Residents of Pitt Meadow are having their say about underpass construction and other transportation issues in the city, and those weren’t able to attend a Monday open house still can.
Until July 13, members of the public can provide feedback about their priorities for the future of transporation in the city online.
Have Your Say Pitt Meadows is the city’s new public engagement platform, and features a survey for the public about issues ranging from the B-Line bus to the Harris Road underpass and Highway 7 improvements.
Council already took the public’s temperature at a small group meeting with about 30 residents, followed by an open house attended by approximately 200 more residents on Monday night.
According to Mayor John Becker, at the forefront of the talks were proposals by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and CP rail to build a railway overpass at Kennedy Road and an underpass at Harris.
He heard the public’s concerns about retaining the Pitt Meadows Museum buildings, being the old general store and the Hoffmann and Son Machine Shop, which border the proposed underpass. There are plans to move the buildings back.
There were also familiar concerns about noise, because once the tracks are completely unobstructed by vehicle traffic, CP will be free to build long trains across the city, and the future banging of the cars coming together worries residents who live along the tracks.
“We need to lead the conversation and dialogue on these improvements,” said Becker.
He maintains that although the federal government has the right to expropriate land and build projects deemed in the national interest, he has been assured the projects will not proceed above the objections of the city.
“This is not a done deal,” he said. “We retain the right, as a community, to say no.
“I don’t think we’re at no yet, but there are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” said Becker. “Right now, I feel we are working very collaboratively.”
He said noise mitigation is going to be a key factor in the public’s acceptance of the overpass and underpass projects.
There was also information about the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Area Transport Plan, which Translink is conducting. Priorities will be identified in 2019. Also next year, the new Lougheed Highway B-Line buses will be in service, cutting travel time from Haney Place to Coquitlam Centre by 18 minutes compared with current transit.
And the provincial Transportation Ministry spoke about its Highway 7 Corridor Improvement Plan, which is in the early planning stages. It is aimed at reducing congestion and enhancing pedestrian and cycling connections.
One of the improvement projects that has been approved is a $6.2 million eastbound right turn lane at Harris Road, to be completed in spring 2019.
It also addressed the potential for interchanges or flyovers on the Lougheed at Harris Road, Allen Way and Kennedy Road.
Coun. Bill Dingwall, who will be running for mayor in the October local elections, said some attendees suggested decorative features in an underpass, and sound fencing.
“Projects in Pitt Meadows are needed to deal with increasing volumes of product moving to/from the Port of Vancouver to Eastern Canada and the USA via CP,” said Dingwall. “CP also indicated that to handle increasing volumes, they need to lengthen trains from 7,500 feet to 8,500 average and they can only go east, since they can not go west over the Pitt River. Thus far, the federal government has publicly committed about $50 million on a $141 million project.”
“I would encourage citizens to go to the city website and complete a survey and/or reach out to elected officials,” added Dingwall.
Becker said he likes the template for community engagement that the staff used on the transportation issue, and it will also come into play for the upcoming review of the Official Community Plan, and other issues where city hall wants to share information and get feedback from the public.
“It was really well designed by our staff and consultant, and it was really well executed,” said Becker.