As far as mega-projects go, few rival the Gateway Program. With an expected price tag of nearly $3 billion — or about $1,500 for every area resident — it will be the most expensive transportation project ever done in the Lower Mainland.

By comparison, the improvements to the Sea to Sky Highway from West Vancouver to Whistler are expected to cost $600 million.

The provincially backed program is being viewed by its advocates as the engineering mega-solution to traffic congestion in the Lower Mainland.

It includes the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and widening the Trans-Canada Highway by two lanes from Langley to Vancouver, a distance of 33 kilometres; an improved, 17-km perimeter road along the north side of the Fraser River; and a new four-lane highway along the south side of the Fraser.

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Doug Proudfoot, executive director of the Gateway Program, said the highway improvements are crucial for moving goods to and from the Lower Mainland’s ports and international border crossings, which are also slated for multi-million-dollar improvements.

In sizing up the task ahead, engineers have been calculating travel times using a sophisticated computer model, based on population growth and future traffic flow patterns.

“That’s been a huge part of the work that we’ve been doing for the last little while,” Proudfoot said.

About 20 people are working out of the Gateway Program office, Proudfoot said. Delcan Engineering, an international firm with a Vancouver office, is the primary engineering consultant. CH2M Hill has been hired for technical advice and Acres International is doing environmental assessments.

“It’s a very large and complex task,” Proudfoot said. “We’ve been working on the planning and development aspects for about a year and a half now.”

But so far there is no firm time line for completing the Gateway projects.

“There’s a four- to five-year construction horizon,” Proudfoot said. “And that’s once we’re through the community consultation and the environmental assessments and the procurement process.”

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The program will generate up to 15,000 person-years of employment through design and construction, said Proudfoot.

But recent reports by the Canada West Foundation, the B.C. Business Council and the B.C. Federation of Labour have warned of an impending shortage of skilled labourers.

“There’s no doubt we’re in an unprecedented period of construction in Vancouver, and B.C. generally,” said Keith Sashaw, president of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association.

Sashaw said 40,000 new people have joined the construction industry in the last eight months alone but there has still been an increase in construction costs.

“There has been some upward pressure on construction costs over the last eight months to a year,” Sashaw said. “But I’m sure the people who are putting the projects out are aware of that and will factoring that into budgets.”

Proudfoot doesn’t expect a labour shortage to be a major problem.

“It isn’t really an issue,” Proudfoot said. “Any party, any contractor, will have to guarantee the supply of workers, that will be a key element in determining the scope and timing of the project.”

Proudfoot added the Gateway Program is working with other provincial projects, such as the Sea to Sky highway, to avoid bidding wars over the same contractors.

The Gateway projects could also be fighting for construction materials. The South Fraser Perimeter Road alone will require more than one million metric tonnes of gravel — more than a large gravel pit produces in a year. The widening of 33 kilometres along the Trans-Canada Highway will likely have similar requirements.

“At this point, we haven’t heard of any shortages in terms of gravel or concrete. And the availability of steel seems to have rectified itself,” Sashaw said. “But we fully expect there will be spot shortages here and there, and the industry will have to address those.”

Concrete and steel prices have increased sharply in recent years, but Proudfoot said the increases been taken into account in the projected $3-billion budget.

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On the funding front, so far the project has been allocated only $291 million. The money — provided in this spring’s provincial budget — is being used for traffic studies, designs and public consultation, said Proudfoot.

One revenue source being considered is toll roads, one of the more contentious aspects of the Gateway Program.

Proudfoot said tolling is being modelled for both the Trans-Canada Highway and the eastern section of the South Fraser Perimeter Road. Tolls are considered a potential means of controlling traffic demand, as well as generating revenue. Toll fees have yet to be determined, said Proudfoot.

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Twinning the Port Mann Bridge and widening the Trans-Canada Highway is projected to cut 20 minutes off a Langley-to-Vancouver trip. Similarly, the South Fraser Perimeter Road will speed up trips between the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 99 by 15 minutes. (There is no estimate yet as to how much the North Fraser Perimeter Road will improve travel time.)

Not surprisingly, it’s a problem that will only get worse. By 2021, the Lower Mainland population is expected to increase by 1 million. Truck traffic alone will increase by 50 per cent, according to the B.C. Trucking Association.

ANATOMY OF A TRANSPORTATION OVERHAUL: SCALE, FUNCTION, REALITY:

Although many details of the Gateway program remain unknown, the scale of the building project is becoming clearer.

MAKING IT HAPPEN WILL REQUIRE PROVINCE, NATION — AND INDIVIDUALS

REVENUE SOURCES

Homeowners, motorists and senior levels of government can expect to be tapped to fund Gateway’s construction and operations.

– Estimated cost of $3 billion.

– Current funding of $291 million from provincial budget.

– Toll roads are being considered for the Trans-Canada / Port Mann corridor and the eastern section of the South Fraser Perimeter Road.

– Public consultation on the South Fraser Perimeter Road began last spring, but has since been shelved due to lack of money.

– Transport Minister Kevin Falcon is appealing for federal funding, particularly for the South Fraser Perimeter Road.

