Surrey Board of Trade to Continue Advocating for Bridge Option for Massey Replacement

On November 1st, the Surrey Board of Trade presented to the Metro Vancouver Mayors’ Council in favour of a new eightlane bridge with a multi-use pathway for the Massey Tunnel Replacement Project.

“The Surrey Board of Trade’s original position on this was to have a bridge with 10 lanes,” said Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade.

“With the choices presented though, the Surrey Board of Trade supports the building of a new eight-lane bridge with a multiuse pathway.”

We must plan for transportation needs for the future – for the 1.3 million people that are expected to move into Metro Vancouver by 2050. And yes, we can’t just build this in isolation, it has to have a robust rapid transit system. There are no price estimates on any of the options.”

A bridge could be built faster — two years for environmental assessment and five for construction. Much of the work to build a bridge has already been done.

The Surrey Board of Trade is not supportive of the Metro Vancouver Task Force recommendation of an eight-lane tunnel. A new tunnel would be an immersed tube, like the existing four-lane Massey Tunnel, which means it would be constructed in pieces that are sunk into a river bottom trench and joined together. The proposal by the Metro Vancouver Mayors’ Council is to have six lanes for regular traffic and two dedicated to transit, plus a multi-use path.

It’s expected to take three years for an environmental assessment and five years for construction. Deep-bored tunnels are considered high risk and would require one of the largest tunnel-boring machines in the world. There is a risk of multiple sinkholes during construction, interchanges would have to be reconfigured, ground densification would be needed on both sides of the river, and it would take the longest to build.

“The structural integrity of the current tunnel could be disastrous especially if an earthquake happens.”

The Surrey Board of Trade will continue its advocacy to the Provincial Government.

The Province of British Columbia developed six recommendations on how to improve transportation infrastructure along the Massey Corridor. They include:

1. New eight-lane immersed-tube tunnel with multi-use pathway.

2. New eight-lane bridge with multi-use pathway.

3. New eight-lane deep-bored tunnel plus use of the existing tunnel for a multi-use pathway.

4. New six-lane immersed-tube tunnel plus use of the existing tunnel to provide two dedicated lanes for transit.

5. New six-lane bridge plus use of the existing tunnel to provide two dedicated lanes for transit.

6. New six-lane deep-bored tunnel plus use of the existing tunnel to provide two dedicated lanes for transit.