If you feel like you’ve just been crawling across the Port Mann recently, you’re not wrong as transportation ministry figures show traffic has gone up more than 50 per cent in the past five years.
The data shows that in 2014, 94,000 people drove across the Port Mann every day. By 2019, that number grew to 150,100, a 60 per cent increase.
The most dramatic increase in traffic happened between 2017 and 2018, after tolls on the Surrey to Coquitlam bridge were removed in September 2017.
In 2017, 122,000 people drove across the Port Mann daily, compared to 150,100 the following year.
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By contract, the Pattullo Bridge – which many took to avoid tolls prior to their removal province-wide – has seen a drop in traffic in recent years. Transportation ministry figures show 74,200 people took the bridge each day in 2014, while by 2019 that number shrank to just 61,700.
In comparison, average daily traffic on the Alex Fraser Bridge grew from 107,341 in 2013 to 111,985 in 2017, the last year for which figures were available.
Speaking in Victoria Thursday, transportation minister Claire Trevena said government was “really happy” they took tolls off the bridges.
“It’s important that people south of the Fraser are not being penalized,” Trevena said. “We have a lot of people who are commuting.”
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According to the transportation ministry, traffic on the Port Mann Bridge has jumped 60% over the past 5 years.
Traffic on the Pattullo Bridge, @TransLink says, has actually dropped by 17%.@BlackPressMedia pic.twitter.com/j0xtv4xOug— Kat Slepian (@katslepian) October 10, 2019
