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Free trip offer for Port Mann Bridge expires today

Eight of 10 lanes on the new Port Mann Bridge will be open on Dec. 1.

Today is the last day to sign up for $30 worth of free trips across metro Vancouver's new Port Mann Bridge before the tolls kick in next weekend.

On Saturday the Port Mann Bridge will open for westbound traffic for the first time. 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 eastern section of the South Fraser Perimeter Road will also open Saturday.

When the new truck route is completed it will link Deltaport and the BC Ferries terminal in Tsawwassen with the Trans-Canada Highway in Surrey along the southern bank of the Fraser River.

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