For Delta’s police chief Dubord, George Massey project is about safety for responders first

DELTA (NEWS 1130) — Ongoing delays to replace or upgrade the aging George Massey Tunnel are just as frustrating for first responders as they are for daily, gridlocked commuters.

Delta’s police chief Neil Dubord says it’s getting harder for his officers to quickly respond to emergencies, adding that traffic is often so congested that dispatchers have to send first responders to both entrances of the tunnel.

“What we typically see when any call is made to the tunnel, we end up responding from both sides because we never know who’s going to be able to get through,” he says.

“Sometimes the traffic is so bad that we cannot get through and getting our officers out on foot isn’t always an option to be able to go into the middle of the tunnel.”

He adds he’ll leave it up to the engineers to figure out if a bridge or a second tunnel is the right way to go, but he points out crashes on the Alex Fraser bridge are usually easy to access, even when volumes are high.

“All I ask is that whatever they build, they build it with enough capacity for us to be able to have a side lane that we can travel up as a first responder and get to wherever we need to go,” Dubord says.

“Or, there’s enough room in each of the lanes, so cars can squish together and give us sort of a lane to be able to pass by. Like on the bridge, we’re able to get cars into, say, two cars into one lane almost and you’re able to squeeze by sometimes.”

A review ordered by the provincial government last year is slated for release by the end of the month.

— with files from Tim James

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today