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20 BRIDGE will push development pressures up river


just mind-boggling.” The bridge will be the largest ever built in the province, the total length of the crossing being three kilometres – longer than the Port Mann bridge, which bridges a natural chasm in the river between Coquitlam and Surrey. The bridge deck itself will run 700 metres from Delta to Richmond, without footings in the river. The towers supporting the crossing on either bank will be taller than the tallest Vancouver highrise, rising more than 200 metres above sea level. Critics fear the height of the span


and removal of the tunnel will allow ships to pass up river, leading to industrial development of farmland and other impacts further inland. The height of the bridge deck has increased from 20 metres to 57 metres since discussions began. Port of Vancouver representatives


have indicated that dredging to allow larger vessels is possible, but port executives say this isn’t the case. The bridge aims – like the South Fraser Perimeter Road before it – to facilitate goods movement not commuters (though better transit and reduced traffic congestion is part of the promise).


COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • APRIL 2017 nfrom page 19


swing through that, down the 99 (and) over the new bridge to the port.” Construction of the South Fraser


Perimeter Road has already made neighbouring Delta a focal point for companies seeking space in the constrained environment of the Lower Mainland, with half of all new industrial construction occurring there. The bridge could bring the same wave of interest to East Richmond. Commuters ready to pay the toll


Massive changes to the Steveston overpass in Richmond come with new bridge.


“The forecasting is that transit and truck traffic will grow very quickly; car traffic will not grow as quickly in the future,” project manager Geoff Freer told the Delta Farmers Institute in late 2014.


The port has entertained several


parties keen to develop sites near the proposed bridge, which Lee Hester, senior vice-president with the


commercial real estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), says will make logistics companies consider the area anew. “The big game changer is the bridge they’re going to put over the tunnel,” he says. “Richmond becomes viable to the port; now the East-West Connector, [Highway] 91, becomes even more powerful because you can


the province plans to charge on the bridge will find it still delivers them to a bottleneck north heading into Vancouver, where the province plans no increase in road capacity. “The traffic jam is going to be just the same as it is. There’s no change on any of the bridges that are going across the north arm of the river,” Brodie says. Ken Malenstyn, an agricultural


landowner on the Delta side of the river, agrees. While he doesn’t see a direct impact on his property, he says there remain a lot of unknowns. “There’s just so many questions –


you’re putting in a 10-lane bridge to go back into a four-lane bridge at Oak Street,” he says. “You need a whole infrastructure plan, not just one piece.”





What’s at stake


 


 





   





   





   





   


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DELTA – Construction of a bridge to replace the Massey Tunnel will see 50 acres removed and 52.5 acres added to the agricultural land base in Richmond and Delta – a net gain of 2.5 acres. Delta will be the major beneficiary, with just over half the acreage – 27.5 acres – on its side of the Fraser River. Ministry of Transportation documents indicate the 42.5 acres of the land it's returning for agricultural use is largely undisturbed land it deems “highly suitable for cultivation.” Approximately 7.5 acres of the remaining parcels will require reclamation prior to being farmed. An additional 2.5 acres are located under access ramps. The majority of the land, 40


acres, is a patchwork of fields. Some of the lands


   


   


   


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designated for future agricultural production are already being farmed. Richmond Country Farms, for example, leases more than six acres for vegetable and berry production. Forage production occurs on the Delta parcels, some of which sit within highway interchanges. “The Ministry cannot force the use of the parcels for agriculture, but will make the lands available should an adjacent owner, or other party, want to pursue agricultural use,” documents filed with the Agricultural Land Commission state.


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