The Editor,

In October, Tri-City mayors will vote along with the other nine TransLink board members regarding the Murray-Clarke Connector. This regional road project, designed to improve the currently congested traffic on Port Moody’s Clarke Street – as well as to take traffic off St. Johns Street when the Evergreen LRT line is built – would better link Murray Street, Ioco Road and Guildford Way to the Barnet Highway. This connector will significantly alter Port Moody and its town centre forever. Consequently, decisions made regarding the approval of a design used as a basis for funding will have a lasting, irreversible and decisive impact on the future of this community as well as the efficiency and safety of all Tri-Cities’ drivers.

Two potential alignments for this four-lane connector have been submitted.

Endorsed in November 2004, the “West Option” would divert the regional traffic away from Clarke Street until Douglas, where it would make an S-curve back to Clarke for the last block.

The “Vintner Option,” put forward last fall after the announced relocation of Andre’s Wines, follows mostly the same path as the “West Option,” though it offers a straighter course through Vintner Street between Elgin and the Barnet, bypassing the Clarke Street heritage area altogether.

(More information on both alignments of the Connector can be found at www.cityofportmoody.com under “City Hall,” “Major Projects.”)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Port Moody council for its May 23 resolution recommending TransLink to fully fund the Vintner alignment. Like the Murray-Clarke Liaison Task Force, the Moody Centre Community Association as well as the 148 concerned citizens who signed the Vintner petition, all regard the Vintner Option as the sole viable alignment of the Connector and the best choice with regards to safety, traffic flow, liveability and heritage conservation.

Moreover, I would like to congratulate Port Moody Mayor Trasolini for publicly committing himself, at the July 25 council meeting, to lobby the TransLink board and making funding suggestions in order to make the Vintner alignment a reality.

TransLink has in the past allocated $25 million for this infrastructure project. Port Moody’s engineering report, submitted to TransLink last May, has not been publicly released but either option is now estimated to cost somewhere between $40 million and $50 million.

I invite anyone living in the Tri-Cities who uses the Clarke Street/Murray corridor and is concerned about the future of our communities to voice their concerns and alignment preferences to our three TransLink representatives – Port Coquitlam Mayor Young, Coquitlam Mayor Wilson and Port Moody Mayor Trasolini – before TransLink voting day.

Together, let’s build the right road for the future: a straighter, safer road with the best traffic flow possible. Let’s choose the right alignment – one that the community prefers as the most liveable and better preserves our heritage – avoiding expropriation, offering a better possibility of a sound barrier and keeping traffic closer to industries instead of residences.

Collectively, let’s press the TransLink board to use our tax dollars to fund the Vintner alignment of the Murray-Clarke Connector.

Isabel Brodeur

Port Moody