British Columbia’s provincial government on Feb. 9 issued an environmental assessment certificate to the George Massey Tunnel Replacement Project. The move clears the way for a new 2-mile, 10-lane, clear-span bridge over the southern arm of the Fraser River as part of Highway 99, south of Vancouver. By fall, smaller contracts and the main construction contract are expected to be in place for work to start on the largest bridge ever built in Canada.
Currently, the George Massey Tunnel, south of Richmond, B.C., on Highway 99, carries an average of 80,000 vehicles each day. But the four-lane tunnel, opened in 1957, often is bottlenecked, causing delays of up to three miles in length. The British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure expects the new bridge to reduce the backup by half. The crossing is expected to open in 2022.