The new Pattullo Bridge will have a new name when it opens later this year high above Fraser River.
As part of a "cultural recognition program," Musqueam Indian Band and Kwantlen First Nation are "bestowing the people of British Columbia a name for the new bridge in the h蓹n虛q虛蓹min虛蓹m虛 language," according to a June 17 news release from B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation and Transit.
"More details about the name will be shared in the coming months."
Opened in 1937, the original bridge was named after Thomas Dufferin Pattullo, 22nd Premier of British Columbia.
The old Surrey-New Westminster bridge will be decommissioned, and the new bridge will receive a new name, transportation minister Mike Farnworth confirms in a memo leaked to reporter Bob Mackin for theBreaker.news, and later shared with the Now-Leader.
The project site overlaps with the boundaries of two former reserves once located in the village of qiq茅yt [kee-KATE], Musqueam Indian Reserve #1 and Kwantlen Indian Reserve #8, Farnworth notes in his memo.
"In recognition of Musqueam and Kwantlen鈥檚 ancestral and ongoing connections to this sacred area, both Nations will bestow a h蓹n虛q虛蓹min虛蓹m虛 [HUN-kuh-MEE-num] name for the new bridge, as a gift to the people of British Columbia. We are currently working with Musqueam and Kwantlen to plan the timing and details of the naming announcement, which we anticipate will occur this summer."
Meantime, people travelling under the new Highway 17-Old Yale Road overpass in Surrey can now see the Pattullo Bridge Replacement Project's first Indigenous art installation.
Traffic moved onto the new overpass in early June 2025 as part of the larger project to replace the aging Pattullo Bridge, the transportation ministry says in a news release.
"Indigenous art is being integrated onto and around the new infrastructure in recognition of First Nations' deep historical and current connections to the area.
"The artwork, a design embossed into the concrete retaining wall on the northeast side of the overpass, was created by Kwantlen First Nation artist q虛史蓱t虛ic虛蓱, Phyllis Atkins. The design depicts sturgeon and eulachon, two species of fish in the Fraser River of great significance to First Nations."
Details about the new four-lane bridge are posted on .
