Port Mann Bridge project is underway
Today was a truly historic day in transportation history here in British Columbia. It was one of those red letter days that people will talk about for years to come.
Shortly before 2:00 pm this afternoon, a beaming Premier Gordon Campbell operated the controls of a large hydraulic ram as he drove the first of many foundation pilings for the new 10-lane Port Mann Bridge. Construction is now officially underway and 2013 can’t come soon enough for anyone who’s had to contend with the existing bridge and the traffic bottleneck it’s become.
Perhaps the best news of all was the announcement that, instead of just twinning the existing 45-year old bridge, the P3 project partner is going to build a completely new 10-lane bridge. And the new bridge is going to be built strong enough to add rapid transit in the future without costly upgrades to the bridge structure.
Labels: Gateway, Get Moving BC, Port Mann Bridge, Public Private Partnership, transit, TransLink, transportation
Kudos to Translink
Luck has smiled on the Lower Mainland, and in conjunction with a round-the-clock repair effort that
Translink CEO Thomas Prendergast has described as “aggressive,” the Pattullo Bridge was open again for business and traffic first thing this morning.
The
Pattullo Bridge closure has been an eye-opening experience for everyone in the Lower Mainland. The chaos caused by the bridge closure has been well-documented in the media as well as in the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of Lower Mainland residents. There isn't anyone who hasn't been affected in some way by this crisis.
Get Moving BC spokesperson,
Jordan Bateman, was on
Global News last night stressing the importance of staying on top of our transportation infrastructure needs so that we aren't always scrambling to catch up because of generational gaps between projects. As always, great job
Jordan!
Labels: Gateway, Get Moving BC, Pattullo Bridge, Port Mann Bridge, TransLink, transportation
Face-to-Face with "Total Gridlock"
Translink officials are to be applauded for the swift action they’ve taken to resolve the
Pattullo Bridge crisis. The bridge is expected to be back in action two weeks from now, which is a relief to the hundreds of thousands of Lower Mainland residents who’ve been adversely impacted by the closure.
The world renowned North Vancouver bridge engineering firm of
Buckland and Taylor is credited with having located a suitable replacement section at the
Surespan Construction works yard in Langley. The replacement section was previously used during the Canada Line construction to bridge over an excavated station location.
Fortunately for everyone, Translink was already planning to replace the 60 foot wooden section of the Pattullo Bridge that was destroyed last Sunday and Buckland and Taylor were well underway with the design work and planning.
The economic cost of the Pattullo Bridge closure is going to be massive. According to the
BC Trucking Association, the added cost to the trucking industry alone could be as much
$10 million per day (costs that get passed on to you and I as consumers).
On the positive side, the loss of the Pattullo Bridge this past week has been a timely wakeup call. The closure has provided everyone with a taste of what's in store for the Lower Mainland if we don't get on with building the kind of transportation infrastructure we need to serve the region's growing population; and that includes increasing bridge lane capacity over the Fraser River with important projects like the Port Mann Bridge twinning and the replacement of the Pattullo Bridge.
The havoc caused by the closure of the Pattullo Bridge this past week has dramatically, albeit painfully, underscored the fact that we don't have an adequate amount of
bridge infrastructure crossing the Fraser River, something fairly obvious that we at
Get Moving BC have been diligently pointing out for quite some time. Let’s just be grateful that this disruptive face-to-face encounter with “Total Gridlock” is only temporary and not a permanent reality - yet.
Labels: Gateway, Get Moving BC, Pattullo Bridge, Port Mann Bridge, TransLink, transportation
Total Gridlock: Day One
Traffic in the Lower Mainland was predictably snarled today as people did what they could to cope without the Pattullo Bridge.
The evening
newscasts have been filled with horror stories recounting four hour commutes and hopelessly gridlocked traffic.
The sudden loss of the Pattullo’s four traffic lanes has dramatically, although painfully, underscored the fact that we don’t have an adequate amount of
bridge infrastructure crossing the Fraser River. In fact, we have no margin for error whatsoever.
Most, if not all, of those interviewed on the newscasts tonight echoed what we’ve been saying for quite some time: Namely, that we don’t have nearly enough bridge infrastructure crossing the Fraser River for the population we currently have let alone for future population growth or for emergency situations like the one we’re facing right now.
We can’t begin to imagine what the final cost to the Lower Mainland and BC economies will be over the next month or so due to the loss of this vital, albeit decrepit, link in Greater Vancouver’s fragile transportation system. 80,000 vehicles a day depend on the Pattullo Bridge, and we’ve been brought face-to-face with “Total Gridlock” for the sake of an 18-metre section of the bridge that’s been burnt to a crisp.
By the time this Pattullo Bridge crisis is over in a month or so – and we can only hope – our collective nerves in the Lower Mainland are going to be seriously frayed.
Labels: Gateway, Get Moving BC, Pattullo Bridge, Port Mann Bridge, TransLink, transportation
Pattullo Bridge Fire Raises Traffic Fears
News of this morning's fire at the south end of the Pattullo Bridge has spread quickly.
According to Translink, the Pattullo Bridge will be out of commission for the rest of today and tomorrow.
There’s also a distinct possibility the bridge could be out of commission even longer, possibly months.
One of our
Get Moving BC supporters travelled to the scene late this morning and spoke to the fire crew on site. They confirmed that the bridge was not driveable and that it would probably not be driveable until the damage is repaired.
The damaged section of the bridge is the 30 to 40 foot section at the south end of the bridge where the bridge joins the King George Highway. Unlike the rest of the Bridge, this 30 to 40 foot section is constructed from wooden beams instead of steel and concrete. According the fire crew, this section of the bridge was scheduled to be replaced in the summer.
