Business groups in B.C.’s Fraser Valley are calling on the provincial government for clarity on the timeline to widen Highway 1 from Langley to Chilliwack.
Work is currently underway to widen a stretch of the highway between 216 and 264 streets in Langley, and the province says advance works on the next phase of the project, from 264 Street to Mt. Lehman Road in Abbotsford, will begin “shortly.”
The multi-phase project includes construction of a third lane in both directions and overpass improvements along the bottleneck-prone stretch of the freeway between Langley and Chilliwack.
The NDP government pledged to complete highway widening to Abbotsford by 2026 as a part of its 2020 election platform, and signs along the highway still say the 216 Street to 264 Street upgrade is slated for a fall 2025 completion.
But the chambers of commerce in Langley, Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Mission say the province has no firm timeline for work on the highway east from that point, and are calling on the province to lay out a clear roadmap.
“We know this infrastructure is long overdue and that highway widening has been needed for many years already, we’re far behind,” Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce CEO Alex Mitchell told Global News Monday.
“You see producers, agricultural producers, manufacturers, sitting in gridlock as they’re trying to get their product to market from the Fraser Valley to the port of metro Vancouver, and those costs add up for businesses and consumers.”
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Mitchell said it was “encouraging” to see work getting underway on the stretch of highway to Mt. Lehman Road, but that overall the infrastructure upgrade needs to catch up with the needs of businesses and residents in the valley.
BC United Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon said the NDP government appears to be dragging its heels on the project.
He said work on the 216 Street to 264 Street stretch actually started under the former BC Liberal government in 2017, but was paused for two years when the NDP took power.
“It has a massive impact on commuters, and especially on families, he said.
“You talk to them, it makes it really challenging to get their kids to hockey games, to baseball games, to get to work, to get home in time to see their families in the evenings, but it also has an economic impact, because that is a very vital goods movement corridor.”
Falcon said B.C.’s population is expected to grow by a million people in the next decade, and that the freeway needs to be fully upgraded through to Chilliwack long before then.
“If we don’t get government that understands that you’ve got to build for the future, we’re never going to get these projects done,” he said.
“That’s what needs to happen and it needs to happen now.”
Chilliwack MLA and Minister of State for Infrastructure and Transit Dan Coulter said the province was “still working on timelines for construction,” but said the government was keenly aware of the project’s urgency.
“I myself travel that highway all the time, so I as much as anyone want to see that highway done as quick as possible,” he said.
“It’s costing (businesses) a significant amount of money and it really is a nationally significant piece of infrastructure for goods movement.”
Coulter acknowledged completion of widening to 264 Street would not be complete by 2025, as stated on road signs, citing impacts of the devastating 2021 atmospheric river and flooding.
But he maintained the ministry was “forging ahead” as fast as possible with the work.
“We have tenders out for advance works between 264 and Mt. Lehman, we’ll have by the end of the year tenders between Mt. Lehman and the Sumas exit,” he said.
“As well as we’ll be putting out tenders shortly for the 264 interchange, and we’re already on construction between 216 Street and 264 Street, so there’s a lot happening there.”
Coulter, however, could not give an estimate on when the project would be complete to Chilliwack.
Mitchell said that’s information businesses in the valley need so they can plan for the future.
“The two lanes are not sufficient for the needs of our community today, and especially not sufficient for the needs of our current economy, we need to be able to have space for truck traffic,” she said.
“We’re at a place where they just have to get it done.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated highway signs said the upgrade to Mt. Lehman Road would be complete by 2025. In fact, the signs state the upgrade to 264 Street will be complete by 2025.
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