Pitt Meadows will get an underpass on Harris Road and an overpass at Kennedy Road as part of a larger federal funding announcement made Thursday.
Federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau, at the CP Rail intermodal yard in Pitt Meadows, announced $55.8 million in new infrastructure.
The projects include a four-lane underpass on Harris Road and two-lane overpass at Kennedy Road, as well as an additional five kilometres of track at the CP facility in Pitt Meadows.
The corridor at Westwood Street and Kingsway Avenue between Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam will also be upgraded, to separate road and rail traffic.
Design work to raise Pitt River Road and Colony Farm Road to create overpasses of the existing rail corridor will allow a new five-kilometre section of track.
And the rail overpass at Mountain Highway, lowering the roadway to provide additional clearance, will be improved.
“These projects are expected to have significant economic and employment benefits by creating an estimated 550 jobs during construction,” Garneau said.
The projects are meant to support the movement of goods and fluidity of trade in Canada, as well as address transportation bottlenecks.
In January, a delegation from the Gateway Transportation Collaboration Forum visited Pitt Meadows council.
Mike Henderson of the Greater Vancouver Gateway Council spoke for the group, which included representatives from the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.
Government agencies involved included TransLink, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation, as well as Transport Canada.
Henderson said then the transportation forum was formed to identify and seek funding for transportation infrastructure of national significance, and he spoke about the port, and the need to identify bottlenecks in the movement of goods.
He said an underpass at Harris Road and an overpass at Kennedy Road were both submitted for funding under the National Trade Corridors Fund, which will dispense $2 billion over 11 years.
The underpass at Harris Road will be four lanes with sidewalks, and cost an estimated $63 million, and take two or three years to complete.
Kennedy Road would be a two-lane overpass with access for pedestrians and cyclists. It will cost $50 million, and also take two to three years to build.
Funding for an overpass at Allen Way will be submitted in the future, he said then.
