Eighty-two per cent of people who responded to a recent Surrey roads survey looking at more than 4,500 lane kilometres of roadway said they drive themselves to work, while eight per cent work from home, seven per cent use transit, two per cent walk and one per cent cycle.
So reveals the Surrey & White Rock Board of Trade’s 10th annual Surrey Roads Survey Report for 2026, conducted from Dec. 17, 2025 to Jan. 23, 2026 and presented by the board’s CEO Joslyn Young during a luncheon at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel on March 18.
B.C.’s Minister of Transportation and Transit Mike Farnworth was guest speaker, focusing on transportation and networks and infrastructure for Surrey, White Rock and the surrounding region.
Interestingly, the 2025 survey had 4.3 per cent of respondents reporting they’d been working from home, indicating that hybrid and remote working arrangements that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic persist.
Of business representatives who responded, 80 per cent were from Surrey, 11 per cent White Rock and nine per cent from other cities such as Delta, Langley and Burnaby.
The Now-Leader is awaiting a response from the board as to how many people participated in the survey.
“Over 10 years, we’ve engaged our business community annually and collected feedback from more than 1,500 businesses. That cumulative dataset is what gives this survey its strength,” the board’s communications manager Heather Booth replied in an email.
The report states that the survey was “conducted between December 2025 and late January 2026” and was “distributed via multiple member communications and through social media.”
Forty-five per cent of respondents identified themselves as an employer, 26 per cent an employee, 23 per cent as a self-employed contractor or consultant, and six per cent as “other.” Fifty-four per cent live and work in Surrey.
Key findings in this year’s report include more than 80 per cent of respondents reporting that traffic congestion is having an impact on their business, with one quarter identifying that impact as “major.”
Businesses also reported longer travel times, delivery delays, increased operating costs, reduced productivity and scheduling challenges as “key consequences.”
Meantime, infrastructure project priorities for those surveyed include widening the 152 Street overpass at Highway 99, improving 16 Avenue, and a new interchange for 24 Avenue. Also flagged for priority attention was the intersection of 104 Avenue and 152 Street, a stone’s throw from the hotel.
Farnworth told an audience of about 80 that few places in Canada are growing as quickly as the communities south of the Fraser River.
“Surrey is on track to become the province’s largest city by 2036, and White Rock continues to be a strong hub for tourism and small business,” he said. “This region is more than a community it is a gateway – it is the gateway.”
“It’s a kick being in this ministry watching stuff get built,” he remarked.
While there are “huge” opportunities here, but with them come challenges.
“With that rapid growth comes higher commuter volumes, more commercial traffic, more pressure on an already busy transportation network. When roads are congested we see the impacts first-hand. Businesses lose productivity, workers face longer commutes, and supply chains slow down for goods moving to and from ports and the border,” Farnworth said.
He noted this is clearly borne out by the survey. Highway 1 going in to, and out from, Metro Vancouver, he said, is the “backbone of goods movement,” connecting farms, manufacturers, warehouses and distribution centres to regional and global markets and widening it is critically important, with 57 kilometres of new HOV lanes. “In total the program will create approximately 24,000 direct and indirect jobs throughout its delivery,” he said.
Farnworth described the 16-kilometre Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension as a “once-in-a-generation project that will transform how people move south of the Fraser.”
“Construction is well on track,” he said. “It is not just a transit project – it is very much an economic project, one that supports employers, employees.”
He called the new stal̕əw̓asəm (Riverview) bridge that replaced the Pattullo a “major achievement” that relieves one of the region’s busiest bottlenecks with wider, modern lanes for “safer” traffic, “better connections on both sides of the river and improved reliability for commuters, commercial traffic and emergency response.
“Through it’s delivery, this project has generated approximately 7,300 direct and indirect jobs. It’s also been a meaningful example of partnership with First Nations.”
Another important project, Farnworth noted, is the Fraser River tunnel. “Early construction work is underway on the Fraser River tunnel, which will see a new toll-free eight-lane tunnel constructed to replace the aging George Massey tunnel. This work which began in January with tree clearing will allow us to move straight into the major construction phase once the environment assessment certificate is approved, which is expected to be later this year,” he told the luncheon audience.
He said the new tunnel will be a “more dependable” corridor with reduced delays and a higher capacity to handle the region’s growth.
“By eliminating a major bottleneck this project will strengthen supply chain reliability, reduce transportation costs for exporters and importers, and support the efficient movement of goods to underpin our province’s competitiveness in global markets.”