Highway 91 – Nelson Road Interchange Project

Providing a direct, alternative truck route
Improving conditions on Westminster Highway

Current Status

  • The new interchange will be opening the afternoon of August 22nd! 
  • The concrete bridge deck was poured on March 6 and 16, 2011.
  • The pre-cast deck panels forming the base of the bridge deck were placed in January, and the bridge girders were erected in December.
  • Westpro Infrastructure Ltd. of Surrey, BC, was awarded the construction contract (more details are available in the tender award announcement and construction contract news release) and began working on-site September 2010
  • From May-September 2010 day labour crews prepared the site.  These early construction activities included clearing, excavation, guardrail and roadside barrier installation, dyke relocation, and the placement of embankment and ‘preload’ materials to compress soft soils
  • A open house house was held in April 2010 to share the design concept and construction plan

Background

The Fraser Port industrial lands have grown considerably over the past several years with significant expansion of warehousing, logistics and container storage businesses, and currently support approximately 1,300 jobs.  The growth in container traffic over the next decade will be significant, resulting in a commensurate increase in the number of jobs.

Traffic counts show that approximately half of the vehicles accessing this area each day are trucks. Currently, Westminster Highway is the only road connection to this industrial area and general traffic also uses Westminster Highway as an east-west connection from Richmond, Highway 99 and Knight Street.  Several issues with the current arrangement have been raised, including vehicle capacity, safety and community impacts. 

A new interchange at Highway 91 and Nelson Road (near the s-curve of Highway 91) will provide a connection to a faster east-west route, and direct access from Highway 91 to the Fraser Port industrial areas. 

When the new interchange is operational, heavy truck traffic will be removed from Westminster Highway west of Nelson Road and re-routed via Highway 91.  A significant portion of the remaining automobile traffic is also expected to shift from Westminster Highway to use the new Highway 91 interchange for faster access to and from Highway 99, Knight Street and other parts of Richmond, Vancouver and the North Shore  As a result, vehicles and trucks travelling to and from the Fraser Port lands will save travel time and operating costs. Other project benefits include reduced accidents and greenhouse gas emissions, improved local road conditions for farm vehicles, and opportunities for employment and business growth.

The $25 million project is being undertaken by the BC Ministry of Transportation in partnership with the Government of Canada, City of Richmond and Port Metro Vancouver.

Contact

For further information about this project, please contact Brad Glazer, Senior Project Manager, Pacific Gateway Branch, at 250-356-0160.