Article

Federal Documents Show Gateway Environmental Claims are Running on Empty

Publication Date: February 14, 2008
Source: SPEC

New documents from Federal agencies have come to light showing that the provincial government has no evidence to support its claims that twinning the Port Mann Bridge and expanding Highway 1 will improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, have no impact on land-use and is the only solution to traffic congestion. Health Canada describes the Gateway air quality study as "inappropriate and may be misleading to the general reader."


Provincial government officials have previously claimed that "Gateway has been analyzed to death" but now Health Canada and Environment Canada have helped show that in reality, government spin has been used in place of actual information.

Some highlights:

-Public comments by Premier Gordon Campbell that the Gateway Program will improve air quality are not borne out by any analysis made available to date. All air quality improvements claimed under Gateway would happen even if the mega project did not go ahead due to policies already in place, whereas the project will actually reverse some of these projected air quality improvements. In its critique of a Gateway study on air pollution, Health Canada asserts that “the misdirected focus of this assessment is inappropriate and may be misleading to the general reader.”

-Greenhouse gas emissions will rise due to Gateway even with mitigation measures already announced. The province claims the GHG increase will be 0.3 percent above business-as-usual, Metro Vancouver says 2 percent, or 176 000 tonnes per year by 2020, based on figures provided. Environment Canada says the increase would likely be higher but deficient traffic modeling to date makes it impossible to know for sure.

-The assertion by the BC Ministry of Highways that the Gateway Program will not impact land-use are contradicted by studies cited by Environment Canada. Furthermore, provincial government traffic models did not include induced or generated traffic and did not account for automobile dependent sprawl induced by freeway expansion. Environment Canada states that: “A review of the sizeable scientific literature suggests that new highway capacity generally encourages more vehicle kilometres travelled, influences land-use planning, enables car-dependent lifestyles and decisions, and induces traffic for vehicle trips that would otherwise not occur. These factors can contribute a significant volume of traffic beyond business-as-usual growth projections.”

-Provincial government claims that no other option but Gateway would work for moving people and goods are contradicted by Environment Canada which notes that: “the Proponent has not analyzed the potential for a combination of functionally different methods to meet the needs identified. A combination of alternative measures of approximately equal budget to PMH1 will allow a meaningful comparison.

SPEC and the Livable Region Coalition are committed to exposing the flaws of freeway expansion and making the Premier's new interest in transit work for the citizens of Metro Vancouver but we need your help to make Vancouver a transit metropolis. Support our campaign by making a donation or get involved at Transit Lab and through the Livable Blog



Download the SPEC Reports on Gateway:

Transportation Solutions for the Liveable Region

Cooking the Books, Cooking the Planet

Taken For A Ride


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