January 05, 2010
Recession fought with dollars
Matthew Claxton, Langley Advance
The year began with local leaders wondering how big a piece of the federal recession-fighting pie would be coming Langley's way. In January, with the economy still reeling from the plunge in stock markets the previous year, Ottawa approved a huge package of infrastructure spending in partnership with the provinces and municipal governments.
"I'm extremely optimistic that we will see some of the infrastructure money come to the Langleys," City Mayor Peter Fassbender told the Langley Advance as the year began. In the Township, Mayor Rick Green was hoping to see some money sent towards light rail projects, possibly a revitalized line that would serve Langley.
The City was not waiting long before receiving word it would get some of the federal money. In the first days of February, a project to rebuild the bridge over the Nicomekl River at Fraser Highway was announced. The $9 million project was co-funded by Ottawa, Victoria, the City, and TransLink.
MLA Rich Coleman, Township Mayor Rick Green, and MP Mark Warawa at one of many funding announcements in 2009.
Langley Advance file photo
By the middle of the year, not only had there been more announcements, there had been a flurry of them. Everything from post-secondary education to dikes protecting north Langley from flooding would benefit from the federal funding.
Local politicians had to haul their oversized novelty cheques out at venues from Aldergrove to Walnut Grove. However, while all the projects were to be "shovel ready," only a few saw any work done in 2009. The first project announced, the bridge over the Nicomekl, only saw its final design approved in November by the City council.
Construction of the bridge was expected to begin in the new year, along with most of the other projects. Because of federal restrictions that the money must be spent by March 31, 2011. Meanwhile, the Canadian economy has left recession and recorded moderate growth by the middle of the year.
Unemployment remained high, but some sectors, including housing, were bouncing back strongly. Late in the year, Langley Township received a $54.6 million transit project that will be based around a new park and ride in the Willoughby area. The funding from the province and feds will create a hub for rapid bus service, underpasses that will allow more access to the Golden Ears Bridge, and connections to HOV lanes on Highway One. The project will be centred around 202nd Street near 86th Avenue.
While the hub had long been planned, the stimulus spending suddenly pushed up its start date. Some of the other significant projects announced for Langley included:
- $2.5 million in federal funds for Trinity Western University as part of the Knowledge Infrastructure Program. The money will be used to upgrade a library, communications technology, and to expand the Neufeld Science Centre.
- A $1.25 million project to upgrade part of Highway 10 in Milner.
- $26,500 worth of trail upgrades on Brae Island.
- $308,000 for a pedestrian overpass in Fort Langley to allow people to cross the train tracks in greater safety.
- A heat pump to cut energy costs at the Aldergrove Water Treatment plant cost $100,000.
- The repaving of much of 208th Street will cost $5 million.
Almost all the projects involved sharing costs between the federal, provincial and often the municipal governments.
