The proposed overbuilt Massey Bridge is becoming a sobering topic for many people as they read through the background studies which never seriously looked at any other option other than an over capacity ten lane bridge. The rationale for this massive bridge, pegged at a cost in the 3.4 billion dollar range changes with the season.Once this behemoth is built, it remains to be seen how much use it will get. It will also be tolled, which will increase traffic onto other bridges. But other than the truckers at Deltaport who do not work efficiently 24 hours 7 days a week on schedule like every other port in North America there is little rationale for why a massive bridge needs to be located here instead of simply twinning the currently configured tunnel. Perhaps it is for access to pump up volumes at the sparsely used Tsawwassen Mills mall, built on the finest agricultural land in Canada and impacting the sensitive Pacific migratory bird flyway.
Jeremy Nuttall in the Tyee reports that “According to news reports, the province is backing the bridge because Port Metro Vancouver, a federal government authority, and Fraser Surrey Docks lobbied the province to get rid of the tunnel. With the tunnel gone, it will be possible to dredge the south arm of the Fraser and bring bigger ships to upstream ports.”
Such dredging will severely impact salmon stocks. The Cohen Commission examining the fish stocks and ecological impacts on the Fraser River concluded that the Department of Forests and Oceans needed to examine the cumulative impacts of industrialization on Fraser River sockeye habitat. As projects get approved on a project by project basis, there is no comprehensive evaluation on the damage being done to existing resources.
City of Richmond councillor Harold Steves has also said that Port Metro Vancouver will be turning 100 hectares of farmland in Richmond into port supported industrial use, something they can do without municipal approval as a federal body. Even though a federal environmental review was requested, there has been no response from Ottawa.
And there you have it. Federal “spokesperson Michelle Imbeau said the department is responsible for reviewing the “proposed works” but said has not yet done so. She noted the provincial government had conducted its own review and approved the project.”
Which is as much to say the Federal Government is letting the Province decide. And the Province is looking at no other alternatives ecologically, financially or practically other than this expensive and ecologically disruptive megaproject. It is the classic case of passing the buck.
There’s a brilliantly designed kindergarden in Japan called Takaharu Tezuka. It’s a circular structure with a rooftop deck. Kids play there. They start running and running in circles. They can’t stop.
This is a metaphor for motordom. Mindless movement. Megalomaniac Robert Moses had the same obsession – New York ringed by roads – motorterrorists zooming around. Corbusier too was a lover of this idiocy.
The Japanese kids are having fun; getting exercise. Motorists are fuming; polluting; sucking up resources.
Every mayor and motorist quacks the same line: more roads, tunnels, bridges …
“Motorterrorists”, oh Arnie, you’re a card.
The 1,800-strong Ironworkers union endorsed Clark’s B.C. Liberals for the coming election, saying they feel abandoned by New Democrats who oppose the Site C dam, George Massey bridge and the liquified natural gas industry, which will generate thousands of jobs.
“How do I go to my members and say I need you to support the NDP when they are against everything the Ironworkers stand for?” said Doug Parton, business manager of Ironworkers Local 97, who took part in a press conference with the premier at a construction site in downtown Victoria.
“For years, they’ve been thought of as the labour party, but what’s happened in the past has made my members very concerned,” Parton said of the NDP. “When they come out against the George Massey bridge, that’s a direct attack against the Ironworkers, and I can’t take it any other way. That’s our bridge.”
NDP leader John Horgan brushed off the endorsement, saying it is “a long way from the campaign” and he has other priorities to worry about.
The proposal to replace the existing George Massey Tunnel with a new tolled bridge along the Highway 99 corridor is currently endorsed by half of Metro Vancouver residents, a new Insights West poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative sample, four-in-five Metro Vancouverites (82%) have heard of the proposal to replace the Massey Tunnel, and 61% say they are “very familiar” or “somewhat familiar” with it.
Half of Metro Vancouver residents (51%) support the proposal to replace the Massey Tunnel with a new tolled bridge, while one third (32%) are opposed and 17% are not sure.
Support for the proposal is highest in Surrey (63%), and among men (59%), Metro Vancouverites aged 35-54 (58%) and residents who drive to school or work (55%).
“Despite supporting the Massey replacement proposal, Metro Vancouverites do not appear ready at this point to embrace tolls, levies or higher taxes to fund transit projects,” says Mario Canseco, Vice President, Public Affairs, at Insights West.
