The Pattullo Bridge that connects Surrey and New Westminster is named one of the most dangerous bridges in Vancouver after the latest numbers reveal the bridge saw 164 collisions in the last year.
Statistics gathered by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia show that two other bridges, the Knight Street Bridge between Vancouver and Richmond and Lion's Gate Bridge that links Vancouver to the North Shore, witnessed more accidents than the Pattullo Bridge. In 2013, the Knight Street Bridge was the venue for 197 collisions that resulted in death or injury and another 294 accidents that caused damage to vehicles. In the same year, the Lion's Gate Bridge had 166 accidents.
Only the Pattullo Bridge, however, had a significant increase in serious accidents. The ICBC recorded 47 Pattullo Bridge crashes in 2012. That number went up by 32% last year to 62 out of the 164 collisions that took place on that bridge. While Knight Street Bridge still harbored the most number of serious crashes, the number dropped a significant 75% from 262 in 2012 to 197 last year.
The 77-year-old Pattullo Bridge is not exactly known as safe for drivers. The bridge, which has four narrow lanes and no barrier, is notorious for its head-on collisions that are more likely to happen when driving in high speeds or bad weather. In 2012, traffic on the Pattullo Bridge increased when the newly opened Port Mann Bridge introduced full tolls, which forced drivers to take the free route on the Pattullo. The latest statistics by TransLink shows the bridge takes on an average of 67,000 vehicles and 3,400 trucks every day or around 20% of the total traffic over the Fraser River.
In February, Surrey officials said the Pattullo Bridge was crumbling, with fistful of concrete falling off the bridge and into the river and ground below. TransLink vowed to place netting in various places, saying the "actual bridge is very sound structurally."
Other authorities do not agree.
"It's not a safe bridge. If we continue utilizing this particular bridge, we're going to see many more incidents and accidents, resulting in a lot of fatalities that don't necessarily need to happen," laments Surrey councilor Tom Gill.
Another Surrey official, Councilor Barinder Rasode, says the bridge could fall over any time, not just from age but also from an earthquake.
"The Pattullo Bridge is not only unsafe because of the age and how decrepit it is, but if there was a seismic incident, the bridge would not sustain itself. There would be many casualties," says Rasode.
Over at the Mann Port Bridge, traffic numbers continue to slide after half-priced tolls ended in January and full tolls were enforced. Traffic decreased by 3% in January followed by 5% drops in February and March.
Despite the decline in traffic at the Mann Port, Calgary transportation officials are looking into enforcing tolls and assessing the benefits of toll roads that uses wireless technology to track a vehicle's kilometers driven and charge tolls on that basis.
"The advantage of toll roads is it's a user-pays system. It shifts the load more to the people that are using and depending on the size of the vehicle the toll might be different," says [audio] Calgary transportation general manager Mac Logan.
However, the technology he envisions will probably not be available until 10 years from now, Logan says.
