Light rail to the Fraser Valley? Abbotsford mayor says it’s not ‘pie in the sky’

Abbotsford’s mayor is floating the idea of building light rail transit (LRT) down the middle of Highway 1 between Surrey and the Fraser Valley to alleviate congestion.

“No I don’t think it’s pie in the sky, I said that 20 years ago,” Henry Braun told Global News.

Braun says traffic is so bad on the stretch of highway between the two areas that it is actually faster to travel using the back roads.

With the region talking transit mega projects, Braun is now arguing his city should be included. He’s proposing the LRT line be constructed using the space between east and westbound lanes.

“The median should be an LRT surface-based transit system like Calgary and Edmonton,” Braun said.

Braun is not the first person to float the idea of a light rail service to the Fraser Valley. Transit advocates have previously floated the idea of reviving the old BC Electric Railway Interurban line, which ran from New Westminster to Chilliwack until the 1950s.

Braun didn’t propose how the line would be funded, or say whether he thought it should be administered by TransLink or BC Transit.

But he said while it’s clear that the federal government’s transit priority is on the major urban centres, it’s time to get the same discussion going on at the local level.

At the very least, Braun said congestion is bad enough to the valley that the highway should be widened.

“The freeway was built when I was 14 years old,” Braun said.

“I’m now 67 and the freeway is still the same.”