Pitt Meadows council has been talking about railway overpasses and underpasses, while maintaining a position that the city will not be paying for such infrastructure.
On Dec. 18, Mayor Bill Dingwall and council hosted a dialogue with MP Dan Ruimy, MLA Lisa Beare and Katzie First Nation representatives, as well as representatives from CP Rail, the Greater Vancouver Gateway 2030, TransLink, the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, to further discuss federal and provincial transportation projects in the community.
“We had all the big players in the room,” said Dingwall.
“This meeting was a positive step toward improving transportation infrastructure in Pitt Meadows,” he said. “Council is committed to engaging with the community and moving forward in a transparent way that is reflective of advocacy for our community.”
Through the National Trade Corridors Fund, the federal government has committed $50 million as its share of three projects, with an estimated cost of $141 million.
The projects include the addition of nearly 5 km of track paralleling the existing rail track through Pitt Meadows, a four-lane underpass at Harris Road and construction of a two-lane overpass at Kennedy Road.
The federal announcement was made in May 2018, but so far no other funding partners have announced they will finance the projects.
“The city will also specifically advocate for no financial impact to Pitt Meadows,” said Dingwall.
He said municipalities have been expected to pay for overpass/underpass projects in the past. For example, Port Coquitlam paid for the majority of the $135 million Coast Meridian Overpass that takes traffic over the CP Rail yard in that city, with TransLink contributing $60 million and the province $2 million.
However, the Pitt Meadows projects have been advocated by the railway and the federal government as a national imperative to ship goods.
“What you’ll see over the course of weeks and months is trying to identify where the balance of the funding will come from,” said Dingwall.
“We’ve stated from the beginning Pitt Meadows has no capacity – we’re 19,000 people and this is a $140 million project,” he said. “In this case, there is an appreciation of the size of Pitt Meadows.”
Through a community consultation process, he said council has confirmed residents of Pitt Meadows want the new overpass and underpass, but there are concerns about increased noise and preservation of heritage buildings at the Harris Road crossing – the Pitt Meadows Museum and General Store and the Hoffman Garage, which will both have to moved back to accommodate an underpass.
“We are pleased that the Government of Canada has provided funding to advance critical infrastructure projects in the City of Pitt Meadows that will improve the quality of life for residents, while helping to support Canada’s growing trade,” said Cliff Stewart, vice president infrastructure at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.
Dingwall said he also raised concerns about the Lougheed Highway/Harris Road intersection, with provincial transportation ministry officials and Beare present.
He said the ministry is concerned with traffic flow on a provincial highway, and the intersection is a “known pinch point,” where the design of the interchange causes delays and contributes to accidents.
He said the design of that intersection will be impacted by the potential development of the North Lougheed Study Area, on primarily agricultural land north of the highway, between Harris Road and Golden Ears Way.
“It all ties in – it’s a complex puzzle,” said Dingwall.