New interchange in Delta hopes to decrease traffic congestion on Alex Fraser Bridge

The B.C. government announced today it is kicking in $10 million to help get the project of decreasing congestion on the Alex Fraser Bridge and Highway 91 moving again.

The infusion of money is part of the province’s multi-step plan and will go first to a new interchange at Highway 91 and 72nd in Delta, which has been designated as a choke-point for traffic. A major corridor for port traffic, the route is heavily used by commercial vehicles every day to deliver goods to and from market.

“Traffic demand on the Highway 91 corridor – and over the Alex Fraser Bridge – continues to grow as development in Surrey and Delta increases,” said Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Todd Stone in a statement.

“We need to get going on a fix, and get the traffic moving again. This is why we’ve kicked in an extra $10 million to move forward on a new interchange at Highway 91 and 72nd Avenue and developed a robust strategy to help cut the congestion on this key route, both in the short term and also the longer term.”

In total, the B.C. government is funding $20 million towards the $30-million future interchange, which will eliminate the only remaining traffic signal on the Highway 91 corridor.

Moving forward, the province says it will immediately add three more tow trucks on standby and increase their on-site hours and increase the number of highway patrols that will monitor for congestion. The ministry will also start an engineering review process to look at installing a new counter-flow system and introduce an information system.

In the longer term, the province says it will continue to work to push forward new interchanges at Nordel and Sunbury in the areas of Highway 91 and 17 to further address the issues of congestion.

The plan is to provide the design details to the public in the summer, tender the project and begin construction in the fall.

For more information on the upcoming interchange project in Delta, community members are invited to attend the following public information session at 8 p.m. on June 23 at the North Delta Rec Centre.