It’s definitely frightening to contemplate the traffic chaos that will result from any long-term closure of the Pattullo Bridge, and we certainly hope it doesn’t come to that. As our Get Moving BC
Bridge Infrastructure Study demonstrated last September, the Lower Mainland already has an inadequate supply of bridge infrastructure crossing the Fraser River. Losing four traffic lanes will only make things worse and it raises the spectre of “Total Gridlock” for our regional transportation system.
As our Bridge Study also showed, the Vancouver area would have to triple and quadruple the bridge infrastructure crossing the Fraser River just to match what other cities in Western Canada already have on a per capita basis.
Labels: Gateway, Pattullo Bridge, Port Mann Bridge, transportation
Road-Building Myths Busted
A recent column by the Vancouver Province’s Driving editor, Keith Morgan (
Upside of adding new asphalt to landscape, Province, Friday, November 14, 2008), has drawn our attention to an interesting report by the
Royal Automobile Club Foundation.
The report, entitled
Misconceptions And Exaggerations About Road Building In Great Britain busts many of the commons myths and misconceptions about road-building frequently put forward by the “wishful thinkers” opposed to twinning the Port Mann Bridge and improving Highway 1.
You can read and download an executive summary of the RAC Foundation’s myth-busting report here:
Misconceptions And Exaggerations About Road Building In Great Britain - Executive Summary.
Labels: Get Moving BC, Port Mann Bridge, transportation
Use P3 to bring streetcars back to Vancouver
CKNW recently ran an online poll that asked whether Vancouver city council should consider using a P3 to bring streetcars back to Vancouver? 64.48% said “Yes” and 35.51% said “No.” This is a very interesting result.
As we recently saw with the City of Burnaby’s online Gateway project poll, online polls can produce highly
questionable results. But in the case of CKNW’s poll the question asked was very direct and very straightforward and their website receives more than enough hits everyday to provide some random statistical substance to the poll results.
What strikes us as being noteworthy is the fact that two-thirds of the CKNW poll respondents were in favour of the P3 approach to bringing back streetcars; a fairly overwhelming endorsement of the P3 approach when you consider the vast amount of time and money that different vested interest groups have spent spreading anti-P3 propaganda in B.C. over the past few years.
Lately, P3 success stories have been piling up in B.C. faster than gridlocked cars on the Port Mann Bridge: The new Abbotsford Hospital, the new Kicking Horse Canyon Bridge, the new Canada Line, and the Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre at VGH are just a few examples of notable P3 successes we can point to here in B.C., with the Port Mann Bridge and the Evergreen Line soon to join the list.
There is an old saying that you can’t argue with success. Unfortunately the great success of P3’s in B.C. hasn’t stopped the anti-P3 vested interests from trying. But if I was an anti-P3 propagandist I would probably be thinking about making a career change sometime soon.
Labels: Burnaby, CKNW, P3, Port Mann Bridge
Port Mann project passes major milestone with Bill 14
Pro-Transportation group says public-private partnerships have proven themselves here in B.C. Vancouver, B.C. – The Port Mann Bridge project successfully passed a major milestone on the road to completion last Thursday with the introduction of Bill 14. And according to
Get Moving BC spokesperson Sheri Wiens that’s great news for the thousands of frustrated Lower Mainland commuters who’ve been gridlocked by the aging forty-four year old Port Mann Bridge for far too long.
“Bill 14 is great news for frustrated Port Mann commuters,” Wiens says. “They can all breathe a little easier knowing the project isn’t a far off thing anymore, it really is becoming more real every day.”
Bill 14 – which is formally called the Transportation Investment (Port Mann Twinning) Amendment Act – establishes a new crown corporation that will partner with private sector companies to design, build, finance and then operate the new Port Mann Bridge and improved Highway #1.
Wiens says public-private partnerships combine the strengths of the private sector with the strengths of government in a way that creates great value for taxpayers. When it comes to bringing major projects in on time and on budget, Wiens says, public-private partnerships have a superior record to governments going it alone, and they produce top quality work.
“There’s no question that public-private partnerships have proven themselves here in B.C.,” says Wiens pointing to a number of examples of successful public-private partnerships here in B.C. like the new Abbotsford Hospital, the Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre at VGH, the new Kicking Horse Canyon Bridge and even the new Canada Line that is currently ahead of schedule.
“Partnering with industry, and making use of industry’s ability to innovate, just makes good sense for taxpayers,” says Wiens. “Governments should stick to what they do best and not try to reinvent what private industry already does really well.”
Wiens says
Get Moving BC has also called on TransLink to look at adopting Hong Kong’s proven public-private partnership model to help expand the Lower Mainland’s transit system and help pay for the $14 billion transit plan announced by the provincial government. Wiens says leveraging commercial and residential real estate development using a public-private partnership model would not only help pay for the expansion of the transit system it would also contribute to the long term operating costs of the system.
“Hong Kong has one of the few profitable transit systems in the world, which is why we called on TransLink to adopt Hong Kong’s innovative public-private development model,” Wiens says. “Public-private partnerships work and they’ve proven themselves, and we’ve got plenty of great examples we can point to right here in the Lower Mainland.”
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Get Moving BC is dedicated to holding governments accountable for a balanced transportation system and was formed to provide a voice for the majority of Greater Vancouver residents who support improving our roads, bridges and transit systems.
For more information please contact Get Moving BC at 604-678-5567 or by email at
info@getmovingbc.comOnline References and Attachments:
·
http://www.getmovingbc.com/· Get Moving BC press release from February 11, 2008 : Get Moving BC Says “No” To New Transit Taxes
http://www.getmovingbc.com/press_release/February11_2008.html Labels: Bill 14, Port Mann Bridge, Public Private Partnership, TransLink
Today was a truly historic day in transportation history here in British Columbia. It was one of those red letter days that people will talk about for years to come. 
