Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal

The Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal is a major transportation facility in Delta, British Columbia. It is located on a three kilometre man-made causeway off the mainland at Tsawwassen and is less than one kilometre from the 49th parallel, Canada's border with the United States. The terminal is part of the BC Ferry system, as well as part of Highway 17.

History and controversy

Location map
Vancouver
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float=leftThe search for a mainland ferry terminal in the late 1950s which would connect the Lower Mainland of British Columbia with the Victoria area on Vancouver Island involved an extensive scouting of locations from Steveston to White Rock. Despite criticism of rough seas and bad weather, the favoured site soon became the area offshore from the Tsawwassen First Nation Reserve.

Building of the terminal began in 1959, after provincial transportation Minister Phil Gaglardi, on divided engineering advice, selected the site. Construction of an artificial island began and the causeway was built from the island back towards the mainland. The Ships of British Columbia. Gary and Patricia Bannerman. 1985. Hancock House Publishers Ltd. p.54] This endeavour used an estimated 2.3 million cubic metres of boulder, rock and gravel fill. [ [http://www.bcferries.bc.ca/corporate/history/milestones.html BC Ferries website - Milestones] ]

To connect Highway 99 to the new terminal, an 11 km-long freeway was constructed from near the southern end of the Deas Tunnel through the edge of Ladner. This became a portion of Highway 17.

The isolated causeway location of the terminal, while criticised locally in its formative years, has allowed and continues to allow terminal expansion to cope with growing vehicle traffic.

In 2003, the Tsawwassen First Nation filed legal action in B.C. Supreme Court, over the destruction of the foreshore and other concerns caused by the impact of the terminal and the nearby Roberts Bank Superport. [ [http://www.delta-optimist.com/issues02/031102/news/031102nn1.html "Ferries, port face suit", Delta Optimist. December 11, 2003] ]

Concerns were also expressed in 2005 about eutrophication, or a destructive bacterial buildup in the waters between the terminal and the Roberts Bank facility. [ [http://www.delta-optimist.com/issues05/065105/news/065105nn5.html "Residents going APE over port expansion", Delta Optimist. June 26, 2005] ]

Ferry facilities and connections

Currently there are five ferry berths at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal. The terminal primarily serves routes travelling to the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal north of Victoria and the southern Gulf Islands, although a connection from Tsawwassen to Nanaimo called the "Mid-Island Express" was established in 1990.

Ferries destined to, or originating from, the Gulf Islands and Swartz Bay, and landing at Tsawwassen, must travel through approximately eight kilometres of United States waters.

In the mid-1990s a major renovation and expansion of the terminal was undertaken.

The terminal is served by public transportation through the 620 (Tsawwassen Ferry/Airport Station) route.

References