I recently went for a hike on the South Fraser Witness Trail. It was a jarring and heartbreaking experience to find felled trees in this beautiful urban forest. This experience was a wake up call, and what I witnessed should remind all of us that the time is now to stop run away freeway development and the sprawl that comes with it.

The Witness Trail is located in North Surrey right next to Surrey Bend regional park, a vibrant natural area equal in size to Stanley Park. Years ago when we were campaigning to create this protected area, we included the area now being impacted by the proposed freeway. Now, years later, we have worked with Surrey Environmental Partners and other local area residents to build this trail in order to draw attention to the potential impacts of the proposed South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) freeway.

Unfortunately, we are now at the point were this area is being devastated in order to clear a path for the freeway development when it actually begins. As we walked around the site it was hard at times to even tell where our trail actually used to be.

It is important to remember that this project is far from complete, and there is still plenty of opportunity to stop it. Yes, land has been cleared and homes have been demolished but they are still a year or two away from starting to pave the road.

This freeway is the quintessential example of a bad project. Not only does it threaten the species and wilderness along the banks of the Fraser River in North Surrey, but it also threatens Burns Bog, the lungs of the Lower Mainland and a vitally important nature reserve. The road would destroy hundreds of acres of prime farmland in Delta just for the road, to say nothing of the potential impact of the sprawl that would come with it. If that's not bad enough, the SFPR would also bring increased levels of exposure to toxins from diesel trucks to dozens of schools and parks along the proposed route.

Automobiles are the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions in BC and this new highway would make things far worse by increasing automobile dependence and unsustainable land use patterns.

We have launched a new letter writing tool to ask BC's new premier, Christy Clark, to reconsider the SFPR. She has pledged to put "families first" and yet all these new toxins next to schools and parks in the area would seem to be in contradiction with that promise. Clark has also proposed to cut BC's debt burden, and the SFPR is the biggest debt-financed project in the province. Unlike the new bridges (which are also really bad projects), there isn't even a plan to recover the costs through tolls.

Please take a minute to send a message to Christy Clark about your concerns related to the SFPR freeway.

Thanks,

Ben West | Healthy Communities Campaigner
Wilderness Committee