Pattullo Bridge will re-open Monday at 6am

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Great68

Sad that in this country, in this day and age, people still have to resort to living under bridges to survive.

The bridge will be fixed in a month and a half.

Will more homeless shelters be built any time soon?

whats the point?

you build 20 homeless shelters, they fill up

people complain about the homeless

you build another 20 homeless shelters, they fill up

homelessness is a ongoing problem and providing more and more room for the homless will only encourage more to come to the city to take advantage of the situation, building more and more low cost housing on prime real estate isnt the answer to solving the homless problem.

IMO a large chunk of the problem could be solved by handling homlessness on a case by case basis [as impossible as that sounds] why the hell should tax payers be paying 50grand a year or w/e it costs to have a "native" homless person on the street when the bands they come from get continuous support from the government? they are getting support and funding at the same time they could take advantage of support through their reserve, living in a shit box vinyl house is better then living under a bridge.

as for "pass a law to work in the city you live in"

thats the dumbest shit i've ever heard, so u think people who work at head offices in Vancouver can all afford to house a family in a penthouse condo?

there are too many examples to list to turn that aside, that is just plain retarded.

[Vansterdam]

2weeks sweet, better then originally planed

[SoulCrusher]

I second this idea. Maybe the government could label the people by stamping a bar code of some sort and make them wear a uniform. White with black striped jumpsuits would be pretty appealing.

Originally Posted by The_AK

<sarcasm>
Not a bad idea,
but i think the government should just force people into labor camps where they will work for next to nothing. These camps will provide homes and some food for people. This should create job security, will force workers to be punctual, and it will minimize traffic. Also, they will be controlled by men wearing protective suits and gas masks... for no reason at all.
</sarcasm>

I pray you are not serious, and I'm not religious. There ARE reasons people commute outside the city to work.

[Toeknee]

Originally Posted by Vansterdam

2weeks sweet, better then originally planed

Yeah I was pretty surprised when they announced that. Didn't they just completely take down the ramp today or yesterday?

Probably another case of raise our hope, then drop us down.

[RiceIntegraRS]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

whats the point?

you build 20 homeless shelters, they fill up

people complain about the homeless

you build another 20 homeless shelters, they fill up

homelessness is a ongoing problem and providing more and more room for the homless will only encourage more to come to the city to take advantage of the situation, building more and more low cost housing on prime real estate isnt the answer to solving the homless problem.

IMO a large chunk of the problem could be solved by handling homlessness on a case by case basis [as impossible as that sounds] why the hell should tax payers be paying 50grand a year or w/e it costs to have a "native" homless person on the street when the bands they come from get continuous support from the government? they are getting support and funding at the same time they could take advantage of support through their reserve, living in a shit box vinyl house is better then living under a bridge.

exactly. Even if we build enough shelters for every single homeless person in vancouver, u think they'll stop complaining, they'll obviously find something else to complain about. And even if we do build those shelters, wats gonna stop homeless people from nearby cities or provinces/states from coming to Van to take refuge.

[iwantaskyline]

So hows everyone dealing with the major traffic jam? I've been taking alex fraser to go to school now. Still takes forever.

[RiceIntegraRS]

i think im one of the few that benefit from this because my job is right b4 patullo, so now i dont have to fight the king george traffic. 13 minute commute has become a 9 minute commute

[Great68]

Originally Posted by goo3

i see what you're saying but it's not always just about you. HS is about throwing paint on the wall and hope you cover everybody, esp public school. You got rich kids, poor kids still growing up and who have no idea what they want. That's what after HS is for.

yah, reading stuff you don't care about is no fun, but what good job doesn't need you to read some sort of boring document to do your job? That's just the world we live in.

I'm saying high schools put too much emphasis on the academia and not enough emphasis on skills you need for real world survival.

Like Jason said: "Nothing you learn in school applies to real world labour jobs, starting a business, taking care of yourself, budgeting, or wealth generation."

I agree 100%. For example, a lot of kids walk out of high school without even knowing how to do their income taxes, or how interest and mortgaging works.

I read a lot of boring documents at work, but I don't write essays on them with minimum word counts. I scan for relevant info, make a decision, and usually write a response that is probably only a few sentances and straight to the point. A "Technical Writing 12" course would be a lot more relevant to the majority of students than English 12.

[bsoni]

im not even going to bother with surrey and everything after surrey until this is fixed lol

[Sid Vicious]

Originally Posted by Great68

I'm saying high schools put too much emphasis on the academia and not enough emphasis on skills you need for real world survival.

Like Jason said: "Nothing you learn in school applies to real world labour jobs, starting a business, taking care of yourself, budgeting, or wealth generation."

I agree 100%. For example, a lot of kids walk out of high school without even knowing how to do their income taxes, or how interest and mortgaging works.

I read a lot of boring documents at work, but I don't write essays on them with minimum word counts. I scan for relevant info, make a decision, and usually write a response that is probably only a few sentances and straight to the point. A "Technical Writing 12" course would be a lot more relevant to the majority of students than English 12.

yea but 95% of high school dropouts are usually dumbasses

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by iwantaskyline

So hows everyone dealing with the major traffic jam? I've been taking alex fraser to go to school now. Still takes forever.

