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Get Moving BC Press Release
NEW GET MOVING
BC / NRG RESEARCH POLL
72% of Burnaby Residents Support Widening of Highway 1 and Twinning of Port Mann Bridge
Burnaby,
B.C.
– A new poll commissioned by Get Moving BC shows that 72% of Burnaby’s
residents support the expansion of Highway 1 from Vancouver to Langley,
improving the highway on and off ramps, and twinning the Port Mann Bridge.
The
Get Moving BC poll also shows that 67% of Burnaby’s residents agree that
“improving Highway 1 and the Port Mann Bridge will improve the quality of life
for people in the Lower Mainland.”
Michael
McBratney is a member of Get Moving BC’s Advisory Board and a long-time
Burnaby resident. He says he is pleasantly surprised by the poll results. “I
knew in my gut that support for widening Highway 1 and twinning the Port Mann
Bridge was strong in Burnaby, but I was pleased to see just how high that
support level really is; 72% with two thirds of them being very strongly in
support of the project.”
The
Get Moving BC poll was conducted by the NRG Research Group during the
week of September 10th to 14th 2007. Three hundred
randomly selected Burnaby residents were interviewed for the poll. A random
sample survey of 300 respondents is representative of the underlying population
from which it is drawn within +/- 5.7 percent 19 times out of 20.
The poll
also found that 73% of Burnaby residents agreed that “rebuilding and improving
each of Burnaby’s Highway 1 overpasses will improve traffic flow in the
north-south direction.”
“There is
now no confusion about whether the citizens of Burnaby support or oppose the
project,” said McBratney. “The majority of Burnaby’s citizens are clearly in
support of widening the highway and expanding the Port Mann Bridge.”
The
design concept for the Port Mann / Highway 1 (PMH1) Project proposes a new
parallel bridge on the west side of the existing Port Mann Bridge, which would
also provide cycling access and be designed to accommodate future light rail
transit.
One lane
in each direction will also be designated as an HOV lane, significantly
expanding the existing HOV network and making it possible to provide reliably
scheduled bus service connections between communities north and south of the
Fraser River. The Port Mann Bridge is currently congested 13 hours each day
making reliable transit impossible.
Ian
MacPherson is also a member of Get Moving BC’s Advisory Board and he says it’s
time for the Lower Mainland to “catch up” with its transportation
infrastructure. “We’re fortunate to be living in a region as dynamic as the
Lower Mainland,” he says, “but the region is going to continue to grow and
change and we need to get on with projects like twinning the Port Mann and
expanding rapid transit so that we aren’t forever trying to catch up.”
– 30 –
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’s media desk at 604-678-5567 or by email at
info@getmovingbc.com
Online References and Attachments:
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