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STARS SHINE: LaDonna Wiks-Joseph and Megan Hindmarch of Stars of the North drumming were among the performers and speakers at International Women’s Day 2020: DISRUPT, a free event on Sunday, March 8 at River Market. PHOTO JENNIFER GAUTHIER
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City stands behind four lanes for Pattullo Theresa McManus tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca
A six-lane replacement for the Pattullo Bridge would have “significant” impacts on New Westminster’s roads, says the city’s director of engineering. The provincial government recently announced construction of a new fourlane replacement for the Pattullo Bridge will get underway this year. Although the province and the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation had previ-
ously endorsed a plan for a four-lane bridge with designated lanes for pedestrians and cyclists, the announcement prompted some people to question why a sixlane structure isn’t being built. “The bottom line is we are saying there is simply no room for road expansions on the New Westminster side,” said Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering. “We are a historic city. Our road network is essentially fixed.We just think there is simply no room to
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expand roads.” Lowrie said the bridge is being built as a four-lane bridge but wouldn’t preclude expansion to six lanes in the future. However, he said expanding the bridge to five or six lanes would have a “significant impact on New Westminster’s road network,” as there is no additional road capacity on this side of the river. Last month, the Surrey Board of Trade released a report indicating the majority of its members who had responded to a survey want
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ment through the Mayors’ Council. While some Metro Vancouver politicians have recently suggested the new bridge should be six lanes, that’s not going to happen at this time. “The ship has sailed on this matter, and the province is building a four-lane bridge,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote in an email to the Record. “It was always acknowledged that at some point there would be a discussion about what the conditions would be to discuss
the expansion of the bridge to six lanes, but that conversation is way too premature and should occur after the new bridge is completed and we know the impacts of the new bridge on the system and see where other transportation infrastructure discussions have evolved.” In March 2014, the City of New Westminster released A Reasonable Approach: A Perspective on the Pattullo Bridge. Continued on page 5
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a six-lane bridge on opening day. When planning was underway in 2013 and 2014 for the bridge replacement project, some Metro Vancouver politicians supported the idea of a six-lane structure. In response to the idea of a six-lane replacement bridge, members of New Westminster city council visited councils around the region to garner support for a four-lane bridge – ultimately getting support for a four-lane replace-
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