February 4, 2009
NDP Fail Commuters on New Port Mann
The NDP continue to refuse to be straight with British Columbians about their opposition to the new Port Mann bridge. On CKNW radio today, NDP transportation critic Maurine Karagianis continued the NDP’s refusal to support the plan to build a new, state-of-the-art crossing. While the NDP would condemn commuters to gridlock, the BC Liberal government is getting to work building a 10-lane bridge that will clear the Lower Mainland’s worse bottleneck and last for generations:
- The BC Liberal government is building a new Port Mann bridge that will double existing capacity from five to 10 lanes with dedicated transit and HOV lanes.
- This investment could help commuters cut their travel time by close to one-third.
- The project will also re-establish bus service across the Port Mann Bridge for the first time in over 20 years, allowing commuters to travel all the way from Langley to Coquitlam or Burnaby in less than 25 minutes on public transit.
- The project will create 8,000 construction jobs and help B.C. connect with the trade opportunities of the Asia-Pacific, which has the potential to create 255,000 jobs by 2020.
- The NDP continue to refuse to support this critical project. In fact, the NDP Transportation Critic said we should “expand transit.” Unfortunately she forgets that transit can’t even get across the Port Mann right now because of the congestion!
- The people of the Lower Mainland want this project to go ahead. It’s time for the NDP to get out of the way while the BC Liberals get it built.
