BC Conservatives vow to build SkyTrain extension to Newton

BC Conservatives vow major new transportation infrastructure, including SkyTrain extension to Newton

SkyTrain Surrey Central Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

With just over two weeks to go until the provincial election, the Conservative Party of BC has unveiled a suite of major transportation infrastructure promises, including significant public transit investments for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

This includes a new commitment to expand TransLink’s SkyTrain network within Surrey, with a southward extension of the Expo Line running along King George Boulevard from Surrey City Centre to Newton. This follows a portion of the same route contemplated for Surrey Newton-Guildford light rail transit (LRT), which was cancelled about six years ago.

Currently, TransLink only has plans for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along the same route to Newton.

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The BC Conservatives also indicated they would provide funding for unspecified “key projects” in TransLink’s Transport 2050 plan, which is a regional strategy that includes a SkyTrain extension to the University of British Columbia, the gondola to Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus, and various BRT lines across the region.

“A growing population needs a growing transit network. We will extend SkyTrain to Newton in Surrey, fund key projects in the Transport 2050 plan, and ensure reliable and safe transit for all British Columbians,” said BC Conservatives leader John Rustad in a statement.

The party has also committed to building Fraser Valley regional rail, expanded public transit service along the Sea to Sky Corridor, and “enhanced safety measures on public transit.”

As well, the BC Conservatives reiterated their previously announced platform promise to conduct a full audit of TransLink, and provide full interim operating funding for the public transit authority for two years to avoid major service cuts while the agency’s financial model is reformed.

Other new transportation infrastructure commitments outlined by the party today entail building a new replacement George Massey Tunnel as soon as possible, with Rustad taking aim at the BC NDP’s decision to cancel the previous 10-lane bridge project, which would have been built by 2022. Currently, the BC NDP’s project to build a new eight-lane immersed tunnel is expected to begin construction in 2026 for completion in 2030 at a significantly greater cost than the previous bridge concept.

“The NDP just doesn’t like to build things. One of their first acts was to cancel the replacement for the George Massey Tunnel, a project that was already under construction,” charged Rustad.

The BC Conservatives will also provide a further expansion to the new replacement Pattullo Bridge, which will reach completion in Fall 2025 after construction delays. When open, the new crossing will have four vehicle lanes — a one-for-one replacement of the existing bridge in terms of the number of lanes, albeit with wider lanes. Rustad has vowed to execute the new bridge’s engineered ability to be expanded to six vehicle lanes by repositioning the pedestrian and cycling pathways on cantilevered decks.

Another major promise is Rustad’s commitment to build a new replacement Ironworkers Memorial Bridge with “expanded capacity for both cars and public transit services,” new Highway 1 exits and interchanges in Coquitlam, and the full widening of Highway 1 to six vehicle lanes to Chilliwack. Currently, there are plans to widen Highway 1 to Abbotsford, with further widening in the eastern Fraser Valley left for a future phase of the highway corridor’s improvements.

“It’s time to act like our entire economy depends on it — because it does,” commented Rustad, referring to Highway 1’s importance for national trade.

The BC Conservatives also promised transportation infrastructure elsewhere in the province, such as a new bridge across Okanagan Lake between Kelowna and West Kelowna. The aim is to build this secondary bridge by 2032.

Currently, in terms of transportation infrastructure promises, the BC NDP have only promised to build a BRT line between Park Royal in West Vancouver and Metrotown in Burnaby via the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge — following TransLink’s existing BRT strategy, with construction beginning in 2025. Instead of providing a definitive promise, the BC NDP will consult with TransLink’s Mayors’ Council, municipal governments, and First Nations on the longer-term possibility of turning this North Shore BRT into LRT or SkyTrain.

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