Can a Van Isl container port ease traffic congestion here?
Posted December 2, 2013 7:48 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PORT ALBERNI (NEWS1130) – A proposal for a new container port on the west coast of Vancouver Island could have an impact on your commute here in Metro Vancouver.
A study looking into whether it makes financial sense to build a billion-dollar, 300-acre container-handling terminal in Port Alberni will be completed early next year.
Metro Vancouver’s Transportation Committee will be discussing the proposal at tomorrow’s meeting.
“If the containers are being offloaded in Port Alberni and you can avoid coming through the Lower Mainland, that’s obviously going to be an advantage in terms of the traffic congestion the containers would cause when they come out of Delta,” explains Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie.
If the plan is approved, cargo bound for Seattle or Washington State wouldn’t have to come through Deltaport.
Brodie says the proposal is worth examining, but several concerns must be addressed before he throws his support behind it. “Many issues have to be addressed.”
“We’ll have to hear far more about whether the concept is feasible from Port Alberni’s point of view and also what the benefits and costs would be to the Metro Vancouver area. There will be implications with job loss [and] infrastructure impacts. What would it do to our rail system and our road system and our ability to deliver goods and services throughout this region and elsewhere?”
Click here for more information on the proposal.
