city: Organisation opposes Highway 1 expansion
Mayana C. Slobodian, Associate Staff Writer
A group of people calling themselves the Citizens Concerned With Highway Expansion are challenging the provincial government's proposed development of Highway 1.
The development is part of the province's $3.9 billion Gateway Project intended to revamp transportation infrastructure across the province, and includes doubling the size of the highway from Langley to Boundary and First Ave.
The government has not engaged in public consultations about the project, explaining on the Ministry of Transportation's Gateway Program website that they will occur "once technical studies are complete."
The Citizens Concerned With Highway Expansion fears that by then it may be too late, as Minister of Transportation Kevin Falcon has vowed to embark on the project soon after the May 17 election.
Chris Bodnar, co-founder of the Citizens Concerned with Highway Expansion, believes that the government has failed in its responsibility to notify and consult the public about the development.
"[The project] has been generally referred to as the 'twinning of the Port Mann', and it's a very strategic element as far as trying to get the attention of people who take the Port Mann Bridge on a daily basis. Because of the lack of mention of the Number 1 Highway, a lot of people in Vancouver are just unaware that this is happening," said Bodnar.
According to the organisation, the public is unaware of the negative impacts to environment and communities, unreasonable cost, and the lack of transparency involved in the highway development.
Bodnar outlines how, rather than benefiting residents of the Lower Mainland, the highway expansion will most serve the interests of corporations wanting greater access to the city's port. It will increase the volume of traffic passing through the three main arteries through East Vancouver as well as surrounding municipalities of Burnaby and New Westminster, contributing to pollution and posing major threats to the safety of residents.
The government has failed to acknowledge the sustainable alternatives proposed by the Liveable Region Coalition, an organisation endorsed by the Suzuki Foundation.
Michael Lithgow, SFU student and Citizens Concerned with Highway Expansion volunteer, describes why he decided to become involved in raising awareness of the issue.
"My immediate concern when I first heard about it was if you're going to double the volume of traffic coming into East Vancouver on the First Ave corridor, where are all those cars going to go? It raises the spectre of an eight-lane freeway up First Ave - cutting the East End in half - and doing to the East End what freeway construction has done to every other major North American city," Lithgow said. "It'll just destroy the neighbourhood."
Lithgow says that commuters from surrounding areas will also fail to benefit.
"Commuters benefit only in the short-term. Studies have been done that show that when you expand a road, it fills up. Traffic increases to the point where it gets congested again," Lithgow explained. "They're buying a short-term window of breezy driving to their jobs in Vancouver, but eventually they're going to face the same problem down the line."
Bodnar hopes that people across the Lower Mainland will start making their concerns known to provincial government, whether it be from ensuring consideration of alternative strategies to prioritising citizen's interests and demanding a greater degree of transparency and accountability.
The Citizens Concerned with Highway Expansion will be presenting a number of workshops on issues from civil disobedience to understanding sustainable alternatives. They are also planning a follow-up to their successful and widely-publicised street hockey protest on Commercial Drive.
SFU students have a history of fighting highway expansion. Thirty-five years ago a similar highway project was introduced by the government, proposing the construction of a freeway through East Van that involved bulldozing the historic community of Strathcona.
Lithgow, who recently completed a documentary about the project and subsequent resistance, explained how citizens, led by SFU student Shirley Chan, rallied around the cause and went to great lengths to defend the neighbourhood.
At one 1970 city council meeting, 800 SFU students showed up to voice their concern. In a profound example of successful collective resistance, the freeway project was abandoned and only the Georgia Street Viaduct was constructed.
It seems, says Lithgow, that the government has now simply "dusted off the same old plans" and re-introduced them under the Gateway Project.
Lithgow believes that students have a chance to once again take up the fight and demand that the voice of citizens be made a priority in the government's decision.
"I think the role that students have in addressing issues like this cannot be understated . . . [They] can really make the difference as to whether or not this remains a silent issue that creeps up on people when bulldozers start coming in, or whether its something that remains at the forefront of public discussion before decisions are made."