VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – Relief is on the way for drivers south of the Fraser River.

Premier Christy Clark says the province is starting the process of replacing the George Massey Tunnel. She says her government will begin discussions with the municipalities of Richmond and Delta about replacing the decades-old tunnel.

Clark says it could take up to a decade to replace the tunnel that was built back in 1958, and she calls it a major traffic bottleneck.

“Talk to anybody who drives through the Massey Tunnel, in rush hour commute, and they’ll tell you it is a huge headache. We wanted to keep moving on that part of the plan.”

Clark says it’s much too early to say whether the tunnel will be replaced by a new tunnel or a bridge, or if it will have tolls.

NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston calls it a vague future plan.

The premier has also pledged half a billion dollars to make Highway 1 between Kamloops and the Alberta border four lanes.

Mayor of Richmond wants congestion addressed now

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie is pleased the premier is addressing congestion along Highway 99, but wishes there was more of a sense of urgency.

“What concerns me is talk of a long, possibly 10-year, time period to replace the George Massey Tunnel because we have the congestion now. We have the problem now,” he tells us.

“In the shorter run, what we need to do is get people off that corridor and you do that by getting them into buses,” he argues.

He’s still calling on the province to come up with a long-term funding strategy for TransLink.

Meanwhile Delta Mayor Lois Jackson has been calling for this for years, saying the tunnel is inadequate and needs to be replaced.

“There’s never enough money for everything, but I am very encouraged they are moving ahead with this as a program.”

She says with a growing number of commuters coming from her city, as well as Surrey and White Rock, this announcement is crucial.

Communters want a wider tunnel

News 1130 spoke with commuters today who say widening the existing tunnel is best.

The consensus seems to be whatever it is, we just need more lanes, but people we talked with say if they had to pick, they would choose to add to the tunnel

“I don’t know if they can widen what they’ve already got, keep the whole they have now and just widen it.  That might be the cheapest.”

“Widening the tunnel or an alternate additional tunnel”

And only one person we spoke to says, “build a bridge”

Most people say their biggest question is, what is all this going to cost?