Free trip offer for Port Mann Bridge expires Friday

Friday is the last day to sign up for$30worth of free tripsacross metro Vancouver's new Port Mann Bridgebefore the tolls kick in next weekend.

Eight lanes on the bridge arescheduled to be open this weekend. The bridge will be free for the first week it is open, but then tolling will start on Saturday Dec. 8.

Friday is the last day that drivers who sign up for a free windshield decal and tolling account will receive a $30-credit on their account, equivalent to 20 free trips for passenger vehicles.

But drivers who register by Feb. 28, 2013 will be guaranteed the half-price introductory toll rate for the first year.

Construction will continue on the bridge after Dec. 1, to open the remaining two lanes on the 10-lane bridge, and to finish the upgrades between the Cape Horn Interchange and Vancouver.

The old bridge will be dismantled once the project is completed.

Part of new truck route opening

The eastern section of theSouth Fraser Perimeter Road will also open Saturday.

When the new truckroute iscompleted it will link Deltaport and the BC Ferries terminal in Tsawwassen with the Trans-Canada Highway in Surreyalong the southern bank of the Fraser River.

The route is expected to open to traffic in two phases, with the section east of 136 Street to 176 Street in Surrey opening on Saturday and the larger section west of 136 Street to Deltaport Way opening in December 2013.