As anyone who lives in Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows knows there has been a lot of work on roads and bridges in our community.
Projects like the Lougheed enhancements, new Pitt River Bridge, and the proposed (not to mention controversial) North Lougheed Connector, all have a Provincial government dimension and so Michael brought them up in the House.
Below is the official transcript of Michael’s exchange with the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Shirley Bond.
2010 Legislative Session: Second Session, 39th Parliament
HANSARD
The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.
Official Report of
DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
(Hansard)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010
Afternoon Sitting
Volume 15, Number 3
PROCEEDINGS IN THE
DOUGLAS FIR ROOM
Committee of Supply
ESTIMATES: MINISTRY OF
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
(continued)
M. Sather: The rapid bus lane that the government announced to go from the Golden Ears Bridge connector to Harris Road in Pitt Meadows — can the minister tell me when construction will begin?
Hon. S. Bond: It is a stimulus project. We expect it to start, obviously, as soon as possible because it needs to be completed by March of 2011, as other stimulus projects would need to be finished. We don’t have a specific start date at the moment, but because of the compressed nature of the infrastructure program, we need to get them moving as soon as possible. So sometime in the near future it will begin. I don’t have a specific date. It would be completed at the absolute latest by March of 2011.
M. Sather: And the bridge will double, if you will, as an HOV lane. Is that correct?
Hon. S. Bond: The bridge has been built to accommodate a bus-priority HOV lane. It’s undetermined at this moment in time. The bridge is built to accommodate it, but I don’t have a specific date as to when we would implement the lane over the bridge — so built to accommodate it; not certain when it would actually be implemented.
M. Sather: My apologies to the minister. I misspoke. I didn’t mean the bridge. I meant the rapid bus lane. But I think you may have answered it anyway, if I’m not mistaken. It will accommodate an HOV. Yeah. Okay.
The other thing I want to ask the minister about is…. In Pitt Meadows there’s been a lot of discussion about a second connector from the Abernethy Connector, which goes onto the Golden Ears Bridge to Harris Road. Locally at least, it’s called the north Lougheed connector. If it were to be built, it would connect with the provincial highway.
Can the minister tell me: what discussions has the provincial government had with Pitt Meadows municipality about that road and the connection with the Lougheed Highway?
Hon. S. Bond: All I can say is that I am very lucky to have the team that I have, because for me to actually be able to answer you with any credibility on some of these projects without them would be impossible.
I’m told that this is not a provincial highway, so our role is a supporting role to the municipality. It’s their responsibility in terms of the actual connection. Where our partnership would come is when it actually interfaces with the provincial highway.
What we’ve done to date…. There have been discussions, and in fact we are working in terms of doing the analysis necessary, looking at traffic counts and a number of other sorts of data pieces. Because it’s not a provincial highway, it is actually a municipal responsibility.
I’m told there’s a very productive partnership and that eventually our role would be that interface with the provincial highway. We’re in ongoing discussions about that.
M. Sather: I wanted to ask a question also about the Pitt River Bridge, which the Premier was at last fall to announce the opening. Everything is going great, I guess. It seems to have stalled, though, and we’ve got big bumps on that bridge. They’re actually rather dangerous for traffic going both directions — both bumps coming off the bridge, if you will, and also there’s some other work that needs to be done there.
I wonder if the minister could tell me when those bumps will be corrected, when the lanes will be finalized and when that project will be complete. I know there’s a spur road — I can’t remember the name of it right now — heading off towards Coquitlam from the bridge. I’m not so much concerned about that but mainly the effects that it has for my constituents going back and forth on the bridge.
Hon. S. Bond: I want you to know that the member opposite is in great company. Apparently, my deputy drives over those bumps too, so he’s been asking Frank why it hasn’t been fixed. I can tell you why, and it will be fixed within the next couple of weeks. The issue has been that it’s been too cool to pave. In fact, what Frank tells me — and he is a fountain of knowledge — is that we’ve only had five paving days in the last 150 when we could actually do that.
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The temperature is now obviously warming. We commit to getting it fixed, and I can assure you that the deputy will continue to remind me of your questions. We understand the bumps. We’ll get them fixed in the next couple of weeks, and thank you for reminding us.
