Country: Canada
Key Area: Transportation
Services: Road Safety

As part of its Regional Growth Strategy, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority has embarked on a project to construct the Golden Ears Bridge over the Fraser River.  The project entails construction of a new six-lane bridge with a span of one kilometre, along with 15 kilometres of new roads.  The bridge is being designed, built, operated, and maintained by a joint-venture private consortium.  Construction is currently underway, and the project will be complete in 2009.   As part of the project, Opus Hamilton is conducting three road safety audits: at the detailed design stage, immediately prior to the bridge opening, and one year following the bridge opening.

The Golden Ears Bridge project passes through varied land-uses that are primarily suburban residential, but also include industrial, commercial, and semi-rural areas.  These pre-existing land uses pose substantial constraints to the design of the bridge and its connecting roads, and generate distinctive road-user needs.  Road users will include a mix of commuters, local residents, commercial vehicles, and cyclists, operating primarily on urban arterial roads with operating speeds of 50 to 80 kilometres per hour.  One of the challenges associated with the project is the location of the connecting roads in low-lying flat areas near the Fraser River.  Many roads lie within the flood plain, with the result that they must be elevated to be above flood level.  Sections of the roadway are immediately adjacent to an active railway.