Tom Durning picked up on news from the Valley:
I didn’t see this important meeting covered in the Vancouver-centric MSM nor much in the electronic media. Yet the mayors of the Fraser Valley had a meeting recently to discuss development out that way, ably reported by experienced Black Press reporter Matthew Claxton:
- Read how Langley Township Mayor recognizes that widening Highway 1 is not the answer to transportation problems
- See them discuss ride-sharing without resorting to the negativity from the slanted reporting by Mike Smyth
Unless there is a gangland killing in Surrey or Chilliwack, a major pile-up on Hwy 1 in Langley or a barn fire in Mission, these municipalities don’t get the coverage they deserve.
The Urban Development Institute Fraser Valley hosted mayors and councillors from the Langleys, Abbotsford, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, and Mission for a discussion at the Langley Events Centre on Thursday. …
Every city in the valley is dealing with massive growth, with Mayor Pam Alexis of Mission noting her city was expected to double in size in the coming years. …
Abbotsford has about 1,600 housing units under construction, and 3,600 in the stream to being approved and built. …
On transportation, each community is wrestling with more traffic and expects even more issues in the future as density increases.
“Almost 70 per cent of Mission leaves every day,” noted Alexis.
That isn’t as much of a problem in Abbotsford, where Braun said 65 per cent of locals with jobs work in Abbotsford. But he still wants to see Highway One widened, along with 16th Avenue through Abbotsford and Langley.
“We have east-west problems,” he said.
Froese agreed on widening Highway One, but said that isn’t the long-term solution.
“We can’t just continually make the highways wider,” he said. …
Ken Popove of Chilliwack said he doesn’t expect to see light rapid transit coming down the side of the highway to Chilliwack “in our lifetime.”
Cycling infrastructure is a big issue in his community.
Langley City is planning now for the eventual arrival of SkyTrain, while building bike lanes as well, said van den Broek. She also called for alternatives to taxis.
“We want to see more ride-sharing,” she said. “We need Uber, we need more of those kinds of things.”
Full article here.
Widening Hwy 1 to 3 lanes in each direction a total no-brainer to Abbotsford .. and long overdue .. and eventually to Chilliwack .. but LRT or SkyTrain to out there too would help ..
Of course tolled and even more at rush hour ..
Our lack of infrastructure investment (roads, bridges, tunnels, LRTs, subways,) despite massive population boom is insane !