Bailey Bridge closure has delayed an ambulance: Coquitlam’s mayor
Posted April 11, 2014 7:51 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
COQUITLAM (NEWS1130) – When you call an ambulance, you expect it will rush you to hospital.
But it seems the impact of not having a functioning Bailey Bridge between Coquitlam and New Westminster is being felt — even by emergency responders.
The mayor of Coquitlam says at least one ambulance trying to get to hospital has been delayed because of traffic.
“We had one delay where a woman in an ambulance at rush hour was kept, stuck in traffic for ten minutes… ambulance sirens blaring, trying to get to Royal Columbian Hospital, but the traffic wasn’t moving anywhere,” says Richard Stewart.
Cracks closed the bridge about a month ago.
“We continue to hear from our residents that experience enormous delays on that corridor because now all the trucks have had to move off of United Boulevard and on to Brunette overpass, which is very limited capacity.”
Coquitlam wants to see the span become multi-laned. New Westminster is concerned about traffic congestion if that were to happen; it would prefer for it to remain single-laned.
The issue is set to go to binding arbitration.
There are plans for a temporary bridge to go in, but that hasn’t happened yet.
