Coquihalla Tolls No More
photo credit: bRONTE dIGITAL
In a very surprising move, Premier Gordon Campbell announced Friday that the tolls on the Coquihalla Highway will be removed immediately.
The 186-kilometre highway, opened on May 16, 1986, running between Hope and Kamloops. The Coquihalla Connector, opened in 1990, created a route directly to Kelowna.
The route was credited with kickstarting an economic boom in the Okanagan and the rest of B.C.’s Southern Interior at the dawn of Expo 86 by significantly reducing driving time to the Lower Mainland, although it was frequently closed due to heavy snow and avalanches.
With the highway nearly paid for, it was time for the toll booths to come down.
“In 2003, our government passed a policy clearly stating that any infrastructure financed by toll revenue must see the tolls removed upon recovery of construction costs,” said Infrastructure Minister Kevin Falcon.
The ministry said 3.4 million trips are completed on the Coquihalla system each year, including 2.7 million trips by passenger vehicles and 700,000 trips by commercial trucks.
I think this may be a first anywhere – I can’t recall a toll ever being removed. It sets a great precedent for encouraging new road and bridge construction through tolls.
Just in time for the ski season.
September 28th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Lots of tolls have come off. The Burlington Skyway bridge between Burlington and Hamilton used to be a toll bridge.