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SURREY – A $12.5-million investment in Surrey’s cycling infrastructure will provide new overpasses and major upgrades to bike paths throughout the city, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Kevin Falcon and MP Russ Hiebert announced today.
“This is the largest investment in cycling in Surrey’s history,” said Falcon. “With these dollars we are going to add some key links to the cycling network and also make it safer to cross Highway 1 and Highway 99. With a safer and more extensive cycling network, we are encouraging more people to get out of their cars and explore the city on their bikes.”
The investment will add three cycling overpasses in Surrey: over Highway 1 at 168th Street, over Highway 99 off the Pioneer Bicycle Path and over the North Creek at 180th Street.
“This investment will bring fantastic opportunities for Surrey residents to get out and enjoy a healthier way of getting around their community,” said Hiebert.
The investment will also add 10.6 km
of new bicycle pathways throughout the city and 2.8 km of new bicycle lanes
leading to the Port Mann Bridge. In
total, 11 projects will receive funding across eight trail systems. The trail
systems receiving funding include the Green Timbers, Wildflower, Serpentine,
Cloverdale, Semiahmoo, Quibble Creek, Fraser Heights and Clayton Bicycle Paths.
“We are very pleased to see a collaborative partnership to boost our cycling infrastructure, as it will serve a broad range of Surrey residents,” said Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts.
All of the projects will be one-third cost-shared by the federal government, provincial government and City of Surrey except for the North Creek overpass at 180th Street, which will be funded jointly by the province and City of Surrey through the LocalMotion program.
The provincial portion of the funding comes from an
overall $14-billion capital infrastructure program (www.gov.bc.ca/infrastructure) that will
create up to 88,000 jobs and help build vital public infrastructure in every
region of B.C.
The federal portion of the funding comes from the $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund to provide funding to provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure projects. Funding will be available for two years for projects that will begin during the 2009 and 2010 construction seasons.
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Communications Manager Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure 250 356-7707 |
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