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“We’re on plan with the Port Mann Bridge,” Stone said Thursday, referencing a revised 2014 plan in which he lowered ridership and revenue estimates for the crossing.

“When the final budget was approved and began construction, we said the entire debt for this bridge would be paid off before 2050. That continues to be the case today.”

Since the Port Mann opened in December 2012, a larger-than-expected number of drivers have detoured to the Pattullo Bridge to avoid the rising tolls.

The minister promised in 2013 that there would be a tolling policy at the end of the year. There’s been nothing from them, and no solution

But traffic rebounded in 2016 because more drivers took the Port Mann to avoid recent lengthy repairs on the Pattullo, said Greg Johnson, spokesman for the Transportation Investment Corporation, which operates the Port Mann for the government.

Traffic numbers are growing as much as six per cent annually, said Johnson. “That’s meeting our expectations,” he said. “We’re able to completely pay this project off with that kind of traffic growth.”

“It’s always been part of the plan to have a loss in its early years,” he added.

The Port Mann’s struggles highlight larger concerns about whether drivers are willing to pay tolls to cross Lower Mainland bridges, or if they’ll just divert to free options.

Photo by Photo credit Stuart McCall/North Light / PNG

The region’s other tolled crossing, the Golden Ears Bridge, run by TransLink, lost $45.2 million in 2015.

Instead of a review on tolling, Tuesday’s B.C. budget began pouring the first major funding into the George Massey Bridge, a 10-lane megaproject to replace the Massey tunnel, which will also be funded by tolls on drivers.