It is vital that the snow response for provincial highways and crossings of the Fraser River is sufficient to prevent gridlock and prevent a failure of the provincial transportation system.
That is what Delta Mayor George Harvie is telling BC Transportation Minister Rob Fleming in a letter urging a review of the contract currently in place for Mainroad Group for winter maintenance of the Lower Mainland provincial highway network. Harvie is also asking for a review of the BC Emergency Alerting System to enable notification of highway closures and major issues affecting Lower Mainland commuters.
The mayor described the Lower Mainland commute on the highways network, which started in the afternoon of the Nov. 29 snowstorm and went right into the next day, as a failure.
“With increasing unpredictable weather patterns B.C.’s provincial transportation network must have the necessary preparations in place with adequate resources for winter maintenance,” said Harvie.
The shutting down of the Alex Fraser Bridge for an extended period, as well as the George Massey Tunnel having major problems, made the commute a nightmare for motorists as many spent 10 hours or more stuck on the road.
Following the night of commuter chaos, Mainroad Lower Mainland Contracting LP issued an advisory outlining its procedures, noting the safety of the travelling public is at the core of Mainroad’s planning and preparation for any weather event.
“However, we rely on the travelling public to be prepared for the unpredictability of winter and to drive to the conditions. Tuesday’s storm mixed with heavy congestion created a gridlock traffic situation which was worsened by motorists that were not prepared for winter driving conditions, causing many incidents and stalls. The volume of gridlock prevented Mainroad crews from having full access to roads and bridge decks to perform winter maintenance,” the company stated.
Also following the disastrous commute, Surrey Coun. Linda Annis and New Westminster Coun. Daniel Fontaine co-signed a letter calling for a “snow summit” to analyze what went wrong and how to prevent a repeat.
They also asked Harvie, who chairs the Metro Vancouver board, and Fleming to bring municipal officials and transportation agencies for the meeting.
