wields the bigger stick and ultimately it had the legislative authority to go through with the program whether the GVRD liked it or not.

Corrigan said that Burnaby council may be looking at options to reduce the impact of the plan on its city’s streets, suggesting that it might look into removing the High-Occupancy-Vehicle lanes on Hastings Street. “We can say that, if you’re going to increase capacity in another way, we’re going to look at decreasing capacity somewhere else. That’s a valid thing for us to be discussing and no decision has been made on that. But it’s certainly an issue that needs to be put on the table.”

Burnaby Coun. Nick Volkow of the BCA has an added perspective on the Gateway debate as he’s been a truck driver for 33 years. He doesn’t see how priorities such as goods movement, transit and emergency vehicles will be served by the transportation plan if single-occupant commuter vehicles will be allowed to crowd onto the same new lanes of roadway as well. “For me, what’s the point?” The twinning of the Port Mann and the Highway 1 expansion will have “huge impacts” on Burnaby because “all those great works come to an end at the First Avenue off-ramp [in Vancouver],” Volkow said. Instead of traffic being stuck further east, it will now be stuck at the First Avenue off-ramp, causing people to take exits into Burnaby to try and avoid the congestion.

There’s no doubt that congestion has gotten worse. Volkow remembers returning from Prince George a few years ago at 7:30 p.m. and being amazed at the amount of traffic he encountered at Chilliwack. “It was just a regular day at 7:30 at night.”

But from experience, he said, building more capacity only leads to more cars on the road, not less. He recalled when the Alex Fraser Bridge opened just before Expo 86. It was built with six lanes but only four were opened at first. The two centre lanes were blocked off in the belief that they wouldn’t be needed for at least three to four years. “The abutments were removed within six months and the bridge was packed,” Volkow said.

The experience in Seattle is further proof that more roads can’t solve the congestion problem. “There’s nothing but highway construction going into Seattle the last 10 years and I don’t see it getting any better.”

BC Liberal Burquitlam MLA Harry Bloy says politicians like Corrigan and Volkow are simply naysayers getting in the way of progress. There’s been basically no major infrastructure built in the Lower Mainland to move traffic since the Coquihalla was built in the 1980s, Bloy said. “And our population has increased so much. “You can sit there and say no to everything,” Bloy said. “You have to become a realist and relate to this. “There’s going to be commuter lanes, there’s going to special transit considerations.” As for designated truck lanes, “They’re still talking about that and I support some special lanes and special hours.”

However, the project isn’t meant to only benefit a few groups, he said. “Everyone has to benefit. It’s not for a limited group ... It’s to move everybody. And government isn’t about picking and choosing winners. It’s about working for everybody in the province.”

And the highway expansion will eliminate rat-running, he said. “The rat-running now is because there’s not enough room on the freeway.”

Bloy also doesn’t buy the argument that more capacity brings more cars. “More cars are there now, the cars are sitting there. The cars are sitting there but 14 hours a day on Highway No. 1. “We have to build, we have to keep going because the population is here, the population keeps growing in British Columbia. We have to catch up in our infrastructure.”

wchow@burnabynewsleader.com