One of the Lower Mainland's biggest bottlenecks, the George Massey Tunnel, will be replaced by a bridge, Premier Christy Clark announced at the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) annual conference this morning.
Clark said work on the bridge would start in 2017, and that it would follow the existing Highway 99 corridor.
The tunnel connects Richmond with Delta. There has been talk for years about either twinning it or building a new bridge.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie told Business in Vancouver replacing the bridge is a good idea, but added the province need not wait until 2017 to relieve some of the congestion.
"It's a good idea to have a new bridge because the tunnel is coming to the end of its life, but don't wait on that to relieve congestion – it can be done in the meantime," he said.
He said more buses would help relieve congestion right away. He added the province could insist that the ports that generate so much truck traffic could have round-the-clock operations, "so that a lot of the trucks that are in that corridor and causing such congestion can then be taken to their destinations in the off times."
A B.C. government news release says the public will get the results of engineering an technical work now underway will be presented to the public in the spring of 2014.
In the meantime, the government plans to begin work "immediately" to lengthen the Steveston off-ramp on Highway 99 at the north end of the Massey Tunnel.
Engineering and technical work is now underway to develop a project scope and business case for the new bridge and associated Highway 99 corridor improvements. This work will be presented for public discussion next spring,
