Delta protests missing River Road overpass in Massey Tunnel replacement

"A lot of our community and regional planning has been based on the eventuality of having that second crossing." — Coun. Dylan Kruger.

The City of Delta considers establishing a second crossing of Highway 99 near the Massey Tunnel at Ladner to be critical infrastructure for growth in that area of the municipality, so officials are protesting its apparent exclusion from the $4.15-billion tunnel replacement project.

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"For Ladner and for all of Delta, having the second overpass was critical," said Coun. Dylan Kruger, Delta's acting mayor and co-chair of Metro Vancouver's George Massey Crossing Task Force.

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The overpass, intended to be at River Road, was part of the previous B.C. Liberal government's $3.5-billion bridge project scrapped by then premier John Horgan, then later included in initial drawings in his government's tunnel-replacement.

Pages from a presentation on the tunnel's concept plan dated October 2019, showing the outline for a River Road overpass that would link with 60th Avenue on the east side of Highway 99, were included in a report to Metro Vancouver's Massey Crossing Task Force.

A letter from Delta's director of engineering, Steven Lan, noted that the concept for the overpass was presented by the Ministry of Transportation at least five times, including to Metro Vancouver's task force, to Richmond and Delta councils, and public information meetings in both communities.

The overpass would re-establish east-west travel on River Road, which was interrupted with construction of Highway 99, as well as support growth, Kruger said.

"A lot of our community and regional planning has been based on the eventuality of having that second crossing," Kruger said. "The way it is right now, there's just the one exit out of Ladner to get into the tunnel. So wherever you are in Ladner, you’re bottlenecking on Ladner Trunk Road, coming up Highway 17A and filtering into Highway 99."

The city anticipates that bottleneck will only get worse without the overpass, so the municipality is pushing the point with Premier David Eby and Transportation Minister Rob Fleming before work on the replacement project starts in earnest.

From the ministry's perspective, the overpass was not included in the scope of the project, now known as the Highway 99 tunnel program, according to a statement from Dave Crebo, communications director for the ministry.

"There has not been a change in plans for the Highway 99 tunnel program," Crebo said in the statement sent in response to Postmedia questions.

"Technical analysis and conceptual drawings of an overpass at River Road were completed in 2019 and 2020 to demonstrate that the future construction of an overpass would not be precluded by a new Fraser River crossing," Crebo said.

However, Kruger said both Delta's previous city council and the council that took office following October municipal elections "put forward unanimous motions" calling for the overpass to be put in, as per the municipality's understanding.

Mayor George Harvie made that point to Eby and Fleming in a letter dated Nov. 18.

"For us, it's a very significant piece, but when you look at the overall scope of a $3-billion, $4-billion project, it's a rounding error to have this overpass included," Kruger said.

In his letter, which is included as an information item on the agenda for Metro Vancouver's first Massey Tunnel task force meeting, Harvie also argues the connection wouldn't just benefit Ladner motorists, but emergency responders, transit, cyclists and pedestrians.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie backed Harvie on Delta's position, co-signing the letter, which also asks for Fleming to support keeping B.C. Hydro's main transmission lines underground as part of the project.

"I think any time you make a decision, or make recommendations, it's stronger if the mayors of both cities sign it," Brodie said.

Brodie said B.C. Hydro's main transmission lines run beneath the Fraser River along with the existing Massey Tunnel, but the utility was going to replace that infrastructure with overhead wires, strung from "very tall" towers as part of the previous bridge.

Brodie said that would be "a step backwards," which was mainly why he signed Harvie's letter.

"(The River Road overpass) may be of less impact to the City of Richmond, but certainly the Hydro wires are of great interest," Brodie said. "So we want to speak with one voice and be supportive."

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