By Jeff Nagel - Surrey North Delta Leader

Published: September 30, 2008

Opponents of the Gateway program rallied Saturday in Surrey, vowing to fight on against the provincial governments freeway expansion plans.

About 100 people gathered at Robin Park in Surreys Birdland neighbourhood, one of the areas where some homes will likely be bulldozed to make room for the widened Highway 1.

"About half a block from where I live theres going to be eight lanes of traffic," said Bernadette Keenan, who is running as an Independent federal election candidate in Surrey-North due to her opposition to the project.

"Its not good for the environment," she told the crowd. "Theres heritage sites. Theres sacred sites. Its not good for our health."

Participants chanted "No trucking freeways" and carried signs like "Gateway to lung cancer" and "Save Birdland – No More Freeways".

The protest happened despite the granting over the summer of environmental approval for both the Highway 1/Port Mann Bridge twinning and the South Fraser Perimeter Road.

"This is a community thats going to be surrounded by freeways," said Ben West, a campaigner with the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

"Its going to really see a large number of new diesel trucks coming through their neighbourhood."

Other speakers said the $3-billion Gateway program will come at a severe cost to Burns Bog and and a rich string of First Nations archaelogical sites along the Fraser River.

Transportation economist Stephen Rees took aim at the plans to ready the region for a tripling of port traffic through Vancouver.

"For the last three years that traffic has been declining," Rees said, citing port slowdowns due to expansions elsewhere on the West Coast.

"The American economy is going down the tubes. People are losing their jobs and losing their houses. Is this actually the right time to be building a port on environment which by any standards is irreplaceable?"

Development will be highway oriented, not geared to transit, Rees predicted, contrary to the provinces strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions.