Port Mann and Golden Ears Bridge Tolls To End September 1st

[fliptuner]

Originally Posted by RRxtar

Why dont you guys just all make more money and live closer to work.

Move my office from the ground floor to the main floor?

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

Definitely agreeing with people on the North Shore issue here.

I just moved jobs from working downtown to now Edgemont in NV, and JESUS CHRIST, I used to live in Lynn Valley (now Burnaby), and never remembered the traffic this bad.

I've even changed my hours from 9:30 - 5:30, still tons of traffic in the morning heading to North Vancouver, and school hasn't even started. It's common fair at this point even at 6:30 PM to have traffic backed up all the way to the Westview exit.

Don't get me started on Capilano as well, I hit the Steve Nash at the bottom of the hill there after work to avoid traffic, and I'll regularly sit for 20-25 mins just to take a left on Marine, literally 600M away.

It's insane to me, why isn't there a plan? This should be a huge hot button issue, we need drastic change to address this traffic issue in this city, and I see city counsel doing absolutely nothing about it. People better vote these clowns out in 2018, I foresee traffic being a major political topic.

9:30 to 5:30 still traffic jam hour. Try doing what I do now (I switch my shift to 7am to 3pm) Streets are so quiet when I go to work and are ok when i leave work. Best part? I go straight to grocery shopping after work and again no line up as the cashier. Yea it sucks coz if I am not in bed by 11:30pm I will be sleepy the whole day.

Traffic is always an issue that's why city hall is trying jam public transit down our throats. But it just won't work. The way BC is design car comes first. Unless the gov is willing to spend hundred of billions of dollars to totally redesign the whole transit system as well as build a ton of skytrains nothing is going to change. I mean my god if you want to take transit to whistler or even grouse grind good luck. Other cities have buses that takes people to popular attractions like these (like every 30mins or so). Yes transit will be losing money in the short term but if they can improve the public transit half as good as HK,China,Japan,singapore,south korea people are going to start using transit rather than driving.

As of right now unless you live near a skytrain station and your work place is also near a skytrain station public transit is basically useless to you.

[westopher]

Even though I drive, I take the bus every time I go to grouse. It's faster and I can have a couple beers when I'm done riding. Also, it's 18 bucks to take a bus from hotel Vancouver to whistler. It's not public transit, but whistler isn't Vancouver. This city is far easier to take transit in than people who have never looked into it believe. There are certain work/live combinations that are near impossible with transit, but that's also near impossible to alleviate.

[Hondaracer]

i never took the bus growing up, in my entire lifetime i've probably taken the bus under 30 times, i fucking hate the bus/public transit. Also growing up where i did in Surrey public transit was pretty useless as it would take 45 minutes just to get to the skytrain whereas you could drive there in around 15

My wife however grew up in East Van and did not get her license until a few years after we met, and now living in Vancouver, i can see why. If you know the bus system or look up a route planner you can pretty much get anywhere relatively quickly.

As Westopher said, there are a few different busses that are direct lines to places like grouse mountain etc.

If you know where to go and which bus to catch it's a pretty decent system seemingly from an non-user like myself at least lol

[subordinate]

Originally Posted by !LittleDragon

I've also been doing it for 10 years. Traveling from the Killarney area over to Seaspan. What used to be a 30 minute commute both ways is now an hour.

An hour commute home used to happen maybe once a month but now it's daily. I don't even go that far along the hwy, from Westview to McGill. I don't know where all this traffic came from, I don't believe there are THAT many jobs on the North Shore. At 1300 employees, Seaspan is probably the biggest employer there but all the labourers are off at 2:30.

Best thing I've done was change my hours to 10am-6pm. Bridge traffic at 9:45 is slow but still flows. Traffic is still bad at 6PM but I work out at the company gym until 7:30. Traffic is dead at that time.

I have a similar commute and man.

Traffic increase probably due to all the tradesmen building homes/condos in North and West Van. Lower and upper roads there start plugging up at 3pm until 6pm.

It's nuts.

