B.C. government inks $658 million deal to build South Fraser Perimeter Road

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      The B.C. government has reached a deal with a group of private construction outfits to complete the contentious South Fraser Perimeter Road project.

      Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Shirley Bond and Treasury Board president Stockwell Day today (August 12) announced the contract with the Fraser Transportation Group.

      The South Fraser Perimeter Road, a proposed 40-kilometre, four-lane highway through Delta and Surrey, is slated to be complete in 2013.

      It will be built as part of the provincial Gateway Program, a plan intended to improve transportation of people and goods in the Metro Vancouver region.

      But critics have argued the plan to expand transportation routes will increase traffic congestion on roads.

      According to a news release from the province, the construction work by the Fraser Transportation Group will cost $658 million.

      Comments

      6 Comments

      RealityCheck

      Aug 13, 2010 at 5:29am

      The deal is done. Time to move on.

      messages from the bible

      Aug 13, 2010 at 6:52am

      This mega-highway mentality is dangerously dated. We're about to spend a billion dollars on infrastructure that is simply going to demand even greater infrastructure for a means of transportation that is not sustainable.

      Eliza Olson

      Aug 13, 2010 at 11:53am

      This road has the potential to destroy farmland, bogland and negatively affect the quality of life in the lower mainland. The people of Vancouver need to think back to 1996 when there was a fire in Burns Bog. Offices had to close because of the smoke and ash.

      If you think that we can't become Russia South, think again. Burns Bog is unique because of its size, location and chemistry but more importantly, it is the flagship for our Canadian peatlands.If we were in the European Union, this would not be happening.

      A recent lawsuit against the Government of Ireland for the impact of a road on a bog was successful.

      Scott Gordon

      Aug 13, 2010 at 1:01pm

      Vancouver area highways are seriously outdated and inadequate for a major port city. If the Campbell administration did anything right, this would be it.

      RodSmelser

      Aug 13, 2010 at 2:47pm

      I clicked 'Agree' on the posts of both Eliza Olson and Scott Gordon. They're both right, except that Scott is doing the old 1960s Social Credit thing, worshipping the government that presided over a project rather than asking if any government, regardless of philosophical persuasion, should reasonably be expected to carry out needed infrastructure projects. But his basic point that Metro Vancouver has far too little in the way of highway, freeway and bridge/tunnel capacity is 101% correct, Larry Frank, Anthony Perle, Gordon Price and Stephen Rees notwithstanding.

      The route chosen for the SFPR is a problem, both in its consumption of farmland and it's impact on the bog. There were undoubtedly alternatives. But it should be remembered that this route was identified and approved in the much ballyhooed 1995 LRSP brochure.

      While there may be a slight bit of phoniness in Scott's Praise Be to Almighty Gordon Campbell routine, that's nothing compared to the revolting insincerity and world-class cynicism of most of the organized anti-Gateway baloney. Most of these people, especially the Vancouver and Burnaby City Hall types, made it clear from the get-go that SFPR was something they had no problem with, only PMH1. That proves that environmental considerations are not part of the political motivation for these people. They are worried about real estate prices and about share of industrial and commercial property taxes.

      Rod Smelser

      Argulion

      Aug 15, 2010 at 8:54am

      IMO, In light of recent events I have a problem with new roads. HST had to be implemented to 'fix' the financial mismanagement of the province. Meanwhile, we have a health system that is so underfunded that doctors are paying to have nurses available. Children are loosing school programs, schools are being closed. But there is 658 million to build a road. The road will only benefit a few. The 658 million better managed could have been a benefit to many more.