Dear Editor:
Re: North Shore Shortchanged in Plan, Feb. 8 Mailbox
Letter-writer Dianne Jampolsky says that she moved to the North Shore from Edmonton in 2007 and complains that we need another bridge to help move traffic and will vote No on the referendum because nothing is proposed.
Don’t blame TransLink for this one.
If she had been living here in the late 1990s she would know that widening the Lions Gate Bridge to four lanes, or even twinning it, were proposals made by the province at that time.
There was no widespread support from the North Shore municipalities nor from Vancouver which did not want the additional traffic. There was also furious opposition from the parks board overseeing Stanley Park due to the loss of 24 trees required for the causeway widening.
With no real champion for a major expansion of the bridge, the province instead opted to keep the three-lane configuration, but significantly widened each lane.
I am going to vote Yes on the referendum, not because I like TransLink, but I think the sales tax increase is the least disruptive of the many ways we could be hit. (Anyone like an increase in the property tax going to TransLink? Tolls on the Lions Gate?)
Don Francis
West Vancouver
