Tuesday's commuters may face gridlock, TransLink warns
By Kelly Sinoski, Catherine Rolfsen and Gordon Hamilton,
Vancouver Sun
January 20, 2009 12:27 AM
METRO VANCOUVER — Commuters crossing the Fraser River Tuesday morning are urged to carpool or use public transit to avoid expected delays and gridlock as the Pattullo Bridge remains closed.
TransLink expects the commute to be even worse than on Monday because traffic is normally heavier on Tuesday.
TransLink has added extra SkyTrain cars and Coast Mountain buses and will open the George Massey Tunnel counterflow lane 45 minutes earlier than usual to keep traffic flowing.
TransLink CEO Tom Prendergast said even though public transit is running at near capacity now,
TransLink may consider fare discounts to get people using buses or SkyTrain and keep cars from choking the tunnel and clogging the Alex Fraser and Port Mann bridges.
Early Monday morning, tunnel traffic was backed up along the King George Highway into south Surrey, while buses on 108th Avenue in Surrey had to be rerouted before they reached Highway 1 because they couldn’t get through, TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said.
The evening rush also saw long lines snaking into Guildford and along the Alex Fraser and the tunnel. A bicycle ban on SkyTrain remains in effect because of the overcrowding, and police have warned they will be enforcing rules governing HOV-lane use.
“The traffic tie-ups were rather substantial,” Prendergast said, adding that despite extra transit services, people chose to drive to work earlier or later than usual.
“We’re really trying to promote carpooling,” he said. “We need to minimize the number of cars traversing the Fraser River.”
The Pattullo Bridge had to be closed Sunday after a suspicious fire engulfed an 18-metre section of wooden trestle at its south end. The bridge’s 80,000 daily commuters have been diverted to the Port Mann and Alex Fraser bridges, the tunnel and onto public transit.
TransLink says the fire may have been started by homeless people, who were huddled under the trestle and lit a candle to keep warm. The area was blocked by a chainlink fence, but Hardie said “there were signs that people got in.”
Surrey RCMP are still investigating.
The bridge, which connects Surrey and New Westminster, serves about 20 per cent of the commuter traffic across the Fraser River.
It is expected to be closed to all traffic — including pedestrians and cyclists — for at least a month, while
TransLink repairs the wooden trestle, at a cost of about $2 million. The money will come out of TransLink’s contingency budget, Prendergast said.
“What we’re really focused on now is getting it done as soon as possible,” he said.
The charred trestle, which contains asbestos and creosote, was demolished Monday. TransLink now plans to scour Metro Vancouver for a prefabricated four-lane chunk of unused bridge that can be cut to size to replace the span.
Prendergast said the bridge repair is complex because the trestle is located on an elevated embankment of soft soil that is sinking. If it can’t find an unused section of bridge, TransLink will have to find the right materials and fabricate them to fit the span. New footings and girdings are also needed.
The trestle, which has been shored up over time to keep it stable, had been slated for replacement within the next five months in a bid to keep the bridge safe and maintained for the next 10 years while a replacement six-lane bridge is built. The design for the new bridge is 85-per-cent complete.
But Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said the bridge should have already been in place. The situation, she said, underscores the need for more buses, trains and transit in Metro Vancouver’s second-largest city.
The Pattullo, opened in 1937, was the first major commuting route between Surrey and communities to the north and west. Over the years, its narrow lanes and sharply curved approaches have been blamed for numerous head-on collisions.
In 1952, then-provincial highways minister “Flying Phil” Gaglardi said the bridge was almost obsolete. But instead of replacing it, he chose to build the George Massey Tunnel, linking Richmond and Delta.
“It just speaks to the aging infrastructure [in Surrey],” Watts said. “We’ve been asking for the replacement of that bridge for eight to 10 years. This exacerbates the problem which is frustrating commuters already. South of the Fraser infrastructure has been far less than any in the Lower Mainland.”
Watts said depending on the design of the new bridge, both the Pattullo and the new twinned Port Mann Bridge should be dealt with together.
Prendergast said the details are still to be finalized on the location of the new Pattullo, saying only that it will follow the existing corridor. TransLink is calling for tolls on the new bridge, but Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said that should be a last resort.
Bruce Ralston, New Democrat MLA for Surrey-Whalley, agreed infrastructure in Surrey has lagged in comparison to its rapid growth, whether it be a lack of buses, the long-awaited SkyTrain extension or light rail.
“To be told we have to wait another 10 years for a replacement won’t make a lot of people out here happy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prendergast said TransLink will look at other bridges and infrastructure in Metro Vancouver to see if they are also in need of repairs or protection.
TransLink owns the wooden Westham Island Bridge leading to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta, while several rail bridges are also made of wood and coated with creosote to keep them from rotting, Hardie said.
ksinoski@vancouversun.com
ksinoski@vancouversun.com
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