The phenomenon with the NDP is that a good part of every union membership is conservative and would never vote for them anyway. The good wages and benefits negotiated by unions through contracts are enjoyed by people of all political colours.
If we were governed by polls we’d still be hanging innocent people and banning immigrants from everywhere but the US and Europe. Just because a poll indicates a snapshot of support for a mega-freeway doesn’t make it the right choice, especially when the consequences (financial, environmental, land use planning …) are ignored.
That last paragraph highlights one of this issue’s most interesting angles. What happens when that feeling of entitlement crashes and driving voters realize they’ll actually have to PAY for this roading infrastructure they currently deem their birthright?
As the US endlessly underscores, entitlement dies screaming. If I were the Liberals, I’d lose this election on purpose. In 3 years’ time when it sinks in that regional tolling is inevitable, any sitting government is getting the boot anyway.
If there was one takeaway from the US election, it is that polls are biased bullshit. Who paid for the poll cited above? No one asked me. How about you? Pollsters don’t work for free.
I expect the NDP is going to actively campaign against the construction of the bridge and gamble that the majority across Metro might vote against them.
Their support of a 40% provincial funding share of public transit will gain votes in the Metro. So will their $10 / day universal daycare program which will liberate predominantly women to get back to full participation in the economy (though this is off topic). The NDP is clearly becoming more urban, though their support of traditional resource industries remains a core policy. This party doesn’t have to support every questionable dam and LNG project to prove their industrial base is strong. Maybe they’ll come out for geothermal and support a significant R&D project to develop clean energy and exportable technology.
As we have seen over history. As more women enter the workforce, more people are driving and taking transit. More vehicles on the roads.
The Geothermal Resources Act governs development and use of geothermal resources, which like the air, belong to all of us. R&D planning and assistance is available through various sources. I know of one large house using geo-thermal where the electric driven pumps to bring up the heat cost over $500 a month to run. Not exactly economically viable yet. A nice feel-good idea for the wealthy though. Builders roll their eyes and shrug.
Yes, but do you know of two? I’ll bet not.
One size does not fit all. The future is going to be way more nuanced. And analysis will be used to avoid mistakes like ill-conceived geothermal and unnecessary bridges. Unfortunately the “BC Liberals” and “analysis” cannot be used in the same sentence (except this one).
I should have been more specific. Hot rocks several thousand metres down and volcanic vents provide limitless free heat to create steam and generate electricity. Iceland is a leader in this at present.
You are referring to ground exchange geothermal, some of which can be over-designed and costly. The best have a payback period in operating cost savings of under 20 years.
What does the NDP stand FOR actually ? Besides tax increases and wealth re-distribution of a shrinking pie ?
Yes today the bridge is too big, but in 20 years it will be heralded as “visionary”.
Where is the discussion of more land creation (for industrial, recreational, agriculturla and residential use) west and south of the Fraser in this context ?
But, Thomas, you keep telling us that BC is VAST. I know you and Christy just love spending taxpayer’s money (and then blaming the NDP for it) but why would we create more land if BC is so VAST?
Stanley Park was visionary. The ALR was visionary. The GMB is living in the past.
Massey tunnel has about 20% LESS traffic than the Port Mann bridge. Building the Massey bridge will cost about 50% MORE ,The interest & depreciation will be 50 % more . Take a look at Port Mann financial statements , adjust for Massey lower revenue & higher costs. its a a financial mess waiting to happen.
Here’s a cheaper solution.
Excavate the soil from the farmland to be covered by freeway asphalt and deposit it on four of the 10 bridge deck lanes. There. 50,000 m2 (over 12 acres) of farmland restored. Farming in the sky.
Yes, that was a cynical comment.
Lower Mainland is NOT that vast. It’s land area could need expansion south and west of Fraser. More & deeper tunnels perhaps a better option but also expensive. Many more bridges need widening in MetroVan and we need one more to extend Boundary Road to connect to highway in RIchmond.
There is an enormous amount of wasted and underutilized land in the Metro Region. It may not be vast but it is ubiquitous.
You’re solutions are those of last century. (Early last century).
We don’t have transportation problems so much as we have land use problems. Where are the jobs in the suburbs so people don’t need $4 billion road projects to go “somewhere else”? Where is the missing middle density that would allow Vancouver’s (proper) population to double without new bridges?
Why do you always want to spend my money?
Borrowing money to build infrastructure is a good investment. A growing region needs more bridges, tunnels & public transit. We can’t just add people but not infrastructure to move them around.
it is the cost of immigration.
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