Coquitlam River Bridge replacement offers chance for Lougheed Highway overhaul: PoCo transportation plan

It may be a bumpy road ahead, but Port Coquitlam’s newly-unveiled 20-year, $60-million transportation plan is moving ahead.

City council recently voted unanimously to move ahead with public input on the draft plan, but one councillor questioned the direction of the overarching strategy.

“This idea that people are going to jump on their bikes like they do in Europe is, to me, preposterous,” said Coun. Dean Washington.

The money that would be spent on implementing the plan – as well as the new assets that would need to be maintained – was also a major concern for Washington, who likened the plan to: “empire building in infrastructure.”

“There’s no way you’re building all this [for] $60 million, no chance,” he said.

With the city’s population projected to grow 31 percent in 20 years, “there is a need to ensure that both traffic and goods can flow efficiently through the city,” stated a city staff report.

The strategy – which would still require approval and funding on a case-by-case basis – includes revamping major avenues like Lincoln, Dominion and Kingsway, slowing down some streets to allow bicycles and cars to safely coexist, advocating for a SkyTrain station downtown, as well as numerous improvements on the Mary Hill Bypass.

Among the most glaring problems associated with the Mary Hill Bypass is that bus riders need to walk to the unprotected shoulder of the highway and wait at a bus stop with no shelter or sidewalk.

As the road is under provincial jurisdiction, the city is “seeking cooperation and support from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to construct improvements.”

Concept designs for a new bus stop date back to 2006, the report noted.

SkyTrain

Langley City – which has about half the population of Port Coquitlam – recently had a $4-billion business case approved for a SkyTrain extension from Surrey.

“Continued efforts are needed to advocate for a SkyTrain extension to Port Coquitlam that supports increased investment in a vibrant downtown core,” the plan stated.

Lougheed Highway

The Coquitlam River Bridge does not meet modern earthquake standards. A previous report recommended the eastbound bridge be replaced by 2020 with the westbound crossing replaced by 2024.

That replacement offers a chance to offer more capacity along the “well-known pinch point” between Westwood and Shaughnessy, according to the report.

A proposed design includes four travel lanes, two High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes and a multi-use path on each side.

The redesign is important as traffic delays will mean increasingly unreliable movement of commuters and goods, “impacting residents and businesses in Port Coquitlam and throughout the region,” according to the report.

The stretch of Lougheed between Shaughnessy and Sherling Avenue would also have four travel lanes, two HOV or dedicated bus lanes, and infrastructure earmarked for active transportation.

Cycling

The plan emphasizes the need to offer safe infrastructure to “support the uptake of e-bikes and e-scooters.”

The plan includes new, protected cycle lanes for cyclists taking longer trips at faster speeds. The strategy also includes the implementation of slow streets – roads with speed bumps, raised crosswalks and a 30-kilometre per hour speed limit to make transportation safe for: “all forms of active transportation, while still facilitating vehicle traffic.”

The long-term strategy also includes a network of sidewalk, trails and paths that help commuters walk and roll to popular locations.

Other routes

Part of the strategy is budgeting for “major outstanding corridor and bridge projects” including the Fremon and Lincoln Avenue connectors.

The two-lane Fremont Connector would connect Port Coquitlam to northeast Coquitlam while the Lincoln Connector would run from north Port Coquitlam to Coquitlam City Centre.

The road ahead

While he noted that approving the plan did not mean the city was issuing a blank cheque, Mayor Brad West emphasized the importance of the 20-year plan.

“This document is going to be with us for a long time so it’s important that we get it right,” West said.

The city is set to move forward with public input on the plan until Dec. 15.

Council is slated to discus the plan as well as that input in early 2024.

More info here.