Thursday - April 3, 2025 - Chilliwack to update traffic model

⛅ High 13C

Good morning!

I have been reading The Hobbit to my daughter. She is perhaps still a little young for it—Tolkien is notoriously wordy, with meandering sentences and a multi-syllabic vocabulary—but so far she is absolutely loving the story. For that I am very grateful. Tolkien is one of the foundational authors of my life, and I would be a little disappointed if I couldn’t share his work with my kids. So far we have made it through the goblin tunnels, and we still have a warg fight, a spider melee, an elf-castle escape, a dragon parlay, and a five-army battle to get through. Once The Hobbit is done, my daughter is asking if we can start Lord of the Rings—but I’m not sure if my voice can handle a tale of that length.

– Grace

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

News

Junior hockey and the mayoral megaphone

Consider it two minutes for speaking one’s mind.

Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove found himself in his council’s metaphorical penalty box last week for being too candid with his thoughts on the future of junior hockey in his city.

After admitting in a radio interview that he would rather the Western Hockey League not return to his city, Popove quickly backtracked, issuing a press release saying, “We are excited that the WHL has selected Chilliwack for expansion” and apologizing if his earlier comments had offended anyone.

It seemed Popove had quickly flip-flopped on Chilliwack’s junior hockey question, but it wasn’t entirely that simple. Instead, the episode provided a rare glimpse into behind-the-scenes decisions, the limitations on mayoral power in BC, and why some councils fall into acrimony while others seem impossibly harmonious.

• Today, Tyler writes about Popove’s busy Thursday and what it reveals about the less-glamorous aspects of being a mayor in BC.

Related

Need to Know

🚽 Mission RCMP are investigating after an ATV, smart toilets, and tequila were stolen last week [Mission Record]

🛍 The imminent closure of The Bay in Langley has sparked many memories, but few sales [Langley Advance Times] / You can read our two-part series on the rise of HBC in Fort Langley and its fall from the community for more on the company’s history [FVC]

🎤 An all-candidates meeting is being held in Hope for the upcoming council by-election [Hope Standard]

🚀 Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will be in Chilliwack this coming September for a night of storytelling and song [Chilliwack Progress]

💰 A Lytton woman won nearly $200,000 in the lottery [Castanet]

🏠 Tariff-related uncertainty could depress BC’s housing market, a TD Economics analysis says [Castanet]

💸 Canada will not be on the receiving end of new 10% ‘reciprocal tariffs’ announced by US President Donald Trump yesterday; existing tariffs on Canadian goods are still in effect [CBC] / CBC has a huge tariff explainer that answers many frequently asked questions about the current state of the Canada-US trade war [CBC]

📸 CURRENT CAM: Congratulations to Sterling Chan, who was the first person to identify yesterday’s Current Cam as the village of Yale.

🗳 Election 2025

The federal election campaign continues until election day on Monday, April 28. Advance voting will take place over the Easter weekend, from Friday April 18 to Monday, April 21. Find everything you need to know—including where to vote—by visiting one of our local election hubs:

Chilliwack & the Eastern Fraser Valley | Abbotsford & Mission | Langley

The latest

👉 The Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Chilliwack BIA are co-hosting a virtual all-candidates meeting next week [Chilliwack Progress]

👉 Many Gen Z voters will be voting for the first time this election; they say one of the most important issues on the ballot is Canada-US relations [CBC]

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The Agenda

Chilliwack to review its traffic models

The City of Chilliwack wants to properly understand how traffic moves around the city. Council recently approved a $144,000 contract to model traffic patterns within Chilliwack.

Growth within Chilliwack is placing pressure on the city’s transportation routes, city staff say, and officials want an updated look at how people are using city roads. They hope a new model will provide insight into what traffic might look like 10, 25, and 35 years into the future.

The city developed its first traffic model in 1987. It was last updated in 2012.

The new model will use traffic data for 2026 to help planners identify where future traffic may exceed road capacity. Staff hope the model will point them toward cost-effective upgrades and reveal how growth might affect traffic both in the city and neighbouring areas, including First Nation reserves.

EXP Services will create the updated traffic model for $144,440. The model will include a final report outlining its findings, although it’s not clear when that report will come before council for review.

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🗓 Things to do

BTO live: Bachman-Turner Overdrive will be at the Abbotsford Centre tonight at 7pm. The concert will also feature April Wine and Headpins. There are still tickets available, starting at $65. Details and tickets online.

Plowing match: The 103rd annual Chilliwack Plowing Match comes to Greendale Acres on Saturday. Watch champion plowers, enjoy a by-donation pancake breakfast, and try kid-friendly games. Details online.

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Catch up

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