Port Mann Bridge – Port Mann Bridge Toll

I call this the calm before the storm. We live in Vancouver and the lower mainland and no doubt it is an expensive, or shall I say a VERY expensive area to live in. You want taxes on taxes? Move to Vancouver and the lower mainland. Sure we have a lot to complain about anytime there is discussion about a new levy or tax. It’s part of why we love Translink right?

So this brings me to the calm before the storm. Port Mann bridge project is certainly moving along rather nicely. Did you hear the part about the toll? I wonder if the flash of the new Port Mann bridge and the huge time savings has glazed over your “ears” and you missed the part about the Port Mann bridge tolls. I certainly am predicting right here, right now that the public will be crying in no time.

So long as there is a free option, do the powers that be really think that the majority will pay the fee? Or will they just go to the Putello bridge instead. I say take a look at the experimental Golden Ears bridge. Tolls? No thanks, we would rather wait in traffic and take longer to get where we need to go. Pay for a crossing each way? Forget that! That seems to be the common sediment out there.

It’s going to be juicy as the Port Mann bridge nears completion. I personally think that people aren’t actually thinking about what the toll really means. No, there isn’t a lower deck, there isn’t a slower lane that will get you away from the toll. Nope. It’s called no choice. Let’s see how this plays out. Thankfully this post has a date so that I can say I told you so when the Port Mann bridge project is completed.

Tags: , , ,

  • Zklarer

    Tolling the Port Mann is an insult to people living south of the river.  The Gateway project’s (includes the bridge, south perimeter road plus expansion of highway 1 and the Mary Hill bypass) total cost is 3.3 billion, the bridge is roughly half yet the single toll will pay for it all.  Significant upgrades in Burnaby and Coquitlam will make life easier for people living there but bridge users have to pay for it.  Several large projects were recently built without a toll; the Pitt river bridge, the sea to sea highway, the Kelowna bridge, etc.  Why the Port Mann?  Why in such an unfair way?