Metro Vancouver Road Infrastructure Discussion

[jollyburger]

Port Moody approves $2.8M Barnet overpass widening to ease congestion

Port Moody has endorsed a plan to widen the eastbound Barnet Highway rail overpass and immediately open a new traffic lane in an effort to tackle one of the city’s most persistent congestion bottlenecks.

On June 16, council unanimously endorsed a plan, despite staff recommending a phased approach that would have prioritized active transportation first.

Mayor Meghan Lahti argued that while staff’s preferred option aligned with the city’s transportation planning principles, it failed to address the immediate reality facing commuters.

“This is something that has been identified by our taxpayers as a number one issue for them,” she said. “We’re in a situation now where we have the type of congestion that is untenable.

“I get that this flies in the face of staff’s recommendation, but I just could not look the taxpayers in the face and say that that was something that I agreed with.”

Staff have been directed to proceed with the project that would widen the bridge, add a fourth eastbound lane and expand the existing sidewalk from roughly 1.2 metres to about two metres. The project would be completed alongside a planned seismic retrofit and deck rehabilitation work on the structure.

The decision rejected staff’s preferred option, which would have widened the bridge but initially used the new space as a protected multi-use pathway until future growth in Moody Centre warranted converting it into a traffic lane.

Staff warned that immediately opening a new vehicle lane could attract additional regional traffic through “latent demand” and eventually reduce the congestion-relief benefits.

Lahti questioned whether a cycling connection on the south side of Barnet Highway would materialize any time soon, noting her understanding that Coquitlam’s plans for the area focus on future residential development on the north side of the highway and business and industrial uses on the south side.

https://tricitiesdispatch.com/barnet-ove...refoc,agadiscoversdl,,sh/x/discover/m1/4