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The Golden Ears Bridge is a six-lane extradosed bridge in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia. It spans the Fraser River, connecting Langley on the south side with Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge on the north side. The bridge, owned by TransLink, has a clearance of 40 metres, and with a span of 2410 m (7907 ft.). It is the longest extradosed bridge in North America.
It opened to traffic on June 16, 2009. The construction project, officially launched in June 2006, created 14 kilometres of new road. The Golden Ears Way has direct connections to the Lougheed Highway, Maple Meadows Way, 113B Avenue, 200th Street, 176th Street (Highway 15) and the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1).
After the opening of the bridge Translink ceased operation of the Albion Ferry on July 31, 2009, a passenger/vehicle ferry that had been operational since June 7, 1957. It employed 59 full-time and 18 auxiliary employees. In 2003, annual traffic amounted to 1.5 million vehicles and 4.0 million passengers.
The new bridge uses an electronic tolling system to track vehicles that cross to recover construction costs. Tolls have not been used in the Lower Mainland since the 1960s when they were removed from all bridges.
Drivers will have the option of opening a tolling account. This will include an electronic tolling device, or transponder, to be mounted on the vehicle's windshield. It will detect usage of the bridge, allowing toll charges to be automatically billed to the driver's account, streamlining the tolling process.
Vehicles without an electronic tolling device will have their license plates identified through an automated video recognition system, and will be billed accordingly. Drivers of such vehicles will also have the option to pay for their trip in advance by establishing a temporary account with a credit card, and will pay a lower toll rate than if they did not establish such an account.
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