Editor, The News:
Re: People not paying Golden Ears (The News, Jan. 28).
I note with some vindication that the Golden Ears Bridge and the new Port Mann Bridge are not making the grade when it comes to the expected revenue they were projected to generate by now.
The tolls on those two bridges will never be sufficient to pay for and maintain them over the next 50 years, nor will the tolls be affordable over the long term for the drivers.
The cost is so prohibitive to daily commuters that they will find any other way to get around them, causing all sorts of congestion problems, not to mention the damage it does to the over-used infrastructure.
My suggestion is to toll all bridges in the Lower Mainland, from the Salish Sea to Hope, from the Canadian-American Border to Horseshoe Bay.
Each crossing should cost no more then $.50 each way. That way, everybody pays a little and no area is punished because they require bridges to earn their daily bread.
Mike Boileau
Maple Ridge