Vehicles exit and enter the George Massey Tunnel in Richmond, B.C.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
There are several bridges that cross the Fraser River in Greater Vancouver that have for decades been crucial for the movement of goods and people.
There is also one tunnel: the four-lane George Massey, which opened in the spring of 1959 to much fanfare. It is vital for people taking a ferry to Victoria, not to mention those living in the ever-growing communities south of the Fraser who use it to get to and from work in Vancouver. More than 100,000 commuters pass through it daily.
The tunnel was a fine, reliable passage – until it was not. For years now, it’s been recognized as one of the worst bottlenecks in the country. A fender-bender in either direction can stop traffic for hours. Even when cars are moving normally during rush hour, using the tunnel can be a slow, soul-destroying exercise.
Driver frustration has only grown as plans to replace the aging, deteriorating piece of infrastructure with something more suited to the times have been bogged down by sheer political incompetence.
The first sign of hope was offered during the 2013 provincial election, when then-premier Christy Clark promised to build a replacement for the Massey. Months after her win, she announced that the solution would be a multilane bridge. That undertaking was in the preconstruction phase when the 2017 election rolled around. The Liberals lost to the NDP, which cancelled the planned $3.5-billion, 10-lane span and announced that it would build an eight-lane tunnel instead.
The project was fought over again in the 2020 election, which the Liberals lost, too. In the 2024 election, the BC Conservatives promised to scrap the tunnel idea and resurrect the 10-lane bridge.
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Over the course of four elections, the tunnel replacement was fought over, as little work got done. The only thing that changed was the cost of the NDP’s plan.
In 2021, the NDP estimated that their tunnel project would cost $4.15-billion, and would be finished in 2030. Recently, the government announced that the new estimate is now $8.5-billion, with the project scheduled to be completed sometime in 2031. (Yeah, sure.) In that intervening period, inflation increased costs in Canada by about 20 per cent, which accounts for about a $1-billion increase in the price tag of the new tunnel. What accounts for the other $3-billion-plus?
Well, the government can’t really say, precisely. Being precise is not part of the New Democrat lexicon. They prefer chaos.
Last month, the government announced it was firing the consortium it hired in 2024 to design and build the tunnel. The reason? A squabble over commercial terms. Now the government is going back to the market and breaking the project into smaller pieces, which surely will mean more delays, more excuses, more money.
Meanwhile, drivers roast in their cars during rush hour.
I understand that some projects are complicated and prices go up. But often, when the B.C. NDP touches something, the prices go up a lot. It’s almost like the union firms that often do the work know they are pushovers. The price tag for the Site C dam has doubled under the NDP, from $8-billion to $16-billion. And there have been reports that the true cost of the tunnel project will be in the neighbourhood of $11-billion – an estimate the NDP has denied.
The government has been asked multiple times why they don’t scrap the expensive tunnel plan before work gets under way and go back to the 10-lane bridge idea, which would be far cheaper and simpler to construct. But no, the NDP would never do that; after all, it was a Liberal-Conservative idea. The NDP, which has overseen a historic increase of the province’s debt, has too much pride to admit its mistake and pivot.
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The level of waste at the provincial and municipal levels in B.C. is a scandal. A wastewater-treatment plant on the North Shore that was estimated to cost $700-million in 2013 is now expected to cost almost $4-billion. To pay for it, residents there will now be saddled with a massive property-tax surcharge for decades.
If there is any good news for British Columbians, it’s that they won’t get stuck with the entire bill for the NDP’s utter incompetence on the tunnel file. The federal government recently announced it would pay a third of the cost, up to $3-billion. The fact it was adamant about putting a cap on its contribution tells you everything you need to know about what it thinks about the reliability of the NDP’s latest cost estimate.
At one time, I dreamed about driving over or through a new crossing of the Fraser. Now, I wonder if I’ll get that privilege in my lifetime.