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Mayor talks bikes not bridge with transport minister

Discord between the two sides has been palpable
Brodie Stone
Mayor Malcolm Brodie (centre) with B.C.’s transportation minister Todd Stone (left) and Richmond-Steveston MLA John Yap. Photo by Graeme Wood/Richmond News

Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Todd Stone was in Richmond Friday morning to meet with the city’s mayor, Malcolm Brodie, to discuss an important transportation issue.

Bike lanes.

Stone made the Railway Greenway in West Richmond his pit-stop to announce the province will match up to $6 million in municipal contributions across the province on cycling-specific projects.

“Applications for this year’s BikeBC funding are now open,” said Stone, who praised Richmond’s Railway initiative in front of Brodie.

Stone added that his ministry would establish a formal cycling working group for the George Massey Tunnel replacement bridge, to ensure cycling lanes are connected to Richmond’s existing network of roads.

This was Brodie and Stone’s first face-to-face meeting in public, after Brodie told the News he was not invited to attend the announcement of the proposed $3.5 billion bridge at the George Massey Tunnel crossing.

Over the past year, Brodie has led a majority on Richmond city council in a growing chorus of complaints against the ministry, regarding the bridge proposal. Later in the day, at his annual mayor’s speech at a hotel in City Centre, Brodie was asked if he thought the ministry had been open and receptive with its bridge plans.

“Umm, not entirely. I’ll try to be diplomatic here,” said Brodie, who went on to state the ministry’s Project Definition Report “totally lacks any details.”

Brodie is concerned about tolling, farmland preservation and traffic congestion at the Oak Street Bridge.

“We respect the City of Richmond’s views on the tunnel, the desire by many in the community to retain the tunnel,” said Stone, adding, however, that during the province’s public consultation, “we heard very clearly from residents of both sides of the proposed bridge (Delta and Richmond) that the favoured expansion would be a bridge and not an expanded tunnel.”

When asked, Stone dismissed keeping the existing tunnel, even if it were simply decommissioned.

“Our analysis — the technical analysis we’ve done — said it’s better for the river, it’s better for the environment overall to get it out of the water,” said Stone.

Erin O’Melinn, a spokesperson for HUB, a cycling advocacy group, said that while her group supports a cycle lane on the proposed bridge, that lane needs to connect with cycle routes throughout the city.

 “We want to ensure it doesn’t become a cycling bridge to nowhere,” O’Melinn added.