SURREY (NEWS1130) – Today marks the first major traffic rush now that all  8 lanes open are open across the new Port Mann Bridge.
    
But how has it worked for drivers? News1130′s Kim Seale has been above it all day, and says one section in particular saw a big improvement.

“The biggest difference is for the Brunette Interchange. Once you get to that point through Burnaby heading into Coquitlam, they’ve got the three regular lanes, and they’re doing exactly what they need to. They’ve got the additional lanes feeding that traffic out of New Westminster into eastbound Highway One traffic. Then they’ve got dedicated lanes that take you down towards the Lougheed and the United  and Mary Hill Bypass, so that whole area is a huge improvement for the afternoon rush hour.”

She says it’s not quite as smooth for the morning rush. “The four lanes are great to have on the Port Mann, but once you get over the bridge into Coquitlam, you’re down to three lanes and that’s where you start to bottleneck. We saw that for the entire morning. It was heavily backed up through Coquitlam all the way through Burnaby. It’s nice to have the four lanes on the bridge, but not helping you out once you get off the bridge.”

There was some concern about confusing new configurations and a lack of signage, and Kim says it will take longer than a week to get used to it.

“That’s why I was really surprised that they’re just giving a week for free, as far as everybody getting used to it. You’re going to need more than that. They’re giving you a week for free and a lot of people signed up for those 20 free visits, that will get you another two weeks, if you’re going to work and back. That will take us pretty much through all of December. We’re not going to really see the difference in how this is going to affect the other bridges until we all get back from the new year.”