The B.C. government’s new North Surrey Truck Parking Facility is set to open off Highway 17 (South Fraser Perimeter Road), about 600 metres east of Port Mann Bridge.
The 106-stall site is billed as a place where commercial long-haul drivers travelling through the Lower Mainland can have “another safe, convenient place to stop and rest.”
The parking facility will open Thursday, March 28, according to a news release (also translated to Punjabi) posted by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
The “secured” site includes washrooms with showers, a sani-dump for drivers, fencing, cameras and 24-hour security.
“The Province of B.C. contributed $17 million to the construction of the new facility,” the news release notes, “while the federal government is contributing to this project as part of a larger $109-million investment that also includes funding for the widening of the Trans-Canada Highway 1 between 216th and 264th streets.”
The parking facility was built by Langley-based Tybo Contracting Ltd., with first-phase work (including a signalized intersection along Highway 17) completed by contractor Jacob Bros. Construction.
“Providing adequate parking facilities for commercial drivers to rest and recharge is vital to enhance safety in B.C.’s commercial trucking industry,” said Dave Earle, BC Trucking Association’s president and CEO.
“This is a great facility that I am confident will be extensively used. I am also pleased to hear that the Province is exploring additional parking options for commercial vehicles as it improves the Highway 1 corridor through the Fraser Valley.”
The new North Surrey Truck Parking Facility is not part of the March 11 decision by Surrey city council to use city property for commercial truck parking at four locations in North Surrey, amounting to 150 parking spaces made available on a collective 6.5 acres.
A corporate report recommended temporary use and truck parking facility permits, as well as licensing agreements, for Prudential Transportation Ltd. at several sites “in order to address the ongoing shortage of truck parking spaces in the city.” The addresses include in the first site 13119, 13123 115A Ave., 13132/34 115B Ave. and 11561 132 St., at the second site 12875 112B Ave., at the third site 17768 96 Ave. and at the fourth, 18949 52 Ave.
On March 11, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said the importance of commercial trucking is often taken for granted.
“I think it’s really important that we support truck parking. Our economy on wheels in Surrey is trucking and the majority of truckers in Metro Vancouver live and work in this area and truck parking is at a premium, and we need truck parking for people that are trying to work in our city,” she told the Now-Leader.
• READ MORE: Surrey looking at opening 4 commercial truck parking sites in North Surrey.
– with file from Tom Zytaruk