Both the Pattullo and Stal̕əw̓asəm bridges will be closed for a week starting at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, meaning no direct connection for vehicles between Surrey and New Westminster.
The B.C. government warned of the bridge closures weeks ago, and now an exact date is posted on the Pattullo Bridge Replacement website.
Full closure of bridges old and new is required for crews to complete connections to roadways on either side of the new span, high above Fraser River.
The bridges will re-open with four lanes of traffic split between Stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge and Pattullo bridges, according to pattullobridgereplacement.ca. By late-February all four lanes are due open on the new bridge, followed by the complete deconstruction of the old Pattullo over the next two years.
On the Surrey side, the new Highway 17 off-ramp, multi-use paths and sidewalks will be completed in mid-2026, as the work can’t be done until Pattullo Bridge has been partially removed.
On Dec. 24, one of four lanes opened on the Stal̕əw̓asəm, keeping a B.C. government promise to have vehicles use the Pattullo Bridge replacement by Christmas but falling short of what some might consider an “open” bridge.
The $1.6-billion project was hit with construction delays and questions about the size of the new bridge (some want six lanes, not four) and its new name (which isn’t popular with everyone).
The Stal̕əw̓asəm name for the new bridge was announced Dec. 8 in recognition of “First Nations’ deep historical and current connections to the area,” according to B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Transit. The name, pronounced STALL-oh-AW-sum, translates to “place to view the river” in the Indigenous halkomelem (hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓) language.
Pattullo Bridge, opened in 1937, was named after Thomas Dufferin “Duff” Pattullo, B.C. Premier from 1933 to 1941.
Fraser Crossing Partners was awarded the contract to design and build the replacement bridge. The B.C. government will own and maintain Stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge.