Thursday, January 12, 2012 Thanks to the kindness of local residents, Friends In Need Food Bank met its Christmas targets.
Page A5 • LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER AND ENTERTAINMENT • mrtimes.com • 604-463-2281 • 32 PAGES
Kids educated outdoors Grade 4 Declan Fitzpatrick and Grade 2 Keenan Stark peered out from a fort built at UBC’s Malcom Knapp Research Forest. See story, page A6.
Troy Landreville/TIMES
Transportation
Bridge traffic approaching forecast numbers Golden Ears crossings
January-September 2011 Daily average crossings January: 22,400 (19,600) February: 24,100 (20,500) March: 25,500 (22,300) April: 26,200 (22,900) May: 26,700 (23,600) June: 28,600 (25,200) July: 28,000 (25,700) August: 29,500 (26,200) September: 29,200 (25,800) Note: 2010 number in brackets
Maple Ridge mayor might support tolling all bridges in the region. by Maria Rantanen mrantanen@mrtimes.com
Crossings on the Golden Ears Bridge climbed steadily throughout 2011. With an increase of 13.4 per cent in the first nine months, it’s getting close to the number forecast when the bridge was initially planned. The total number of trips from January to September 2011 was about 7.3 million – 630,000 lower than budgeted for the year. Daily averages went up about 3,500 compared to the first nine months of 2010, for example, in September 2010, the daily average was 25,800 whereas in September
2011, this figure was 29,500. Traffic volume is approaching the “low end” of what was projected in 2004 when the bridge was being planned, according to TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardie. Currently the Golden Ears Bridge is the only tolled bridge in the Lower Mainland, but soon tolls will be in place on the rebuilt Port Mann Bridge. Adding tolls to all bridges in the region might be one way of funding transit, said Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin. Daykin said he’d be willing to look at a toll on every bridge across the Lower Mainland to pay for transit, pointing out that tolls are not a new concept and many regions around North America and Europe have tolls on roads and bridges. “Maybe that’s one option... something worth considering,” he said.
Finding different ways to pay for transit is something Daykin would like to see happen during the next six to 12 months at TransLink’s mayors’ council. A vehicle levy would be another option that Daykin would ponder, but he said areas that have higher density and more transit should have higher levies. For many people living in the Fraser Valley, where there is less transit service, one or two cars is usually a necessity. TransLink has “really limited options” when it comes to funding transportation, Daykin said, and he’d like to see legislative changes to give the transit authority the ability to raise more funds. But, he added, the average bus rider doesn’t care how transit is funded, “they just want a bus,” Daykin said.
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