[westopher]

At least once all those homes are built and no one is living in them traffic will calm down.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

i never took the bus growing up, in my entire lifetime i've probably taken the bus under 30 times, i fucking hate the bus/public transit. Also growing up where i did in Surrey public transit was pretty useless as it would take 45 minutes just to get to the skytrain whereas you could drive there in around 15

My wife however grew up in East Van and did not get her license until a few years after we met, and now living in Vancouver, i can see why. If you know the bus system or look up a route planner you can pretty much get anywhere relatively quickly.

As Westopher said, there are a few different busses that are direct lines to places like grouse mountain etc.

If you know where to go and which bus to catch it's a pretty decent system seemingly from an non-user like myself at least lol

I know you can take the greyhoud to whistler I think it leaves Vancouver 2 or 3 times in the morning and then back again in the evening? But is not cheap.

And that's where the issue is. Is too expensive to live in Vancouver/Burnaby and Tri cities, Detla, Port Coq, Port Moody, Surrey, Langley is all catching up in terms of housing but still affordable. But the lack of public transit means people have no choice by the drive to work, into the cities.

So the only way the city can do in short term is to build high raise around skytrain station but good luck trying to get on one during rush hour. A lot of the stations is already running at capacity or close to it(Just take the Canada Line as an example is already running at capacity if not over capacity during the rush hour. Short sight by the city to only use 2 cart skytrain and with little to no room to expand the stations.) This won't last long (10 years at most) and the skytrain system isn't going to handle the capacity at all.

[thumper]

the stretch of hwy 1 in north van between lynn creek and lynn valley road... why are they clearcutting both sides of the highway? are they going to widen it?

[pingu81]

Originally Posted by thumper

the stretch of hwy 1 in north van between lynn creek and lynn valley road... why are they clearcutting both sides of the highway? are they going to widen it?

New interchange

[6o4__boi]

to the morons who caused the pile up on the Port Mann westbound today...

you da real MVP


i was bracing for a shit commute to work but i was spared this morning, thanks to you dipshits. Now I get spared the shit til this afternoon.

[thumper]

my commute from burnaby to surrey southbound over the pattullo today was the same as late last week... 10 minutes early, but the number of heavy vehicles dosen't seem to have changed. i wasn't expecting much since all the yards where the trucks park overnight are next to the south end of the pattullo.

northbound traffic is still the nightmare it usually is

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by thumper

the stretch of hwy 1 in north van between lynn creek and lynn valley road... why are they clearcutting both sides of the highway? are they going to widen it?

Originally Posted by pingu81

New interchange

Originally Posted by 6o4__boi

to the morons who caused the pile up on the Port Mann westbound today...

you da real MVP


i was bracing for a shit commute to work but i was spared this morning, thanks to you dipshits. Now I get spared the shit til this afternoon.

Originally Posted by thumper

my commute from burnaby to surrey southbound over the pattullo today was the same as late last week... 10 minutes early, but the number of heavy vehicles dosen't seem to have changed. i wasn't expecting much since all the yards where the trucks park overnight are next to the south end of the pattullo.

northbound traffic is still the nightmare it usually is

Is back to school. There will be a lot more traffic.

[wickedxj]

Originally Posted by pingu81

New interchange

WTF, now heading down mountain highway wanting to head eastbound on Hwy1 I have 3 lights instead of the 2 there is now

[meme405]

Originally Posted by wickedxj

WTF, now heading down mountain highway wanting to head eastbound on Hwy1 I have 3 lights instead of the 2 there is now

Lol your situation is the only one I can see that is negatively affected by the changes. Think about all the other changes they are making. People can get OFF and on the highway at mountain going eastbound now, MINDBLOWN.

Also the fact that westbound between mountain seymour entrance and the mountain highway exit won't be a bottle neck anymore is a big improvement.

When I first saw the plan, I was a little shocked by the scale of the changes they wanted to make. It's definitely going to have a big impact, unfortunately you can't judge all the variety of impacts until we actually get to see it in action and shake it out and see if it all works. Time will tell. For now they sure are taking their time building it. Fuck me they work slow.

[snowball]

Originally Posted by meme405

Lol your situation is the only one I can see that is negatively affected by the changes. Think about all the other changes they are making. People can get OFF and on the highway at mountain going eastbound now, MINDBLOWN.

