Get Moving BC
For Immediate Release
December 23, 2008


GET MOVING BC'S "TOP TEN" LIST OF TRANSPORTATION PRIORITIES

Transportation group's year end list looks down the road to priority transportation projects for the Lower Mainland
once the Port Mann Bridge/Highway 1, Canada Line, Pitt River Bridge and Golden Ears Bridge projects are completed


 
Vancouver, B.C. - As 2008 comes to a close, Get Moving BC is looking down the road to some of the priority transportation projects for the Lower Mainland once the Canada Line, Pitt River Bridge and Golden Ears Bridge projects are completed and the Port Mann Bridge/Highway 1 and South Fraser Perimeter Road projects are under way.

Get Moving BC's "Top Ten" list includes such major transit projects as the Evergreen Line and Millennium Line extension to UBC as well as major bridge projects like a new Pattullo Bridge and a bridge to replace the Massey Tunnel.

Get Moving BC's Ian MacPherson says progress has definitely been made on transportation issues over the past year and he's looking forward to seeing some of the other badly-needed transportation projects in the Lower Mainland getting underway now that infrastructure spending has become a top priority for federal and provincial governments alike.

"We've got some momentum going on transportation projects in the Lower Mainland, and now we have to keep that momentum going so we don't get behind like we have in the past," MacPherson says. "I'm especially pleased to hear the politicians talking about getting the Evergreen Line underway - it looks like that one's going to be in the bag fairly soon."

In addition to getting big projects like the Evergreen Line underway, MacPherson hopes the federal and provincial governments will also look for opportunities to get a variety of smaller, "easy to get off the ground" transportation projects underway that can provide economic stimulus right away. MacPherson suspects there is no shortage of these small projects and that every municipality in the Lower Mainland should be coming to the table.

MacPherson also feels some "old fashioned entrepreneurial spirit and common sense ingenuity" should be employed alongside any stimulus spending to give it added leverage.

"Proximity to public transit is always a positive factor in setting real estate values," MacPherson says, "so any new infrastructure spending should also look at ways that taxpayers can benefit from the development potential of properties near transit and for that development potential to help to fund the kind of transit system and infrastructure we need without raising taxes."

MacPherson says all of the projects on Get Moving BC's "Top Ten" list have an important role to play in moving people and goods around the Lower Mainland and that no single project on the list is more important than any of the others. The objective, MacPherson says, is to improve our overall transportation system and get people and goods moving efficiently in ways that minimize environmental impacts and maximize economic and social benefits.

Get Moving BC's "Top Ten" list includes projects that MacPherson says are already well-known as well as projects that have been on the books for so long now they've almost been forgotten like the Stormont Connector and the Tree Island Bridge.

Get Moving BC's "Top Ten" list of priority transportation projects that need to be considered now that the Canada Line, Pitt River Bridge and Golden Ears Bridge projects are nearing completion and the Port Mann Bridge/Highway 1 and South Fraser Perimeter Road projects are getting underway is as follows:

  1. The Evergreen Line - with an extension to Port Coquitlam
  2. Increase bus service and other transit in underserved parts of the Lower Mainland such as south of the Fraser River and integrate communities like Abbotsford and Chilliwack into future regional dedicated Express Bus networks
  3. Plan ahead for an LRT line across the twinned Port Mann Bridge to 200th Street, and perhaps into Langley, to allow communities south of the Fraser to plan for future density around proposed LRT stations
  4. Fast track the North Fraser Perimeter Road and encapsulate Front Street for the revitalisation of New Westminster's waterfront and downtown
  5. Replace the single-lane Bailey bridge between Coquitlam and New Westminster, widen Braid Street through the Braid Industrial area and provide grade separation between the roadway and railway tracks
  6. Extend the Millennium Line westward along Broadway to UBC
  7. Build a new Pattullo Bridge and the Stormont connecter to connect McBride Boulevard in New Westminster with the newly-improved Highway 1 in Burnaby
  8. Build the Tree Island bridge to connect the Alex Fraser Bridge and Highway 91A to the Marine-Byrne Road intersection
  9. Build a new bridge to replace the Massey (Dease Island) tunnel
  10. Build a new bridge across the Fraser River between the Port Mann Bridge and the Pattullo Bridge

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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.com

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