Frankly Speaking

The new Pattullo Bridge will be built by the provincial government, at a cost of $1.377 billion. Premier John Horgan made that announcement Friday morning in New Westminster. It is set to open in 2023. Premier John Horgan was in New Westminster Friday morning to announce the replacement of the Pattullo Bridge. The province has finally broken the lengthy and frustrating logjam over financing of a new bridge. It has taken over the project in its entirety, and will pay the $1.377 billion to build the new bridge and demolish the old one when the new bridge opens in 2023. Construction is set to begin in the summer of 2019. The Pattullo Bridge was originally built by the provincial government in the days when T.D. Pattullo was premier. It opened in 1937 during his second term as premier and has borne his name since it opened. It was a major and much-needed public works project in the midst of the Great Depression, at a time when all governments, including the province, had very ...

Frank Bucholtz photo A SkyTrain rolls into the Lafarge Lake-Douglas station at the end of the Evergreen Line on Friday, Dec. 2, opening day for the extension of the rapid transit system. Friday was a day that many Tri-City residents thought would never come. The 11 kilometre extension of SkyTrain into Coquitlam and Port Moody, the Evergreen Line project, was officially opened by Premier Christy Clark and local mayors. Passengers started boarding the trains at 12 noon. The Evergreen Line has been a long time coming. First promised even before the Millennium Line opened in 2002, it was put on the shelf many times. Its history is instructive of the challenges involved in building rapid transit in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, and of the many twists and turns which inevitably occur when a project does finally get the green light. Way back in 1980, the provincial government decided on SkyTrain as the long-awaited rapid transit technology that would be used in the Lower Mainland. I cov...

LRT vehicles in Surrey would look something like this. In a March 1 meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at city hall, Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner again emphasized the importance of Surrey’s proposal for two LRT lines, as well as other green infrastructure. It was the first visit ever of a sitting prime minister to Surrey city hall, which demonstrates Surrey’s rising importance nationally. It continues to be one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada. It also suffers from a significant infrastructure deficit, with schools, recreation facilities, roads, parks and transit projects all in short supply. “I wholeheartedly welcome Prime Minister Trudeau’s commitment to work with municipalities to build strong and vibrant communities across the country,” said Hepner. “We had a very constructive meeting and I look forward to working with him and his team to bring positive results on issues that intersect on both the local and national level.” The timing of the LRT line cons...