TransLink to widen three-km-long segment of Golden Ears Bridge access road | Daily Hive

Three-km-long segment of Golden Ears Bridge access road to be widened by TransLink

Segment of Golden Ears Way to be widened from two lanes for four lanes. (Google Maps)

Detailed design and planning work is now underway to widen a sizeable segment of Golden Ears Way north of the Golden Ears Bridge in Maple Ridge.

This represents one of the largest reinvestments made to the original infrastructure of the 2009-built Golden Ears Bridge project, which also included the creation of 14 km of new arterial and collector access roads extending from either end of the bridge in Maple Ridge and Langley Township.

According to the City of Maple Ridge, it is supporting TransLink’s project of widening the east-west segment of Golden Ears Way between the Lougheed Highway (Highway 7) interchange and the intersection with 210 Street. The municipal government and public transit authority have signed an agreement enabling the long-planned project to proceed to the design phase.

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Currently, this approximately three-km-long segment of Golden Ears Way is a two-lane road — one lane in each direction. The forthcoming upgrade will widen it into a four-lane road — two lanes in each direction — to align it with the existing four-lane standard of Golden Ears Way south of Lougheed Highway to Airport Way, where an interchange transitions the road into the six-lane bridge.

When complete, the project will provide vehicles with a more seamless connection between the bridge through to Abernethy Way, which is another key east-west arterial road that the municipal government is currently extending out to 240 Street, with future plans to expand this corridor east to 256 Street.

The City states construction on the Golden Ears Way widening is expected to begin in 2027.

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Segment of Golden Ears Way to be widened from two lanes for four lanes. (Google Maps)

“With our booming population and growing economy, the City is making smart investments and working with our regional partners to keep people and goods moving here in Maple Ridge and across Metro Vancouver,” said Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy in a statement today.

“This is an example of the City taking a bold approach to meeting the needs of our community, and I’m grateful to the team at TransLink for partnering with us to move forward on this critical project.”

According to the municipal government, this current narrow segment of Golden Ears Way sees frequent traffic congestion and is cited by residents and businesses as a priority for expansion.

More than a quarter of all east-west trips in Maple Ridge between 200 Street and 203 Street travel along Lougheed Highway, Dewedney Trunk Road, or Golden Ears Way.

In the 2000s, this two-lane segment of Golden Ears Way was designed to allow for a future widening to four lanes with relative ease. Prior to the construction of the bridge, no such road network existed, and the area’s roads along the Golden Ears Way corridor were largely rural standard. The bridge replaced TransLink’s Albion Ferry, a passenger and vehicle ferry service between Maple Ridge’s Albion neighbourhood and Langley Township’s Fort Langley district.

Both the bridge and the supporting overland road network, including Golden Ears Way, are owned and operated by TransLink.

Furthermore, the Golden Ears Way expansion is part of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council’s 10-year plan for improving regional transportation, and the City’s “Maple Ridge Moves” strategy of pursuing various road and public transit infrastructure improvements. The City is using federal infrastructure funding to help cover the cost of road widening’s detailed design.

TransLink is also in the process of planning the Langley-Haney Place Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line, featuring bus-only lanes for the Lougheed Highway segment within Maple Ridge between Golden Ears Way and Haney Place, and south of the Golden Ears Bridge within Langley Township and Langley City. Bus-only lanes are not planned for the bridge and the segment of Golden Ears Way between Lougheed Highway and the north end of the bridge. According to TransLink, 85 per cent of this BRT route outside of the Golden Ears Bridge will have bus-only lanes.

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