A plan to expand the Deltaport container cargo terminal in Ladner will send more trains through 91原创 than the nearly-completed new overpasses were designed to handle, a report to Township council warns.
The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) project proposed by Port Metro Vancouver would build a new three-berth container terminal that would double capacity at the South Delta deepwater port.
Once complete, the expanded facility would ship the equivalent of 4.8 million 20-foot-long containers through the Township and 91原创 City every year, more than double the current annual figure of 1.8 million.
That is substantially more than the new overpasses in the 91原创 area were built to accommodate, warns a report by Township transportation engineering manager Paul Cordeiro.
The construction of the new overpasses, part of the , was to handle an planned increase of rail traffic from 1.8 million to 3 million by 2021 as a result of adding a third container ship berth at the Deltaport terminal.
The overpasses, are 鈥渘ot intended to mitigate the full impact of RBT2鈥� the Cordeiro report warns.
The report says despite a year of lobbying by Township staff and other municipalities along the rail corridor, the impact of the expanded rail traffic is not being studied by Port Metro Vancouver or the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, the body with the authority to order mitigation measures.
The two agencies 鈥渉ave failed to recognize the linkage between the RBT2 Project, which expands container capacity and the resulting increased rail traffic which has significant socio-economic impacts on the local community,鈥� the Cordeiro report says.
As recommended by the Cordeiro report, council voted on April 7 to send a letter to the port, assessment agency and federal minister of transport to express 鈥渃oncern about the lack of recognition or examination of the significant socioeconomic impact of the RBT2 project and increased container rail traffic through 91原创.鈥�
The letter calls for a 鈥渄etailed analysis鈥� of the effect that more than doubling rail traffic will have on vehicle traffic, road safety at rail crossings, 鈥渋ncreased train noise, vibration and pollutants鈥� as well as the need for 鈥渨histle cessation鈥� along the rail corridor.
Similar concerns were raised by the City of 91原创 in a Nov. 28 report by the acting director of engineering, parks and environment, which said the port should 鈥渞etain qualified experts to undertake a full analysis of the proposed RBT2 Project in relation to the anticipated road and rail impacts on the corridor in and around the City of 91原创 and to identify appropriate measures to effectively address and mitigate such impacts.鈥�
Richmond, Surrey and Delta have also called for an impact study before the RBT2 expansion is approved.