It actually only took me an hour to get home (Pitt Meadows) from #3 & Williams, in the middle of the rush (4:30-5:30). Went Williams - #5 - Westminster Hwy., then missed the turn to stay on Westminster where it goes under the Connector, so I ended up getting into the mess merging off the Alex Fraser bridge... still, that was back to JUST under the bridge, which isn't bad on any normal day. Crept along until we got to the Stewardson offramp, after that I just flew. Front St., nothing, no backup AT ALL at the light for Columbia (that's normally back to under the rail bridge, or further). NO traffic on Columbia either (because there's nobody coming off the bridge, of course). Took the back road over to Braid and over the Bailey bridge onto United... moved smoothly there to the Mary Hill Bypass, only slowed down again around Broadway for the usual crush trying to get across the Pitt River Bridge.

So far I haven't found traffic to be particularly WORSE anywhere I've had to go... it's just that the bottleneck points seem to have moved. It'll be worse in one section, then better in another.

[Girl]

It took me over 1.5 hours to get home last night and I don't live anywhere in the Fraser Valley!! I even took all the backroads.

Rising career in Vancouver? Pan-handlers. No joke.

I once saw a young girl on the intersection of Boundary and Granview Hwy. she looked around 12, her knapsack was on the corner of the street where the Wendy's was, she walked across the street with a sign that said she was homeless and needed change. Her clothes were clean, she looked like some middle-class kid growing up in the Suburbs, cute as a button too....the fuck?!

[iwantaskyline]

Originally Posted by Soundy

It actually only took me an hour to get home (Pitt Meadows) from #3 & Williams, in the middle of the rush (4:30-5:30). Went Williams - #5 - Westminster Hwy., then missed the turn to stay on Westminster where it goes under the Connector, so I ended up getting into the mess merging off the Alex Fraser bridge... still, that was back to JUST under the bridge, which isn't bad on any normal day. Crept along until we got to the Stewardson offramp, after that I just flew. Front St., nothing, no backup AT ALL at the light for Columbia (that's normally back to under the rail bridge, or further). NO traffic on Columbia either (because there's nobody coming off the bridge, of course). Took the back road over to Braid and over the Bailey bridge onto United... moved smoothly there to the Mary Hill Bypass, only slowed down again around Broadway for the usual crush trying to get across the Pitt River Bridge.

So far I haven't found traffic to be particularly WORSE anywhere I've had to go... it's just that the bottleneck points seem to have moved. It'll be worse in one section, then better in another.

Instead of going Port Mann I took the Alex Fraser route and exited onto Knight St. turned down 41st to head to Kingsway and down to Willingdon just to get to BCIT. Took about an hour and a half. Port Mann is just way too packed.

[Hondaracer]

drove the port mann 4 times today, at 8am the traffic was only slightly worse then normal, and coming home at 4pm it was only slightly worse until i got on the surrey side where it was maybe even smoother then normal

[ziggyx]

It is already pretty bad before driving on the Port Mann, now it's even worse because of all the other cars that use to use the Patullo

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by Girl

I once saw a young girl on the intersection of Boundary and Granview Hwy. she looked around 12, her knapsack was on the corner of the street where the Wendy's was, she walked across the street with a sign that said she was homeless and needed change. Her clothes were clean, she looked like some middle-class kid growing up in the Suburbs, cute as a button too....the fuck?!

Did you try to pick her up?? *ducking for cover...*

[hotjoint]

gotta love living 5 mins away from work

[Hondaracer]

seriously, driving the port mann it feels like the patullo closed is really just a conspiracy lol, the traffic is like exactly the same, and coming home it seems even better then normal!

[SoulCrusher]

A lot of people, who would not otherwise take public transit, are now doing it in the hopes of avoiding traffic chaos. Also, some employers are re-adjusting their employee schedules so they avoid having to drive during peak times.

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

seriously, driving the port mann it feels like the patullo closed is really just a conspiracy lol, the traffic is like exactly the same, and coming home it seems even better then normal!

[iwantaskyline]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

seriously, driving the port mann it feels like the patullo closed is really just a conspiracy lol, the traffic is like exactly the same, and coming home it seems even better then normal!

I think the issue is that ITS ALWAYS jammed now. Before the Patullo was closed I could drive through the Port Mann from 12-4pm and there would be NO CONGESTION. Now there is congestion no matter what time I go. Plus driving down 152nd towards the Port Mann is a bitch unless you take the side routes like me.

[Hondaracer]

^ yea that part is true, right before the 152nd overpass on HWY1 it begins to crawl, but other then that it's really not that bad

[Girl]

Originally Posted by Soundy

Did you try to pick her up?? *ducking for cover...*

She wants money. Now why would I wanna pick anything up that's expecting my money?

[silk]

Thank God Pattullo Bridge is down, made my commute much easier in new west area going and coming home from work.

[jlenko]

Originally Posted by PornoMan

A lot of people, who would not otherwise take public transit, are now doing it in the hopes of avoiding traffic chaos. Also, some employers are re-adjusting their employee schedules so they avoid having to drive during peak times.

And on the other hand... one of my co-workers, who lives in Burnaby and works at our shop in Surrey... used to ride his bike to the Skytrain, hop on with his bike, ride over the Skybridge to Surrey, then get off at Scott Road and bike into work (our shop's near the Patullo bridge... sorta..).

NOW with Translink BANNING bikes... even though he's going against the rush of users.... he's not allowed to take his bike on the Skytrain. Even though most mornings, at 6am, he's one of very few people on board going the opposite direction.

So now... he drives. And guess what? It's faster to drive and sit in traffic than take fucking Transit.

[hotjoint]

no traffic at all today on 152nd and 104th. Looks like everyone has adjusted to this. Everything looks normal