Resources

The resource section contains background documents, information and resource materials about the #1 Highway expansion. This section is a dynamic pool of information that may change frequently. Please feel free to suggest ideas, links and other content that may be useful to other users of this website.

Freeway Fighter's Handbook

/uploads/dd/Nm/ddNmedNaZciZabm1wasb-g/Freeway-fighters-small.jpg

Just released! Check out our Freeway Fighter's Handbook.

One of the greatest threats to the health and livability of our region is the proposed expansion of Highway 1 and the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge--and we are all on the front line.

Whether you live in East Van or Surrey, every day we all contend with the negative impacts of too many cars on our streets. It is because of concerns over health, environment, livability and democracy that concerned citizens like you have taken a stand against the backwards highway plan proposed by the Provincial government. The alternatives are out there we just have to bring them to the forefront- doing so is easier than you think. This handbook will help you get started. Be sure to keep in touch so we can all work together!

Also, below are other resources you may find useful...

This is a virtual 'grab bag' of materials you can use or adapt to a meeting in your neighbourhood. We use these items consistently at our meetings and have had good feedback. Feel free to download these materials and edit them to suit the message that your community would like to get out about this #1 Highway Expansion issue...

Sample Sign-in Sheet

Don't forget to ask people to sign up at your meeting. This will allow you to be in touch afterwards.

SignInSheet.doc

Sample Meeting Format

Hand something like this out as people walk in the door. It gives them a sense of how the meeting will proceed, what is being offered by your organizing group, and what is being asked of them as participants.

10_February_meeting_plan.doc

CCHE Brochure - outside pages

Brochures are available by downloading here or by contacting CCHE. You can e-mail stophighway@telus.net or call 604-708-0777. A new version came out in time for the Cross Pedestrians Road Hockey Game (second period) on April 24th.

cches2.pdf

CCHE Brochure - inside pages

Brochures are available by downloading here or by contacting CCHE. You can e-mail stophighway@telus.net or call 604-708-0777. A new version came out in time for the Cross Pedestrians Road Hockey Game (second period) on April 24th.

cches1.pdf

2 foot x 4 foot poster boards

There are several two-foot by 4-foot poster boards available. They summarize the three points which form the cornerstone of our opposition (this harms our neighbourhoods; this is a $1billion mistake alternatives are not being explored; there is no opportunity for meaninful public consultation). They can be placed around a room for people to look at before and after the main part of your meeting. If you would like to borrow them, drop a line to stophighways@telus.net.

Frequently Asked Questions

Take a look at FAQ's we have developed for our efforts in East Vancouver, and feel free to adapt if you are wanting to use them in a community outside of East Vancouver

Highway_FAQs1.doc

Petitions

Sign our on-line petition, or download hard copies for your friends and neighbours to sign.

The Livable Region Coalition position paper

In October 2004 the Livable Region Coalition, a group of individuals and organizations from across the Lower Mainland opposed to the #1 Highway expansion released this position paper.

Behind the Billboards on Prior Street

This film by Michael Lithgow interweaves a personal journey through contemporary Vancouver's Strathcona neighbourhood with a historical perspective on the realities of racial oppression, freeways and resistance movements of the area. If you would like a VHS or DVD version of this to play at your meeting, drop us a line at stophighways@telus.net

Municipal and GVRD Pressure

Vancouver city council motion

On 1 March 2005 Vancouver city council unanimously passed a motion calling for more information about the #1 Highway expansion from the provincial government. Read the text of the motion here.

Text of GVRD and Burnaby Motions

Read the text of the GVRD motion (passed 1 April 2005) and that of the Burnaby City Council.

How to Host a Block Party

If you are interested in gathering your neighbours together and hosting a block party, visit the City of Vancouver website for more information and tips. If you are planning a block party around this issue, we would love to hear about it! Write to us at stophighways@telus.net

Archives from the CCHE site

View 'Highway Updates' archives by clicking here.
View of 'Elections' page by clicking here.
View accomplishments in our first six months by clicking here.

StopLookListen

S T O P

Highway 1 Expansion

The Provincial Government plans to widen Highway 1 to create a Los Angeles style freeway from 1^st Avenue in Vancouver to 216^th Street in Langley, with sections as wide as 10 to 12 lanes.

The government claims this will reduce congestion. But freeway expansion causes delays during construction, and afterwards encourages people to drive leading to further congestion.

This plan will:

� Increase traffic on our streets,

� Increase air and noise pollution,

� Encourage automobile dependence,

� Divert money from transit and other alternatives.

This project will cost more than $1.4 Billion of your money � at least $2000 per household in Greater Vancouver.

L O O K

At the Alternatives

The alternatives include:

� Improving bus service and reducing fares. By doing such for UBC students, traffic to their campus has been reduced by 12%.

� Adding more SkyTrain cars, particularly over the Fraser to Surrey.

While the system currently operates at only 1/3 of design capacity, the overcrowding of trains discourages ridership. Adding the full complement of cars would move as many more people as adding 16 lanes to the freeway.

� Building cost-effective rapid transit. Toronto plans to build 16 rapid transit lines (rail and bus based) for under $1 Billion.

� Planning for the efficient movement of commercial vehicles � such as scheduling cargo movement during non-peak hours.

� Shifting long-distance goods movement from trucks to rail.

L I S T E N

To the People

The Highway 1 / Port Mann Bridge expansion plan was announced in June 2004 without any prior public consultation.

�Public consultation for the project is not to decide if it will go ahead. Public input is only wanted on how it will be done� (Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon, Feb. 7, 2005).

Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster city councils all oppose the plan. The GVRD has called for an assessment of alternatives given that the plan goes against the Livable Region Strategic Plan.

Participatory decision making leads to good decisions.

Citizens Concerned with Highway Expansion