Some New West residents don’t want more money spent on lanes

NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS1130) – With the new Port Mann bridge opening this December many are questioning when other infrastructure projects in the Lower Mainland will go ahead.

When it comes to a new Pattullo Bridge, some people in New Westminster don’t see the point in spending more money for more lanes.

Two options are on the table for a Pattullo Bridge replacement: The first involves spending about $500-million on a new four lane bridge. The other option is spending $200-million more for six lanes – which is favoured by TransLink.

But blogger and transportation activist Nathan Pachal says building more traffic lanes doesn’t always equal less congestion.

“When you replace that four lane bridge with a six lane bridge is basically shifting the bottleneck 500 metres,” he explains. “For the extra $200-million is it really worth shifting the bottleneck?”

TransLink’s website says they’re hoping to open a new Pattullo bridge by 2018. Meanwhile the Pattullo Bridge is closed this weekend, August 17th-18th for maintenance.