Tour of decaying Pattullo Bridge used to press province on funding
Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner suffered a superficial injury Friday on the Pattullo Bridge, stumbling and hitting her head on a railing while on a media tour highlighting the need to replace the decaying bridge.
“I was looking at the bridge itself and not paying attention to my footing and caught my foot on one of the joints and took a tumble,” Hepner said, brushing off the severity of her injury.
However, she added “there could not be a better message. I took one for the team to show that this bridge needs to be replaced.”
Building the Pattullo’s longtalked-about replacement is the top priority in TransLink’s 10year plan, which Hepner said she brought up with premier-elect John Horgan in her first conversation with him after the May election.
“I know (the incoming NDP government) knows the urgency and I’m hopeful we can have a plan of action very soon into their mandate,” Hepner said.
The tour was held to highlight the ongoing work required to keep ahead of decay on the 80-year-old bridge and keep it in service ahead of weekend maintenance that was to see the Pattullo closed from 9 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday to repair potholes, de-lamination of the bridge deck on its southern approach, replace five light standards and various other tasks.
“I’m going to call it throwing good money after bad,” Hepner said of the maintenance, because “frankly, we just have to get on with the business of constructing a new bridge.”
TransLink, on Friday, did not have an updated cost estimate for the project, but CEO Kevin Desmond said the agency will have a final plan, with a final price estimate, within the next six weeks so that they can begin procurement for the project by the start of October.
That start date “is vital to stay on schedule,” Desmond said, to have a new bridge in place by 2023.
To sign off on the project, however, TransLink will need a deal with the province over financing for the project, which was last estimated in 2014 at $1 billion, and Desmond said the agency doesn’t yet have an answer on whether the province will be OK with tolls as part of the equation, or whether the province will add additional support.
Both Premier Christy Clark’s outgoing Liberal government and Horgan’s incoming NDP team pledged support for the Pattullo’s replacement, to varying degrees. TransLink’s assumption has been that the province would pay for one-third of the cost, and tolling would cover the rest.
Desmond said that without tolls, TransLink doesn’t have the resources to finance a larger share and the region’s mayors are adamant they won’t take funds out of plans to pay for new transit, which includes the Broadway SkyTrain extension and Surrey’s Light Rail Transit.
“That’s the conversation we have to have with (the new government) over the rest of the summer,” Desmond said.
NDP Leader Horgan has said the Pattullo replacement is a high priority for his government, versus a multibillion-dollar Massey tunnel replacement, which would be part of a major infrastructure spending plan.