Massey Tunnel Mystery – Solved!
Ah, the truth comes out. It’s not congestion or traffic gridlock that is driving the $3.5 billion Massey Tunnel replacement, it is Port Metro Vancouver and Fraser Surrey Docks, as they want a massive subsidized bridge to replace the Massey tunnel so Panama max and Cape max vessels can venture up the Fraser River to their docking facilities.
No rapid transit; no extension of any rail transit, as it is rubber on asphalt all the way, as the taxpayer dances to the tune of Port Metro Vancouver and Fraser Surrey Docks.
Well, I say if Port Metro Vancouver and Fraser Surrey Docks want to replace the Massey Tunnel, with a ten lane, $3.5 billion bridge, let them pay for it!
The B.C. government decided in September 2013 to remove the George Massey tunnel and replace it with a $3.5-billion toll bridgeBy Kent Spencer, Postmedia News March 9, 2016
Traffic moves in and out of the George Massey Tunnel in Richmond. Richard Lam/PNG files
Photograph by: RICHARD LAM, PNG
METRO VANCOUVER — Richmond politicians want to know how a tunnel under the Fraser River that was deemed ai???good for 50 yearsai??? is to be filled in and replaced with a 10-lane bridge.
Coun. Harold Steves said council has sent a letter to the provincial government seeking all documentation around its September 2013 decision to remove the George Massey tunnel and replace it with a $3.5-billion toll bridge.
The request comes after Freedom of Information documents showed Port Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Surrey Docks company lobbied hard in favour of scrapping the tunnel, a move that would allow larger ships to ply the south arm of the Fraser River.
ai???This bridge decision caught us totally unawares,ai??? said Steves. ai???We had a lot of meetings with (former) Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon in 2006 when he told us the tunnel was good for 50 years.ai???
Steves said FOI documents show messages from Port Metro Vancouver and Fraser Surrey Docks to government planners in 2012-13, at a time when the bridge-vs.-tunnel debate was taking place in Christy Clarkai??i??s government.
A memo from the port in March, 2013 ai??i?? six months before Clarkai??i??s announcement ai??i?? showed the portai??i??s preferred option and noted officialsai??i?? sensitivity to premature disclosure of their choice: ai???Option No. 2: Replacing the tunnel with a new bridge in the same location. Not publicly confirmed yet, but this is (Port Metroai??i??s) preference.ai???
A month later, port president Robin Silvester wrote ai???established terminals upriver of the tunnel (like the Fraser Surrey Docks) are at risk of becoming obsolete.ai??? His letter was addressed to Geoff Freer, provincial director for the tunnel replacement project.
And let them pay for the increased load on the Alex Fraser, and increased congestion Richmond and Vancouver will face.