With last week's news from TransLink that a replacement for the aging Pattullo Bridge will have tolls, it's hardly surprising that many who live south of the Fraser River now prefer to stay home.
For once all these new bridges are built over the Fraser -- the Golden Ears currently under construction, the planned twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and now a replacement for the Pattullo -- all but the Alex Fraser and Oak Street bridges in this lower river region will have tolls.
Tolls and rising fuel costs, plus the frustration of crossing always congestion-plagued bridges, has fed a Fraser Valley recreation, sports and entertainment building boom.
It began several years ago in Chilliwack with completion of the Prospera Centre. This 9,300-square-metre facility includes a 5,000-seat arena -- home for the Chilliwack Bruins of the Western Hockey League -- that's also well-utilized for concerts, trade shows and conventions. In fact, its success became the lead for other communities in the region to follow. And that's now happening on several fronts.
Last week in The Province, for example, Fraser Valley reporter Glenda Luymes told you about the impressive 7,000-seat Sports and Entertainment Complex now under construction in Abbotsford. It's part of a major civic building program in Abbotsford that also includes cultural and recreation centres.
However, as I discovered last week, Langley Township is playing second fiddle to no one in this boom with its $56-million Langley Event Centre that's also under construction.
When completed next spring, it will form an integral part of the 28-hectare Willoughby Community Park at 200th Street and 80th Avenue.
And like Abbotsford's complex, this too is an impressive facility. Featuring massive B.C. laminated wood beams, the three-storey centre will total about 22,000 square metres.