Metro Vancouver wants more time to review Massey Tunnel replacement plans

DELTA (NEWS 1130) – Metro Vancouver wants the provincial government to give it more time to look into the plan to replace the Massey Tunnel with a $3.5 billion bridge. This comes after staff for the region raised concerns about potential land use or traffic issues.

“We think it needs a lot more analysis than a couple of months, a couple of those over the Christmas break and over January,” says Metro Chair and Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore.

“We need some more time to look at all the impacts, from air quality, traffic planning, parks planning, regional land use planning. This is a major infrastructure piece and we need to make sure that it’s going to fit into what the region has said we want our livable region to be like.”

From the time the plan was announced, there have been concerns about the 10-lane bridge eating up farmland, despite the province’s insistence there won’t be net loss.

Traffic patterns need to be studied further as well, according to Moore. In all, the board expects to ask the province for two more months.

“When you’re looking at the regional growth strategy, so Metro 2040, how does that impact the traffic flows, as well as the land-use planning? Not just for that area around the bridge, but for the surrounding area and even the Greater Vancouver area,” says Moore.

Others are worried the project will flood the Oak and Knight Street bridges with traffic — something they’re not built to handle.

Staff are set to present their recommendations to the Metro board later today.

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