A task force of elected officials from communities on both sides of聽the George Massey Tunnel want to see the aging four-lane crossing replaced with a new eight-lane, immersed-tube tunnel.
The group鈥檚 recommendation will be forwarded to a Metro Vancouver committee and then the board of directors for a final decision, likely by the end of October or November. The result of that discussion will be brought forward by the province during public consultations.
Within months of taking office in 2017, the NDP government cancelled construction of a planned 10-lane, $3.5-billion bridge to replace the Massey Tunnel and commissioned a review by professional engineer Stan Cowdell, which was released in December.
The review suggested that the province look at a six- or eight-lane bridge, or a new tunnel that could stand alone or be twinned with the existing tunnel.
Shortly after the report was released, the province began consultations with Metro Vancouver municipalities and First Nations, which had been vocally opposed to a 10-lane bridge.
In March, mayors from Richmond, Delta, Vancouver, Surrey and White Rock, along with the Tsawwassen and Musqueam chiefs, wrote a letter to the premier asking for an eight-lane tunnelled crossing to be built within six years. It did not specify whether it should be a new eight-lane tunnel, or a twinning of the existing tunnel.
Metro and TransLink鈥檚 Mayors鈥� Council have been in regular contact with ministry staff through updates, presentations and workshops, and the replacement options have been whittled down from a long list of 18 to a short list of six. 鈥淲e鈥檝e come a long way together in a relatively short period of time,鈥� said Lina Halwani, project director with the ministry of transportation and infrastructure.
According to a Metro Vancouver staff report, the short list includes an eight-lane, immersed-tube tunnel with a multi-use pathway; an eight-lane bridge with multi-use path; an eight-lane, deep-bored tunnel plus use of the existing tunnel for a multi-use path; a six-lane, immersed-tube tunnel with two dedicated transit lanes in the old tunnel; a six-lane bridge with two transit lanes in the existing tunnel; and a six-lane, deep-bored tunnel with two dedicated transit lanes in the old tunnel.
