Mayor's Report - April 1999

On April 1st the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (GVTA) officially came into existence having responsibility for both the transit system and all "major roads" within the region. However, in the months leading up to this milestone, Belcarra had been working to have Bedwell Bay Road included as part of the GVTA's Major Road Network (MRN), and at the end of March this goal was also realized.

Some may recall the many years that Council lobbied to have Bedwell Bay Road designated as a secondary highway by the Province. That objective was finally achieved in 1990, and for 7 years thereafter Council focused on the maintenance concerns of Bedwell Bay Road and undertook several sizeable projects with the support of the Ministry of Transportation & Highways. Close to $800,000 was spent on re-furbishing and re-surfacing sections of Bedwell Bay Road of which 75% came from the Province. During this period, the Ministry also provided $18,750 per year for the on-going maintenance of Bedwell Bay Road. Unfortunately, the funding ended two years ago when the Province stopped providing grants for secondary highways, and last year the Province down-loaded responsibility for secondary highways back to the municipalities. We were back to square one!

When formation of the GVTA was announced in mid-1998, we were lead to believe that roads previously designated as secondary highways would automatically be included within the MRN. However, when the regional engineering subcommittee developed the MRN criteria it became apparent that only the heavily used urban roads would qualify, and "significant" roads serving less populated areas would not qualify. That's when our letter writing and lobbying campaign began once again, and I am happy to report that on March 24th the GVTA Board approved inclusion of Bedwell Bay Road as part of the MRN.

This is a very significant development for Belcarra as inclusion within the regional Major Roads Network means that Bedwell Bay Road is again eligible for funding assistance. Roads designated within the MRN are eligible to receive up to $12,000 per year per lane-kilometre: $5,000 for maintenance, $5,000 for capital improvement, and another $2,000 for ancillary works. Since Bedwell Bay Road has six lane-kilometres within Belcarra's municipal boundaries, the MRN will now provide $30,000 per year for maintenance! Unfortunately, "capital improvement" is interpreted to mean "increasing the carrying capacity of a road" as opposed to re-surfacing and re-furbishing, at least at the moment.

With this good news, Council can again pursue R&R projects for Bedwell Bay Road, albeit somewhat scaled-down compared to the mid-1990's!

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