A crowd of Coquitlam and New Westminster residents turned out Wednesday for the first open house on a proposed rebuild for the traffic-clogged Brunette interchange.
But no clear choice appeared to emerge as people clustered around displays showing three options that would cost between $510 million and $620 million.
"None of them are any good," said one local resident who expressed concerns about traffic lights for proposed intersections, which he feared would slow traffic.
But reducing travel time is one of the key goals of the Ministry of Transportation's infrastructure improvement project, which is supposed to cut congestion and improve safety along the route that is a major connection between Coquitlam and New Westminster.
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said the Brunette interchange is one of the city's most "critical transportation challenges" but he wasn't prepared to say which option he preferred as the latest maps provided by the ministry contained new details that could have a big impact on Coquitlam.
"Our engineers have serious concerns about a number of the options and I expect our residents would as well," he told The Tri-City News.
Still, Stewart said it's about time consideration is being given to improving the interchange, which at times becomes so blocked that emergency vehicles and patients can't get to Royal Columbian Hospital, which is slated for expansion.
"That's our main connection for the northeast sector to get to… Royal Columbian and other government services that are in New Westminster. It really needs to have the capacity," Stewart said, noting that the population of the region has quadrupled in the decades since road network was built.
Although the options vary in terms of the types of infrastructure and their location, all three turn Brunette Avenue into a direct connection between New West and Coquitlam while diverting regional traffic along an extended Blue Mountain Street. Alternatives to the United Boulevard/Braid Street connection between the two cities over a bailey bridge and railway crossings are also proposed in the three options.
Stewart said he is pleased to see that some effort has gone into replacing the dangerous bottleneck. "United Boulevard is part of a very long roadway connection that runs four lanes between UBC and Mission except for the bailey bridge," Stewart said. "We really need to re-connect that east-west goods movement corridor that United Boulevard is designed to be, unless we do it just won't work."
The mayor admitted the three options will require more study and, possibly, additional open houses so people understand the impact.
• A public survey and discussion booklet are available by going to engage.gov.bc.ca and searching for Brunette.
