So just why is the perfectly good George Massey Tunnel being replaced by a $3.5-billion bridge?
It is not about congestion or rush-hour gridlock. In fact the current government does not give a hoot about those issues, as recent Freedom of Information documents received by Richmond Coun. Harold Steves show.
It is about B.C. Liberals’ friends, Port Metro Vancouver and Fraser Surrey Docks lobbying the government for a bridge replacing the tunnel so they can bring larger draught ships up the Fraser to their facilities.
Silly me. I thought the Roberts Bank super port was built to service large ships, leaving the environmentally challenged Fraser alone.
Why is Richmond council worried? Simple, the new bridge will move gridlock and congestion to Richmond, as roads and highways cannot cope with more traffic.
The new 10-lane mega bridge is the harbinger of endemic gridlock in Richmond and massive development (destruction) of Burns Bog and all ALR lands in Delta as Metro Port Vancouver turns the Fraser estuary into a massive commodity port in contrary to Metro Vancouver planning.
Those on Delta council who support this bridge also support massive urban sprawl, traffic gridlock, the destruction of the ALR and new tax increases to pay for municipal infrastructure upgrades to cater to the new development.
I am tired of subsidizing B.C. Liberals’ hugely expensive vanity projects. I am tired of paying higher taxes to subsidize government insiders’ grand development plans, seemingly done on the back of an envelope.
If Port Metro Vancouver and Fraser Surrey Docks want a new bridge, let them pay for it as well as highway upgrades and a new bridge to Vancouver/Burnaby. It’s only fair.
Let’s bring honesty back into the planning process; honesty which those supporting a new bridge seem to lack.
D. Malcolm Johnston
Delta