GETTING PHYSICAL: THREE MAIN PROJECTS

PORT MANN CROSSING

The existing bridge would be twinned, providing a total of eight lanes over the Fraser River. Two lanes would be added to the Trans-Canada from Langley to Vancouver, a distance of 33 kilometres. Up to 10 highway interchanges would be reconstructed and travel time would be reduced by up to 20 minutes.

SOUTH FRASER PERIMETER ROAD

A new four-lane, 80 km/h road from Deltaport Way in Delta to the proposed Golden Ears Bridge, a distance of 40 kilometres. Several new interchanges would be constructed. Connecting Deltaport and Surrey Fraser Docks to the regions major highways, the road would be used primarily for goods transport. Travel time between the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 99 would be reduced by 15 minutes.

NORTH FRASER PERIMETER ROAD

The road would run 17 kilometres from the Queensborough Bridge in New Westminster to the proposed Golden Ears Bridge in Pitt Meadows, primarily serving goods transport. The road would include a new six-lane bridge over the Pitt River and an interchange at Mary Hill Bypass and Lougheed Highway. There is no estimate for travel-time reduction.

BUILDING IT WILL REQUIRE MANY SKILLED TRADES

Jobs:

– An estimated 10-15,000 worker-years of employment directly related to the project.

– 40,000 new people have entered B.C.’s construction industry in the last eight months.

– Despite that influx, B.C. still faces a serious shortage of skilled labourers that could drive up construction prices.

– Pre-Olympic construction is expected to peak in 2008.

Materials:

– An estimated 300,000 metric tonnes of asphalt and one million metric tonnes of gravel for the 40-kilometre-long South Fraser Perimeter Road.

KNOWING HOW TO BUILD AN OVERPASS IS JUST ONE OF MANY CHALLENGES

The Gateway project has many components, including the construction of several new overpasses and the reconstruction of all the interchanges along Highway 1 between Langley and Vancouver.

To give some idea of the scope of such an ambitious project, consider one example of an overpass project that was recently completed in the Lower Mainland: the 200th Street interchange at Highway 1 in Langley.

It officially opened last September after more than a decade of planning, consultation, construction and delays.

The process of bringing the long-awaited interchange to completion could be a smaller-scale example of what’s to come with the Gateway program as it begins to move forward.

Township of Langley transportation engineer Paul Cordeiro worked on the 200th Street project and provided the accompanying guide to the complex process from start to finish.

Stage 1: Planning

– Planning for the project initially began in 1986, but was not looked at seriously until several years later.

– In the mid-’90s, traffic studies were done by the province, and some design concepts developed.

– In 1999, the province and township decided on a preferred concept for the overpass design.

– Concept was put to engineering and developer partnerships for bidding. The interchange was a public-private partnership, something still under consideration for Gateway.

– Three bids were received and after review the township and province decided contractor BA Blacktop would get the contract.

Stage 2: Engineering

– Initially, more time was required to work on the detailed design for the project.

– The contractor’s plan was different from the preferred design concept, so further studies had to be done.

– According to designer Buckland and Taylor Bridge Engineering, the six-lane overpass consists of a post-tensioned concrete slab over two spans of 22 metres each. According to B&T, “To accommodate curved access, the unusual overpass is bow-tie shape in plan. The slab is seated at the top of abutment walls at both ends.”

– A safety study was done by ICBC and more traffic studies were completed, resulting in delays.

– Environmental studies also had to be completed.

Stage 3: Public Consultation

– Public consultation occurred throughout the planning and engineering stages.

– The project involved part of the land being developed for retail use, so the neighbourhood had to be consulted on what would be allowed.

– In open houses on the design of the interchange, residents raised concerns about an increase of stoplights in the design — from one signal in the old overpass to four in the new design.

Stage 4: Construction

– Construction finally began in 2001.

– The original design was for a four-lane overpass, but after construction began the design was expanded to six lanes, causing delays and increased costs.

– Through the years of construction, three different phases of detours and rerouting traffic were implemented as parts of the project were completed.

– At a final cost of $34 million, the interchange became fully operational in August 2004

— Jennifer Miller, Vancouver Sun

ON THE STREET:

We wanted to check on general awareness of the Gateway Program and asked regular commuters what they know about it.

“What my understanding is that they’re looking at a range of different projects, like new highways, expanded highways, additional transit initiatives, that kind of thing — but I don’t know the specifics.”

Shawn Hall

Communications manager, commutes from Cloverdale to downtown Vancouver

“Nothing really. I know there is a lot of road work going on, which doesn’t help the traffic situation. They need to improve public transportation. I would consider taking public transportation if it was a little better.”

Ricky Gruetz

Interior designer, commutes from North Delta to downtown Vancouver

“I just know about the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge. I live close to the Pattullo Bridge and I know that during rush hour it can get backed up quite far. I think [expanding highways] is a never-ending cycle.”

Kenny Wong

Architectural technologist, takes SkyTrain from Surrey to downtown Vancouver

“I’ve heard they want to make a highway and I don’t like that. I don’t think making space for more cars is the solution. I do agree that there has to be some other way to come into the city than by car. I’d rather have people keep looking for another solution than compromise for the people living around [East First Avenue]. I come from Montreal, and I know how big [highways] can become.”

Kamaja Phaneuf, elementary teaching assistant, resident on East 2nd Avenue and Commercial Drive

© The Vancouver Sun 2005