The recent closure of the Pattullo Bridge linking Surrey with New Westminster has seriously highlighted the urgency to get on with repairing/replacing this woefully inadequate structure. It has also encouraged very healthy debate amongst the citizens of New Westminster.
While campaigning as candidate for Mayor during the municipal election this past fall, traffic was a priority issue with the many hundreds of people that I spoke with. Nothing highlighted this issue more than the sudden closure of the Pattullo Bridge 10 days ago. For a large number of residents it was instant relief from the noise and smells associated with the thousands of cars that normally go through their community. For others who live near the worst choke points in New Westminster such as the Braid and Columbia intersection, it was a bad dream moving into night terrors. Cars and trucks lined up endlessly as they inched their way onto Highway 1 spewing their exhaust fumes.
Translink has four recommended proposals to address the repair or replacement of the Pattullo Bridge. Some City Councilors have different ideas. Engage in debate at a neighbourhood coffee shop and you will hear a variety of options, but everyone concedes we have a serious traffic problem in New Westminster.
Two things are certain as a result of this recent crisis. The first is the urgency that confronts Translink and the Council of New Westminster to move as quickly as possible to repair and or replace the bridge. The second certainty is equally important - and that is the need to consult the citizens of New Westminster on this project. One needs only to read the local and the Vancouver newspapers to realize that there is a tremendous diversity of opinion.
It is said that out of every crisis comes opportunity. The recent events surrounding the construction of a new middle school on Grimston Park gave birth to a new consultative process. This process by all accounts has been very well received by parents, teachers, school board trustees, city staff and City Council and the Ministry of Education. As a strong advocate for dialogue and consultation, I could not be more pleased. Clearly we will reach consensus and we will get a new school.
I urge both our City Council and Translink to look seriously at the school board consultation process and seize this opportunity for dialogue while the Pattullo closure is fresh in everyone’s mind. However the repairs and or replacement of the bridge unfolds, it will have a very serious and lasting impact on the future of this City.
Time is the enemy now; we need to get on with it!
Blair Armitage
President
Voice New Westminster
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