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Rear View Mirror: Bridge debate raged, Richmond Hospital tower on life support

On this weekend in 2016, the Richmond News was reporting on the debate over the new bridge and on a decrepit hospital tower
25rearview
On this weekend in 2016, the Richmond News was reporting on the debate over the new bridge and on a decrepit hospital tower

Five years ago this weekend, the Richmond News published a front page and two-page inside feature on the raging debate over the proposed Massey Tunnel replacement.

If you look closer, along the top, the News also teased an inside story about the north tower at Richmond Hospital was in “critical condition.”

It’s interesting, to say the least, that replacement of either of the two major ageing infrastructures has moved an inch since those stories were published.

The two tubes to Delta are still, well, old tubes, although they did get new LED lights last week – round of applause.

And the north tower at the hospital is likely still in “critical condition” – and should be in the Guinness Book of Records for surviving on life support for five years.

In its Massey replacement feature, the News asked whether the proposed $3.5 billion, 10-lane bridge was being built for commuters or, as some cynics believed, to accommodate bigger vessels to navigate up the south arm of the Fraser River to the Port of Vancouver.

It would be nice if Rear View Mirror wasn’t reporting on the same two projects still lying on a shelf somewhere in another five years.