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Translink, the statutory authority responsible for the regional transportation network of Metro Vancouver in British Columbia (Canada), is preparing a Business Case for the Pattullo Bridge Replacement project.

The Pattullo Bridge, one of the oldest bridges in the Lower Mainland, was opened in 1937. It links New Westminster on the north side of the Fraser River and Surrey on the south bank.

Since the opening of the Port Mann Bridge, the traffic volume on the Pattullo Bridge has risen from the historical volume of 70,000 vehicles per day to the current volume of 80,000 vehicles per day. The majority of the traffic growth on the Pattullo Bridge has been attributed to the diversion of traffic avoiding the toll on the Port Mann Bridge.

TransLink, the owner of the Pattullo Bridge, has recently announced that the deck rehabilitation will start on April 29, 2016 and design work for the replacement began in the fall of 2015. It is expected that the replacement project will be developed through the PPP model. TransLink is required to prepare a PPP business case for submission to P3 Canada by the end of March 2016.

Translink has estimated a six to seven year construction period and it has plans to launch the tender process for the project by the fall of 2017.

The total project investment is estimated at C$1 billion (US$750 million). It was anticipated that the federal and provincial governments will contribute to the capital cost. Under a memorandum of agreement (MOA), which would be signed between New Westminster, Surrey and Translink, tolls from the bridge operation (potentially collected by a concessionaire) would be available to meet both capital and operating expenses.

In late January, this year we reported that the government of British Columbia had plans to launch a tender process to carry out the George Massey Tunnel replacement project during 2016. The new bridge will replace the 1959-opened George Massey Tunnel under the Fraser River. It will be used by approximately 10, 000 transit passengers and 80,00 vehicles per day.