Anti-Port Mann group gears up for future campaigns
Posted December 1, 2012 8:42 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – You might recall that many groups were opposed to the building of the new Port Mann.
One of those groups, StopthePave.org, is still around and is now setting its sights on future projects.
The organization’s Eric Doherty says with talk of the Pattullo Bridge expanding and the Massey tunnel being replaced, they will again be trying to make their point: that the region needs more public transportation, not bigger freeways.
“You can see the result of spending all this money on freeways in the TransLink funding crisis right now. If you take all this money out of the transportation budget and put all of your priorities in roads, there’s nothing left for transit,” he explains.
“More people are riding transit, but there’s less money for transit. Basically, the government has been building for the past, instead of for the future. They should just put the brakes on these 1970s-style projects.”
Critics also believe that while the new bridge may alleviate congestion in the short term, it may entice more people to get on the highway, thereby cancelling out the original benefits.
Doherty says he’ll be watching carefully to see how big the Port Mann toll deficit will be.
