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Anything less than six lanes a waste

Pattullo Bridge replacement should not have just four lanes.
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To all commuters that use the Pattullo Bridge:

I would like to start with the fact that TransLink and the Mayors’ Council want to have the public pay for a new Pattullo Bridge (via tolls and taxes) to replace the 80-year-old four-lane bridge with a new four-lane bridge expandable to six lanes, with no plans to expand to six lanes. It makes no sense at all to replace a four-lane bridge with a four-lane bridge. The new bridge should be six lanes and expandable to eight lanes in the future.

Currently the New Westminster side of the Pattullo Bridge roadway has not been upgraded in the last 80 years and the new Pattullo Bridge does not have any plans on improving the roadways leading up to and away from the bridge.

I was at the public forum about the Pattullo Bridge on June 18 and I was surprised that so few people came out to give input or even find out about what TransLink is wanting to do with the people’s money.

What TransLink offered were two options that the public could choose from, both of  which only had four lanes. I asked where is the third option of a bridge with six lanes? The answer was that this is what the Mayors’ Council has chosen.

So once again, the Mayors’ Council with TransLink is forcing their options onto the people, rather than letting the people give input as to what option or as to what is wanted.

The Pattullo Bridge is over capacity and yet the Mayors’ Council once again does not want to build what is needed (a six-lane bridge that is expandable to eight lanes) with all the roads leading to and from the bridge updated to handle the six lanes and allowing for easy upgrade to eight lanes.

I hope that members of the commuting public get out there and contact TransLink and tell them that you want a six-lane Pattullo Bridge expandable to eight lanes because anything less is a complete waste of tax payers’ money.

Also, it is going to be another seven years before the Pattullo Bridge is replaced once they have made the final decision? It should have been replaced 20 years ago.

You can go to TransLink’s website to take a survey about the Pattullo Bridge at www.translink.ca under plans and projects.

 

Alexander Hannig

Former Surrey resident, now in Langley