The Gateway Program is a C$3.0 billion regional transportation project for Metro Vancouver and surrounding areas that is being managed by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation. The ministry introduced the Gateway Program on January 31, 2006, as a means to address growing congestion and reduce travel times. The bulk of the construction took place from 2006 to 2014 and saw the completion of the Golden Ears Bridge, the Pitt River Bridge, the Port Mann Bridge, improvements on the Sea-to-Sky highway, and finally the construction of the South Fraser Perimeter Road. The Greater Gateway Program is expected to finish by 2030.
Fraser Highway
The route will be widened to four lanes through the Green Timbers Urban Forest Park. The widening is also to accommodate the Surrey-Langley Skytrain project.
Highway 1 (Port Mann Bridge) The Port Mann / Highway 1 (PMH1) Project includes the widening of Highway 1, a new Port Mann Bridge, and upgrades to interchanges on British Columbia Highway 1 in order to address congestion through this corridor.
When the bridge was built, there was also massive remodeling of the Cape Horn interchange.
The Port Mann Bridge was replaced with a new 10-lane tolled bridge. On September 1, 2017, the toll was removed.
The project will also feature rapid bus lanes. This will include transit priority access to Highway 1, park-and-ride facilities, new transit loops in Surrey and Langley, and 20 new buses.
The bridge will include separated pedestrian and cycling lanes and is also designed to accommodate the eventual addition of light rail transit underneath the bridge.
The project includes widening Highway 1 between McGill Street in Vancouver and 216 Street in Langley. The pre-design concept included one additional lane in each direction between the Port Mann Bridge and McGill Street. The bridge itself features five new lanes, two reserved for high-occupancy vehicles and commercial vehicles. On the Surrey side, four additional lanes will be built from the bridge to 200 Street, allowing for an HOV and general lane in each direction. Finally, there will be one additional lane in each direction on the section from 200 to 216 Streets.
There was a plan in the early 2010s to build a new road to extend United Boulevard westward from Coquitlam, over the railway tracks to meet Brunette Avenue just south of the Braid / Brunette intersection to improve traffic flow. Local opposition to this idea had the plan shut down.
Interchanges from Vancouver to Langley will also be upgraded to increase interchange capacity and improve safety.
The majority of these changes will occur within the existing right of way of Highway 1. The PMH1 project was completed in September 2015.
In 2017 there were some plans for a Brunette Avenue interchange, which would be close to the Cape Horn Interchange, a few km west. Since 2017 the idea has fallen apart and mostly has been abandoned. There are currently no talks to create a Brunette Avenue interchange over the Trans Canada in Coquitlam.
Golden Ears Way (Golden Ears Bridge)
Golden Ears Way was created simultaneously with the bridge from 2006 to 2009. There previously was no bridge, and the only land link to Pitt Meadows was the old Pitt River Bridge in the Northwest side of the city. The new bridge allows for quick access to the south of the city from Langley.
South Fraser Perimeter Road
The South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR), a four-lane, 80 km/h (50 mph) highway along the south side of the Fraser River, extends from Highway 17 in southwest Delta to 176 Street in Surrey, with connections to Highways 1, 91, and 99 and to TransLink's new Golden Ears Bridge connector. The SFPR provides a new east–west transportation corridor that connects to the Roberts Bank Superport. The stated goal is to reduce the volume of regional truck traffic on local roads and reduce idling on local roads.
The Burns Bog Conservation Society has expressed concerns that the South Fraser Perimeter Road will endanger Burns Bog. Attempts to mitigate these impacts have been made through refinements that occurred as a result of public consultation and the Environmental Assessment process. In response to the mitigation measures proposed, the Environmental Stewardship Branch of Environment Canada wrote that "the changes are not sufficient to alleviate its concerns related to the impacts of the Project on Pacific Water Shrew (PWS), hydrology, aerial deposition, and ecological integrity of Burns Bog".