SkyTrain for Surrey calls for King George Blvd. SkyTrain, second SkyBridge over Fraser River in 2050 transport plan

We are deeply disappointed to learn that consideration of further SkyTrain expansion South of the Fraser has been largely excluded so far from the Transport 2050 plan, despite well-demonstrated support throughout our region for SkyTrain expansion instead of street-level light rail.¹

Two new future rapid transit concepts unveiled today in the second phase consultation for TransLink’s Transport 2050 show little to no additional SkyTrain expansion being considered South-of-the-Fraser, after construction of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain.

In the only option that does offer a SkyTrain expansion South of the Fraser (on King George Boulevard to Newton), 94% of the expansion will happen North-of-the-Fraser (on Broadway, 41st Street, Hastings Street, Willingdon Avenue, and Marine Drive on the North Shore) while the 6km extension on King George Boulevard comprises just 6% of future SkyTrain expansion. The other option completely omits further SkyTrain expansion South of the Fraser, in favour of only street-level expansion (i.e. surface light rail).

In response to these indications on how future rapid transit expansion South of Fraser is being planned, SkyTrain for Surrey is issuing a call for significant expansion of the SkyTrain system South of the Fraser, delivering more parity with proposed expansion North of the Fraser:

• A new Second SkyBridge over the Fraser River
  • Offering redundancy with the existing SkyBridge, and
  • Providing a new connection for Surrey, Langley and Delta residents to the Millennium Line and UBC.
• A total of 50 kilometres of new SkyTrain expansion in Surrey, Langley and Delta along three ‘spine’ corridors:
  • King George Blvd. from Surrey City Centre to South Surrey (22 km)
  • 104 Avenue and Highway 1 from Sapperton to Carvolth Exchange via Skybridge 2 (20km)
  • Scott Road, from Scott Road Station to Scottsdale at 72 St (8 km)
• A commitment to delivering the full King George Blvd. SkyTrain extension (City Centre to South Surrey) before 2050
• A commitment to eventually deliver all of these corridors as fully grade-separated rapid transit lines (above or below grade)

Download a detailed PDF version of our new 2050 vision map HERE.

These are the corridors that will eventually require the reliability, consistency, speed and frequency offered by a fully grade-separated system. There will be a need to better connect these corridors—and areas they serve—to Surrey City Centre and the wider Greater Vancouver region.

South-of-Fraser residents should not be accepting anything less.

1. Previous polls show high support for SkyTrain expansion throughout the region. In fact, in the same survey, there was comparatively little support for street-level LRT, with only 2% of respondents making suggestions for LRT-based expansion.