EXPEDITING THE GEORGE MASSEY CROSSING PROJECT (2023)

Issue

British Columbia is Canada’s Asia Pacific Gateway, and our economic competitiveness relies heavily on the well-maintained capacity within our port, air, rail, and roadway infrastructure. Thus, it is imperative that the Province ensures the efficient flow of people and goods throughout the region to increase our regional prosperity and quality of life. The George Massey Tunnel crossing of the Fraser River is a crucial artery of our transportation network that urgently requires replacing in an timely fashion.

B.C.’s competitive position as a trade and transportation-based economy must be actively protected, and continuously improved upon. While efforts to replace the George Massey crossing are underway, it is important that it is delivered expeditiously and that the principles of value for money, total capital cost, technical viability, difficulty, safety, and time to implement should be key considerations for the replacement project, in addition to environmental sustainability.

Background

With the addition of one million people to B.C.’s population over the next ten years, [1] and continued growth in trade, more people will be travelling and goods moving through the region. Therefore, it is important that major infrastructure projects provide the capacity to meet future demands.

George Massey infrastructure is a critical link in the Highway 99 trade corridor, connecting our region to the U.S. Interstate 5 Highway in South Surrey, the BC Ferries Terminal in Tsawwassen Deltaport container terminal, and Vancouver International Airport in Richmond. In addition to significant goods movement, up to 92,000[2] vehicles commute daily via this corridor, and this demand will continue to rise as the population South of the Fraser continues to increase.

The replacement of the current George Massey Tunnel (GMT) has been one of the region’s top regional infrastructure priorities for many years. Located at the nexus of international trade for British Columbia, businesses, and firms from across the province that support, operate, and rely on Canada’s Pacific Gateway view the replacement of the current tunnel as a top priority, with a desired focus on the timeliest replacement possible.

Any delays in upgrading this key link will only exacerbate the region’s existing problems with congestion, travel time, access to labour resources in adjacent municipalities, and regional emergency response capabilities, in addition to impact on the movement of goods from around the province to national and international markets. Delays and the costs associated with the inefficiencies of congestion are forcing businesses to look at all options to relocate, which is resulting in businesses leaving the province in search for places that are cheaper and easier to operate in.[3] Thus, the replacement of the current tunnel is both critical to the continued economic competitiveness of the region as well as to that of businesses from other regions of the province in their ability to compete nationally and internationally

Current Context

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is the second largest airport in Canada and therefore sees a high volume of both exports and imports. Goods exported via YVR generated $3.1 billion in direct output and $2 billion of indirect and induced output in B.C., plus $1.8 billion of total output in other parts of Canada in 2018. Some key exports in 2021 include Electrical machinery/equipment ($530 million) and cinematic equipment ($550.6 million). Key imports in 2021 include machinery and mechanical appliances ($1.47 billion) and electrical machinery ($1.547 billion).

Current air cargo movements rely on a transportation or trade corridor that permits efficient and reliable access to various businesses and activity centres located in the region, province, and the US. Provincially owned Bridgeport Road and Sea Island Way, located in the City of Richmond, provide the primary corridor for people and goods connecting between Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and the provincial highway system at Highway 99. Highway 99 in turn provides a direct route to the US border (via the Pacific Border Crossing) and connections to other major provincial highways in the region including Highway 91 and Highway 17.

The Pacific Highway Border Crossing is one of western Canada’s most important land crossings for goods and people movement. The value of trade goods transported by truck totaled over $19.8 billion in 2022; including over $8 billion in Canadian exports alone.[4]

After the Trans Canada Highway, Hwy 99 is one of the Lower Mainland’s busiest truck corridors, particularly around the George Massey Crossing (Map 1) and it is a critical route for drayage trucks accessing the port to deliver containerized goods for trade (Map 2).

Map 1

Map 2

The Port of Vancouver is about the same size as the next five largest Canadian ports combined. Home to 29 major terminals, the Port can handle the most diversified range of cargo in North America: bulk, containers, breakbulk, liquid bulk, automobiles, and cruise. As the country’s gateway to over 170 trading economies around the world, the port handles $1 of every $3 of Canada’s trade in goods outside of North America. Enabling the trade of approximately $275 billion in goods, port activities sustain 115,300 jobs, $7 billion in wages, and $11.9 billion in GDP across Canada. The Port of Vancouver’s Deltaport location, in Delta, is currently Canada’s largest container terminal.

George Massey Tunnel location was additionally identified as a significant issue location in the Fraser River Trade Area Study[5] relating to Canada’s Pacific Gateway, due to the ways in which a provincial highway river crossing with significant goods movement related to international trade affects capacity. Efficient and reliable access to the provincial highway network (i.e. Highway 99) is important for international trade making use of airport facilities, because trucks often carry time-sensitive cargo.

In summary, a GMT replacement crossing is a critical project for economic that should be prioritized and built expeditiously; a) in a manner which delivers the most value for taxpayers’ money and b) demonstrating cost certainty, expeditious implementation (including the environmental assessment), with the least impact on the river, and affording a lower profile for construction risk.

THE CHAMBER RECOMMENDS

That the Provincial Government:

1. Expedite the George Massey Tunnel replacement project, with a focus on time to completing; ensuring project work is sufficiently completed to such a stage that federal funding is requested no later than the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
2. Prioritize protection of the scope of the project, e.g., including ensuring appropriate levels of public transit and on/off-ramps for affected residential communities, industrial areas and business parks.
3. Prioritize development of a complete, multi-modal Highway 99 Corridor strategic investment planning strategy document, with short, medium and long-term transportation and infrastructure guidelines that take into consideration current and future conditions, infrastructure repair and replacement needs, land protection and access management, active transportation corridors, high-speed and light-rail opportunities, and additional, expanded public transit access, which includes service to industrial areas and business parks.