Members of the Greater 黑马磁力 Chamber of Commerce got a peek behind the curtain at an upcoming Highway 1 widening project and learned that any hope they might hold for a provincial highway through south 黑马磁力 has a slim chance of being realized in the foreseeable future.
The revelations came Tuesday night during the Chamber鈥檚 annual 黑马磁力 Leadership Panel discussion at the Coast Hotel. The conversation was formed as a write-in Q and A session, with Fort 黑马磁力-Aldergrove MLA Rich Coleman, 黑马磁力 MLA Mary Polak, Township mayor Jack Froese and City mayor Ted Schaffer.
Growth management 鈥� with a particular focus on transportation 鈥� dominated the discussion, as panelists fielded questions about potential transit routes to light industrial areas and the future of 黑马磁力鈥檚 main east-west transportation corridors.
Asked whether any further expansion of Highway 1 is planned and, if so, when and to where, Coleman told the gathering that an official announcement is forthcoming.
He offered a bit of insight in his remarks, however, by indicating that the long-term focus of the project will be the stretch of highway between 216 Street and Whatcom Road in Abbotsford.
Although no official announcement has yet been made, the pieces are being put in place, said 黑马磁力 MLA Mary Polak, as she addressed the same question a few minutes later.
The fact that the new 216 interchange design includes an on-ramp to an eastbound HOV lane is indicative that the government has had this in its long-term planning, Polak told the crowd.
鈥淲e鈥檙e good at executing on the transportation infrastructure that we鈥檝e planned.
鈥淵ou can rest assured, when Rich talks about our plans and hearing something soon, you鈥檒l be hearing that sooner rather than later."
Future of 16 Avenue
The future of another major corridor through 黑马磁力 鈥� 16 Avenue 鈥� was also raised, with the question of whether the busy route could one day be designated a provincial highway.
Polak said it鈥檚 a question that鈥檚 been asked a number of times and has been looked at very seriously.
She said the Ministry of Transportation and TransLink together carried out an extensive study, but the answer doesn鈥檛 look promising.
One reason, she said, is that to widen 16 Avenue would 鈥渢ake a whole lot of ALR land, and that鈥檚 problematic for any highway project.鈥�
Allocating funding for transportation infrastructure is all about setting priorities, Polak added.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to look at 鈥� are you going put your money into six-laning things all the way out the Valley, or are you going to put money into four-laning 16th and turning it into a provincial highway, you pretty quickly come down to saying, 鈥業鈥檇 rather put it into Highway 1.鈥�
Polak added while this isn鈥檛 to say the idea is dead forever, 鈥淚n the grand scheme of things, 16 just does not look very promising in that regard.鈥�
Froese acknowledged that development of 16 Avenue into a provincial highway is not something that鈥檚 likely to happen anytime soon, but said it鈥檚 a conversation that has to be started.
The route is a major connector that runs through three municipalities in two regional districts, affecting an airport and multiple border crossings, said Froese.
He鈥檚 discussed its future with both the city of Abbotsford and the city of Surrey and said a study was done that included all three municipalities, the province, TransLink and ICBC. It looked at a way to address safety concerns and move goods efficiently between Highway 99 and Highway 1.
鈥淭he study came back and said it was about a $270 million project to do everything, and that didn鈥檛 count the land acquisitions.鈥�
Of that, he said, the Township鈥檚 share would be about $170 million.
鈥淲e鈥檙e saying that鈥檚 a big amount of cash that is put onto one municipality for a road that really has a regional significance.鈥�
TransLink currently funds major road networks throughout the region, including 16 Avenue, Froese said.
鈥淗owever, I鈥檝e advanced it to the Minister of Transportation to consider looking at 16 avenue as a provincial highway. As Mary said, that鈥檚 not going to happen today, but I think the conversation has to be started because it鈥檚 a large burden on our taxpayers and it鈥檚 a very important road.鈥�
In the meantime, Froese said, the Township has already taken steps toward making 16 Avenue safer, including approving the installation of traffic signals at major intersections and the construction of pull-outs, where RCMP can park to conduct speed enforcement along the busy route.
鈥淲e want to make sure that it鈥檚 safe, and the people who live down there,that it鈥檚 not going to impact them severely."
Transit Conundrum
Panelists were also questioned about the potential for transit service to Gloucester Industrial Park, where employers have reportedly had difficulty filling job vacancies because of the lack of bus service in the area.
What plans, if any, they were asked, are in place to remedy the situation.
Coleman replied that transit has always been a bit of a challenge in that area, because people come by car from up and down the Valley.
鈥淕loucester has always been a bit of a conundrum for us because we鈥檝e never been able to establish the passenger load that would justify the bus.
鈥淲e鈥檝e not had a consistent flow of people.鈥�
鈥淭ransit ridership is about density,鈥� said Polak
鈥淎nd what鈥檚 going to get people鈥檚 hackles up at a public hearing more than anything else? Density.
As she travels around the Lower Mainland in her role as Environment Minister, Polak said people regularly say two things to her that are 鈥渁bsolutely incompatible.鈥�
鈥淭hey will say, 鈥業 want to keep my one-and-a-half, two-and-a-half acre property.鈥�
鈥淭he next thing they say is, 鈥業 want transit to come to my house.鈥欌��
鈥淚t鈥檚 a question of how do we get transit to various communities, neighbourhoods and industrial job lands,鈥� said Froese, noting Gloucester was planned in the 1970s and 鈥�80s.
鈥淚n today鈥檚 world, looking at planning, I don鈥檛 know that we鈥檇 put an industrial park in an area where we don鈥檛 have services.鈥�
The problem of a lack of transit isn鈥檛 limited to industrial parks, said Froese.
Council鈥檚 priority today is trying to get bus routes into areas where the density already exists.
Bus service was only established along 208 Street last fall, he noted.
"With all the population on 208 Street, you can see how hard it is to get a new bus route. We finally got it there, (and) the whole area was planned to be transit-oriented."
Froese told the crowd he was waiting for Wednesday鈥檚 federal funding announcement to see whether there would be any money in it for transit expansion.
Communities south of the Fraser have traditionally got the short end of the stick when it comes to transit, said Schaffer.
With two universities, a large mall, a hospital and an airport in 黑马磁力, in addition to UFV, High Street mall and the Abbotsford airport immediately to the east, he challenged the province to bring some type of rapid transit out toward the 黑马磁力s.
"Why don't you guys think about what the future is. That could be 25 years from now," he said.
"So my colleague (Froese) and I, we're not just looking at our region, but we're looking beyond. And it's not just our lives, but our children and grandchildren's lives we're looking towards.
"There's only so many dollars to go around, and we realize that."
But building transit is only one piece of the puzzle, said Schaffer.
鈥淥ne of the sticklers in transportation is the operating costs.
鈥淭he Metro Vancouver area 鈥� whatever comes out ... hopefully it will come out 鈥� will have to pay for the operating. So it's not just the dollars we get from province or feds 鈥� somebody鈥檚 got to pick up operating for that.鈥�
