The head sums up my position, as quoted in Metro:
“You may design (a bridge) for cycling, walking and transit, but if you’re not funding the transit you can’t take that seriously,” he said. “If TransLink is at the point where it doesn’t have money to expand transit service south of the Fraser, in my opinion, it doesn’t have money for the Pattullo Bridge.”
The media are likely paying more interest on this due to the upcoming forum in New Westminster being stickhandled by Daniel Fontaine of CityCaucus:
We’ve assembled a thoughtful panel of visionaries and city officials to discuss what future possibilities for the current bridge might be. In order to get the dialogue going, our guest speakers will address everything from the feasibility of whether the Pattullo Bridge should be refurbished – to whether it could be converted to a major tourist attraction for the region.
Date: Wednesday, June 6th
Time: 7-9 pm
Location:River Market at Westminster Quay (second floor at the top of the escalators). There is plenty of parking available onsite, but the New Westminster SkyTrain station is literally next door!
I and SFU colleague Anthony Perl will be speaking.
They are already spending a lot on the Bridge. From http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=162bf1e0-2fc3-4816-8c3e-ea3d2fc2fb9e&sponsor=
“Design work for the Pattullo Bridge replacement project at $9 million.”