Surrey looks to light rail to ease huge growth

SkyTrain is too expensive, Mayor Dianne Watts says

BY KELLY SINOSKI, VANCOUVER SUN APRIL 13, 2011


Surrey is exploring the potential of building at-grade light rail on three of the city's major corridors, saying an extension of the SkyTrain line is not financially feasible.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said Tuesday the city will actively advocate for TransLink to build light rail across the city and is already investigating three routes: 104th Avenue between 152nd Street and City Centre (near the Surrey Central SkyTrain); King George Highway from City Centre to Newton (and eventually South Surrey); and Fraser Highway between City Centre and Langley.

"I don't want to have SkyTrain cutting our communities in half -that is going to destroy our city," Watts told nearly 500 people at her state of the city speech at the Sheraton Guildford Hotel.

"It's not just about moving people as far as you can from A to B; it's about moving people but also building a community.

"If we don't put in proper measures for transportation we're going to have a mess."

Watts argued the city, which pays $164 million into transportation each year, has seen its population double in the past 17 years, but hasn't had any expansions to its rapid transit line.

As Surrey develops into the region's second downtown, she added, the city needs a cost effective and efficient transportation system to accommodate the growth.

Another one million people are expected to move to Metro Vancouver in the next 30 years with 70 per cent of those settling south of the Fraser River. Building a SkyTrain connecting Surrey with Langley, she said, would be cost-prohibitive, compared with light rail and street cars, which would complement the existing SkyTrain and buses already in place.

TransLink has estimated the cost of light rail at $27 million per kilometre versus $127 million per kilometre for the Evergreen Line and $233 million for the UBC/Broadway line.

"To get around the city of Surrey by SkyTrain is not feasible. It [would cost] billions and billions and billions of dollars," Watts said.

The Canada Line, linking Vancouver and Richmond, cost $2 billion to build, while the Evergreen Line is set at $1.4 billion. TransLink had tentatively proposed building a sixkilometre SkyTrain from City Centre to Guildford and is now undergoing studies for the Surrey route.

TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said Watts's comments mirror what's been heard in the community so far. More public consultation sessions on rapid transit in Surrey will be held in the next month-anda-half, with a feasibility plan likely expected by the end of the year.

"It's very productive to have those concepts on the table," Hardie said.

The Surrey rapid transit project is part of a transportation strategy for the Metro Vancouver region, which includes the Evergreen Line connecting Burnaby, Port Moody and Coquitlam, and a proposed rapid transit along the Broadway corridor to the University of B.C.

Transit officials, the province and regional mayors continue to wrangle over ways to pay for future transit projects, including the long-awaited Evergreen Line, without raising property taxes.

Watts, who met with Trans-Link Tuesday afternoon, said she wants a funding strategy to be developed within the next few months, with design plans for light rail in place by next year.

"I think the general public is fed up with all of us sitting around a table trying to cobble our pennies together to pay for [transit]," she said. "I would like to see it done within a month or two. You need a sustainable transportation plan."

Light rail is the only option for Surrey and Langley, she insists, adding that White Rock Mayor Catherine Ferguson and Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender agree. Unlike Vancouver and Burnaby, which are tight-knit communities with no more land base, Surrey is so vast and open that it needs more inter-modal types of transit, she said.

Watts argued light rail would help connect Surrey's town centres and boost economic activity, while creating a "vibrancy" in the city, which aims to develop 150 kilometres of new bicycle and pedestrian trails and paths by 2016.

"Transportation is critically important as we shape growth in our town centres. In order to create healthy communities, we need to provide safe and accessible walking and cycling opportunities," Watt said in her speech.

"At-grade rail is cost-effective and efficient, and would not only create a new transportation option, but also increase economic development and improve quality of life."

Watts added light rail is considered a key plank in the city's attempts to boost economic development.

Surrey is continuing to complete significant infrastructure projects in its Surrey Build program, which involves $2.8 billion in construction, including $800 million in new community projects and $2 billion worth of facilities being built in partnership with other levels of government.

The program is being funded through infrastructure fees, secondary suite fees, contributions from the Surrey City Development Corp., gambling revenue, grant money, leaseholds, parking fee revenues from the city's new parking authority and reserve money.

"We are redefining Surrey and creating B.C.'s next metropolitan core by fostering a strong investment climate and implementing innovative social, economic and community initiatives for our residents and businesses," she said.

Watts noted the city has seen more than $1 billion in construction activity in 2010, the crime rate is at a 10-year low, and since 2009, Surrey has helped 356 people get off the street and into permanent housing.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun


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This is something I definitely don't agree with at least for connecting major centres such as Guildford & Newton to Whalley (not saying that all centres require RRT - i.e. to Langley would be too long and infeasible). THAT would not be viable whatsoever considering current traffic patterns & conditions in the city of Surrey. However, there is no absolute evidence, and there's really no cash to play with either. We should start with something cheap and efficient such as introducing new express BRT and reorganizing bus routes (i.e. more community shuttles), that will at least provide improvements, for a 3 year basis or so to collect info on which traffic movements will need what major improvements, before proceeding on deciding anything.

In fact I can name more reasons why LRT would actually do worse to split communities up than RRT...

I've actually been quite disappointed with some of Watt's actions lately. A useless new arena in cloverdale, helping 356 people get off the street.... out of thousands that still live on the street and more hundreds of thousands of the entire Surrey population... claiming to be improving transportation by spending $146 million when the places that REALLY need transportation upgrades are not getting any whatsoever and are being left at the expense and frustration of travelers using both cars and transit.

Surrey's mayor renews call for light rail, regional tolling strategy



Dianne Watts delivers her annual state of address

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/5709324.bin?size=620x400s


By Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun March 13, 2012 8:15 PM


METRO VANCOUVER -- Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts is renewing her call for light rail transit south of the Fraser River, arguing rapid buses or a costly SkyTrain line to Langley won’t reduce increasing gridlock on city streets.

Watts said city taxpayers give $160 million every year to TransLink, but the city is not getting the transit service it needs to meet a growing population that is set to reach 750,000 by 2040.

In the past five years, the city’s population has grown 18.5 per cent — more than three times the national average of 5.9-per-cent growth in metropolitan areas. About one-third of the population is under the age of 19.

“When we’re faced with the growth we’ve had exponentially we see the challenges in that,” Watts told a packed crowd at her annual state-of-the-city address at the Sheraton Guildford Hotel.

Using the same stage backdrop — depicting a light rapid transit train — as last year, Watts said light rail is not a “request of the month” and she won’t give up fighting for it. She noted three light rail train lines could be built for less than the cost of a $2-billion SkyTrain extension to Langley.

Just adding more buses won’t be efficient enough, she argued, and rapid buses are “not 21st century.” A SkyTrain to Langley, she said, would run through Green Timbers Park and cut Fleetwood Town Centre in half. This would hamper the city’s goal of encouraging denser town centres, she said, and would only offer service between Vancouver and Langley when 80 per cent of transit trips in Surrey are expected to be in the city itself. Watts said that by 2040, the number of vehicle licences issued to Surrey residents is expected to increase by 50 per cent, while road capacity will rise 12 per cent, meaning a 40-per-cent boost in congestion and gridlock....


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