Photo by Philip Steiner
The Council of Canadians Delta-Richmond chapter held a public forum titled, ‘Connecting Community? Impacts of a New Bridge on Richmond’ yesterday evening.
The featured speakers were Harold Steeves (a long-time member of the City of Richmond’s city council), Susan Jones (who is with APE, Against Port Expansion in the Fraser Estuary BC) and Eric Doherty (a transportation planner, communications consultant and Council of Canadians activist).
A tweet by Philip Steiner says, “@Eric_Doherty: You can’t build your way out of congestion! #MasseyBridge boondoggle will turn #RichmondBC into a parking lot #bcelxn17”
The George Massey Tunnel is a highway traffic tunnel in Metro Vancouver that is located about 20 kilometres south of Vancouver city centre. The four-lane highway goes under the south arm of the Fraser River estuary and joins the municipalities of Richmond and Delta. The tunnel opened in 1959.
In September 2012, Premier Christy Clark announced plans to replace the tunnel within 10 years. A year later, she announced that construction of a bridge to replace the tunnel would begin in 2017. A ten-lane bridge is now being built to replace the four-lane tunnel at a cost of $3.5 billion.
Opposition to the construction of the bridge has focused on: the resulting loss of prime agricultural land, the additional greenhouse gas emissions that come with adding more space for cars, the government’s lack of commitment to public transit alternatives, the $3.5 billion price tag, and the proposed removal of the tunnel which could affect the salinity of the lower Fraser River.
Doherty has stated, “We must stop spending public money on making the climate crisis worse, and shift the money to solutions like public transit and electric trains. It’s time for all concerned people to take a stand against these freeway projects that are cooking our planet.”
The Delta-Richmond chapter has been expressing its opposition to the bridge since at least March 2013.
The Council of Canadians supports the Leap Manifesto demand for affordable public transit in place of more cars.
Further reading
Delta-Richmond chapter & allies disrupt groundbreaking ceremony for Massey Bridge (April 5, 2017)
