METRO VANCOUVER -- Motorists travelling between Surrey and New Westminster will be forced to take the tolled Port Mann Bridge or other crossings such as the Alex Fraser during closures of the Pattullo Bridge next year for major rehabilitation work.

TransLink is also hoping that more people will opt to carpool, take SkyTrain or reduce their trips between Surrey and New Westminster during the $100-million rehabilitation project, which is slated to continue for 18 months.

A two-week closure of the bridge due to a fire in January 2009 caused traffic chaos, clogging the old untolled Port Mann and Alex Fraser bridges, as well as the George Massey Tunnel.

About 75,000 motorists use the Pattullo Bridge daily, partly because many drivers do not want to pay the $3 toll each way to cross the Port Mann Bridge.

“The Pattullo Bridge is not going to be able to handle the traffic pattern it does today,” said New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote. “Both the Alex Fraser and the Port Mann are going to see increases in traffic. The Port Mann will be able to handle that excess but the Alex Fraser will face a few more challenges in terms of congestion.

“I’m hoping people will start to realize the Port Mann Bridge, even with a toll, is a better alternative for some of these trips.”

TransLink announced Thursday that, starting in mid-2016, only two lanes — one in each direction — will be open on the Pattullo during weekdays, while the bridge will be closed to all traffic during nights and weekends as it works to rehabilitate and repair the aged bridge deck. The sidewalk will also be closed to pedestrians and cyclists at all times while the work is ongoing, while heavy trucks with more than three axles will be banned from using the bridge.

But even if there were funding available to build a new bridge, said Cote, this major rehabilitation work would still be needed because it would take up to eight years to design and build a new crossing. There will also likely need to be more seismic upgrading done before then.

“Really the only other alternative is to go without a bridge,” he said.

Fred Cummings, TransLink’s vice-president of engineering and infrastructure management, said the transportation authority wants to give the public time to come up with new travel arrangements. TransLink is working with the trucking association, the B.C. government, Port Metro Vancouver and city officials in New Westminster and Surrey on a traffic management plan to help motorists, pedestrians and cyclists find alternative ways to get across the river.

The lane-closure proposal, he said, is the “best balance” to the needs of safety, business impacts and the needs of emergency responders.

“It’s driver safety as well as worker safety,” Cummings said. “We know this is going to be a significant impact to people who use this bridge so we want them to plan ahead for alternative routes. There are concerns, obviously, because this is going to lead to congestion and delays. But there’s an understanding this work has to be done.”

Greg Johnson, spokesman for TI Corp., which oversees the operations and maintenance of the Port Mann Bridge, said there is enough capacity on that crossing to accept the traffic from the Pattullo Bridge.

Traffic on the Port Mann Bridge is up more than five per cent compared with the same month last year, he said, while overall traffic for 2015 has risen an average of six per cent compared with the same period a year earlier — with traffic volumes between 95,000 and 110,000 crossings per day. But while there is room to take more vehicles on the Port Mann, neither Johnson nor Cummings would say if tolls would be relaxed on that bridge during the Pattullo closure.

The B.C. government, which is responsible for the Port Mann and Alex Fraser bridges, has said there must be a toll-free alternative for people who do not want to pay to cross the Port Mann.

However, the Ministry of Transportation said in a statement to The Sun Thursday that there are no plans at this time to reduce tolls on the Port Mann.

Cote said reducing the tolls on the Port Mann Bridge would help lure motorists to that bridge, noting he’s worried that even with less traffic using the Pattullo, there will be bottlenecks on the access points, especially in his city. About 30 per cent of traffic on the Pattullo, he added, serves the local population in New Westminster and Surrey.

“Ideally that would be the traffic that remains,” he said, adding there needs to be widespread communication about the plan. “This rehabilitation project is going to have a significant impact on transportation not only in New Westminster but in Metro Vancouver.”

TransLink does not have figures for pedestrians and cyclists who regularly use the sidewalk on the aged bridge to cross the river. TransLink will urge pedestrians and cyclists to use transit during the closure, Cummings said, but will also look at offering shuttle buses for cyclists because of the bike restrictions during peak hours on SkyTrain.

The latest rehabilitation on the Pattullo Bridge will focus on seismically upgrading and repairing the bridge deck, whether by milling and replacing the concrete on some sections of the bridge or bringing in pre-cast sections. The work follows a succession of summer closures during the past decade that has seen repeated patch jobs on the deck to keep it safely maintained until a new bridge is built.

“We can’t do that anymore,” Cummings said. “The bridge needs to be rehabilitated and have repairs until a new one is built. We need to keep the bridge safe until then.”

A new four-lane crossing, with the potential to expand to six lanes, is a priority in TransLink’s transportation plan and one of the top projects listed in a batch of projects that will go ahead if the public agrees to a 0.5-per-cent sales tax increase to fund transportation across Metro Vancouver. Metro voters have until 8 p.m. Friday to vote the proposal.

TransLink and the regional mayors insist they need the sales tax increase, which would generate $250 million annually and help fund projects such as more buses, the Pattullo Bridge, better road maintenance, a new subway for Vancouver and light rail for Surrey. The results of the plebiscite are expected to be released in late June.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

Twitter: @ksinoski

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