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April 18,2008 Vancouver Province

 

 

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon revealed the worst-kept secret about transit planning in the Lower Mainland Friday when he announced that the Evergreen Line will run along a proposed northwest route.

 
 
 
 
Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon revealed the worst-kept secret about transit planning in the Lower Mainland Friday when he announced that the Evergreen Line will run along a proposed northwest route.

The rapid-transit service linking the Tri-Cities to Burnaby and beyond will run from Lougheed Town Centre through Port Moody in the north to Coquitlam Town Centre and Douglas College.

Although a more southerly route was also mulled in preliminary designs, the northwest option was the widely preferred choice among the municipalities the line will serve, said Falcon.

“Councils in Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Burnaby, New Westminster and Belcarra have all voiced their support for the northwest route," said Falcon in a release.

TransLink chair Dale Parker said the route made sense based on predicted population growth as well as for technical reasons.

"We now need to roll up our sleeves and get the project built," said Parker.

It was announced in February that the Evergreen Line will use advanced light rapid transit technology (SkyTrain-type trains).

The estimated $1.4-billion project is due for completion by 2014, said Falcon.

The next step is to set up a project office in the Coquitlam area and proceed to the detailed design stage. So far, the B.C. government has committed $410 million to the project, TransLink $400 million and the federal government $67 million.

DETAILS OF PLANNED ROUTE

Although the exact design will be finalized later, here's the proposed route:

- Begins at the existing Lougheed SkyTrain station;

- Runs as an elevated guideway along North Road to Clarke Road;

- From Clarke Road, runs below-ground north of Como Lake Avenue, emerging at the bottom of the Clarke Road hill;

- Transitions to at-grade next to the Canadian Pacific railway line;

- Continues to the Ioco Road overpass where it would run eastward;

- Back to an elevated guideway northward along Lougheed Highway to Pinetree Way;

- From Pinetree, line turns northward to a terminus just north of Guildford Way (Douglas College).

-- Source: TransLink

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