Commuters heading to the Massey Tunnel can expect another day of gridlock with no word on how the replacement project is going.
Delta Coun. Dylan Kruger isn’t happy, as the B.C. government hasn’t provided much of an update on the replacement project.
Kruger’s wondering what’s going on.
“We should have had a new crossing completed over two years ago … to relieve what is the biggest bottleneck in Metro Vancouver — over 100,000 commuters going through that crossing every day, stuck in traffic,” he told 1130 NewsRadio.
Instead, Kruger says they’ve been given no information at the Union of BC Municipalities Convention, currently underway in downtown Vancouver.
“There’s been no update to timelines or budget since pre covid. We are seeing almost every major multibillion-dollar infrastructure project go over time and over budget right now,” he explained.
“I’m very concerned about the ability to deliver this project at the quote of $4.1 billion from a number of years ago, and I’m also increasingly concerned about meeting that 2030 deadline when we still don’t have an improved environmental assessment.”
He points to what’s happened with other major projects like the North Shore Waste Water Treatment plant and the new Pattullo Bridge. Both have seen their price explode by billions of dollars, and delays in when the work is supposed to be done.
“Building a tunnel is complex. You have to build it in segments on dry land and then plunk massive concrete tubes into the middle of the Fraser River estuary, so we still have an improved environmental assessment on the project and I’m also concerned about short and long-term impacts of one of our best regional parks in Metro Vancouver.”
He says if the NDP had stuck with the project the then-BC Liberal government was building, people would already be using the new bridge.
Kruger is crossing his fingers that Eby will give civic politicians an update at Thursday’s Union of BC Municipalities Convention.