Also the fact that westbound between mountain seymour entrance and the mountain highway exit won't be a bottle neck anymore is a big improvement.

When I first saw the plan, I was a little shocked by the scale of the changes they wanted to make. It's definitely going to have a big impact, unfortunately you can't judge all the variety of impacts until we actually get to see it in action and shake it out and see if it all works. Time will tell. For now they sure are taking their time building it. Fuck me they work slow.

I don't think the MH to Seymour will stop being bottle necked... there will be an on-ramp from MH meaning everyone eastbound on Keith will get on earlier now... Nothing will be fixed until the Dollarton on-ramp pos is fixed.

[wickedxj]

Here's the final outcome, looks like that pic is is only phase 1.

[originalhypa]

Originally Posted by snowball

I don't think the MH to Seymour will stop being bottle necked... there will be an on-ramp from MH meaning everyone eastbound on Keith will get on earlier now... Nothing will be fixed until the Dollarton on-ramp pos is fixed.

Or until they approve a bridge from Deep Cove to Belcarra. Upgrade Ioco to a highway, and you'll have an alternate route that doesn't take you through the downtown core.

With property values along Belcarra, I highly doubt that would ever happen. But man, it sure would be nice.

[meme405]

Originally Posted by originalhypa

Or until they approve a bridge from Deep Cove to Belcarra. Upgrade Ioco to a highway, and you'll have an alternate route that doesn't take you through the downtown core.

With property values along Belcarra, I highly doubt that would ever happen. But man, it sure would be nice.

Literally will never happen. Nobody in belcarra or deep cove wants this.

Also I'd rather see the canada line extended one stop under the bay to Lonsdale Quay, and ditch the seabus, and the plan actually isn't as ridiculous as most people would think. The initial report put forth placed operating savings at about $3.2 million/year, and if they do it before they pull the trigger on the new seabuses which are needed in the next 5 years, thats an aditional savings of ~$60 million.

On top of that it's believed additional revenue would be ~1.5 million a year (right away), and it would only grow from there year over year.

So using the estimated figure of 300 million to complete the project, the project quickly starts to make sense:

300 - 60 = 240 / 5 = 48 year pay back. Sounds retarded, but factoring in additional growth, potential future projects, etc. the real payback is probably under 30 years. Also if it buys time before the lions gate or 2nd narrows needs a billion dollar upgrade, then it might be the more feasible option.

Not to mention this opens the option to extend the train further on the NS in the future.

[fsy82]

NDP cancels construction on George Massey bridge project | Vancouver Sun

VICTORIA – B.C.’s new NDP government has cancelled the current construction schedule for a new George Massey bridge, and is sending the project to a technical review.

Transportation Minster Claire Trevena said Wednesday that an independent technical review of the project is expected to be completed by next spring, at which point the government will decide whether it wants to build a new bridge, fix the existing Massey tunnel or twin the tunnel. Something has to be done to address traffic congestion at the site, eventually, said Trevena.

“We haven’t made any decision on what is the best way forward, we need to be open to any recommendations that are provided to government by the review,” said Trevena.

The decision effectively ends the previous Liberal government’s plan to build a $3.5-billion, 10-lane, toll bridge to replace the aging Massey tunnel between Delta and Richmond. The government had said the existing tunnel was old and unsafe in the case of an earthquake.

“We’re not going back to square one, we’re going back to a thorough consultation with the community,” she said.

The government has cancelled a procurement process to design, build and finance the project. The province had a deadline to pick one of three short-listed firms in October. Trevena said it was not fair to the companies to continue that process.

“We really needed to free them up to allow them to bid on other projects while we do an independent review,” she said.

The NDP campaigned in the election on reviewing the bridge, but did not commit to either cancelling the project or continuing work.

The previous B.C. Liberal government had announced the bridge in 2013. “A new bridge will improve travel times for transit, commuters and commercial users, and open the corridor up to future rapid transit options,” then premier Christy Clark said at the time.

Delta Mayor Lois Jackson has been supportive of the new bridge, arguing the existing tunnel is dangerous and responsible for traffic congestion.

