Concerns are being raised that two Metro Vancouver transportation mega-projects will not be finished on time or on budget.
While the new Pattullo Bridge is nearing completion, the major construction work on the Massey Tunnel replacement still has not started.
The new bridge opening was delayed from 2023 to 2024 and the provincial government now states it is going to open this fall.
“Just one of the lanes is equal to the size of the existing Pattullo Bridge, so it is going to be a significant improvement to transportation infrastructure in the Lower Mainland,” Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s transport and transportation minister, told Global News.
However, it is a different story for the Massey Tunnel replacement.
“They’ve spent $300 million since 2017 working on a plan to build a tunnel and yet… there’s absolutely nothing happening,” Ian Paton, the BC Conservative MLA for Delta South, said.
“There’s no excavators. There’s no bulldozers. There’s no sign of a concrete tube.”
In 2013, the Liberal government announced a 10-lane bridge to replace the aging tunnel but the BC NDP scrapped the plan and in 2021 announced a new tunnel.
“We should have cut the ribbon on that brand-new bridge three years ago,” Dylan Kruger, a Delta city councillor, said.
“Instead, we have people missing doctors appointments, late for work, unable to get to YVR airport or BC Ferries in time.”
Farnworth said there is a lot of work already underway on the tunnel replacement.
“We’ve seen construction of the first phase of the Steveston Interchange, which is an integral part of that project,” he said.
“There’s work underway in terms of the environmental issues.”
The provincial government is still hoping the federal government will split the cost of the project 50-50 but the federal government has not yet committed any money.
The tunnel is slated for completion in 2030. In 2021, it was estimated to cost $4.15 billion but an updated estimate has not been released.