But the rest of Metro Vancouver’s mayors, including Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, have complained the expensive bridge project is not the region’s top transit priority and will simply encourage more vehicle traffic. A new or improved tunnel is their suggestion. The mayors have also argued the money could be better used elsewhere, such as replacing the aging Pattullo bridge, which the NDP also promised to accelerate replacing during the election.

“The previous (provincial government) was entirely focused and stubborn about their approach to this situation,” Brodie said Wednesday. “So I’m very pleased that a group has said stop, we’re going to have a proper review of this situation, work with the various parties… and come up with a better solution.”

Richmond has advocating twinning the tunnel.

Metro Vancouver board chair Greg Moore praised the NDP announcement. “It’s exactly what Metro Vancouver regional district called for,” he said. “We acknowledge there’s a traffic issue along that corridor and something needs to be done, but the scope of the 10-lane bridge was too big and they needed to work with local governments around the whole region, including Metro Vancouver, to find the appropriate solution.”

Moore said he was “happy on behalf of the board” about the NDP review, and was confident the provincial government would include local mayors in the review.

[originalhypa]

^
Damn.
Although they do have a point. Even if they built a ten lane bridge, Steveston would still be backed up for 20 minutes just getting to it.

Originally Posted by meme405

Literally will never happen. Nobody in belcarra or deep cove wants this.

Lion's Bay didn't want the new S2S highway either. They put it in, and appeased the locals by putting down a bunch of shrubbery, and making it a 60kmh zone

They have to do something. It's a nightmare going into the north shore, and just as bad coming back.


Same goes for the S2S highway. 3 times this summer, it's taken me 4 hours to get back from Whistler. Everytime it goes from 2 lanes into 1, there is a bottleneck. Not to mention that light in the bullshit little shitburgh town of Brittania. On a long weekend it's a solid like of traffic 3 km south of Brittania, all the way through Squamish.

The growth in this province isn't sustainable. If the big earthquake hits, Vancouver would be in chaos. Just look at what happened with the free salt.

[Traum]

^^ IMO, sending the project to an independent technical review is a good thing. Everybody knows and acknowledges that something needs to be done with the Massey tunnel, but there is no consensus on what the best approach / compromise is, esp between the different municipalities.

I generally agree that a new bridge with revised onramps / traffic merging measures is the right direction to approach this. However, the details need to be worked out and agreed on by the neighbouring municipalities (including CoV), instead of simply getting shoved down our throats from the Premier. Richmond's recommendation for twinning doesn't seem like a good idea at all because it would cost too much to retrofit the existing tunnel up to current seismic standards.

[Liquid_o2]

Glad that it is going for an independent review. Christy was trying to get this thing built ASAP, with no consensus from the participating municipalities.

My office is near the tunnel, and it is a gongshow on most days between 2pm to 5:30pm. Everyone is travelling southbound due to the growth and expansion of Delta, South Surrey and Langley. I'd rather put up with this insanity for a little while longer, and hopefully have the right decision made for the long term.

I really hope some sort of public transit is integrated into the new plan. Whether it is specific BRT lanes or a future right-of-way for high speed transit, they have to plan for the future, not for right now.

[meme405]

Christy was trying to ram that fucking bridge through and it was the most ass backwards plan. The more you looked at what they were doing the less it made any level of sense.

They say it was to alleviate traffic, and because the tunnel was a seismic disaster and all that shit. Well the pattullo is 10x the problem in all those regards.

The real reason Christy was trying to ram that crap through the process was so that she could get more boat traffic out of the US up the fraser river.

If there are companies who want boat traffic to go up the fraser, they should pay for the bridge. Why should the public pay for such a large infrastructure project just so that companies can benefit from the ships passing below it.

Don't bull shit us and pull the wool over our eyes telling us it's to improve traffic, and make our lives better. This is exactly the reason why Cunty Christy was a piece of shit, she was always just a lying sack of shit and covering up her own motives.

[nah]

[whitev70r]

Twinning the tunnel has got to be one of the worst, costliest, and least effective options. Then you have to maintain the existing Massey Tunnel which is a huge money pit.