| Vancouver Off-Topic / Current Events The off-topic forum for Vancouver, funnies, non-auto centered discussions, WORK SAFE. While the rules are more relaxed here, there are still rules. Please refer to sticky thread in this forum. |
 | | 
02-04-2009, 07:27 PM
|
#1 | | The RS Anchorman
Join Date: May 2003 Location: Comics
Posts: 2,059
Thanked 49 Times in 22 Posts
Failed 21 Times in 8 Posts
| New Port Mann Bridge will cost $3 to cross
Commuters will get a new 10-lane “super bridge” to replace the Port Mann Bridge, but the estimated cost is almost $1 billion more than it was eight months ago for a smaller four-lane span.
“This will clear a bottleneck that’s been plugged for years,” Premier Gordon Campbell said Wednesday.
“It will reduce travel times by one-third. We can’t finish it soon enough.” Added Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon: “This is the right bridge at the right time for B.C.”
The new structure will have provisions for rapid bus and light-rapid transit systems in the future.
It will replace the old five-lane Port Mann bridge, which will be torn down after construction on the new crossing is finished in 2013.
Falcon said the capital cost of building a new span has escalated from about $1.5 billion last June to about $2.46 billion today.
He said the increase was due to several factors, including inflationary pressures since 2006, when the original estimate was made.
He also said commuters will be getting a 10-lane bridge instead of a new four-lane bridge.
Until Wednesday, the government had planned to twin the existing Port Mann with another four-lane bridge and retain the existing bridge.
The total cost of the new span, including borrowing, is now estimated at $3.3 billion.
However, a contract with a group of private partners who will build and operate the bridge has not been signed.
The province will borrow $1.15 billion and become a one-third partner in the project.
Falcon said contractors believed it made more sense to replace the 45-year-old Port Mann Bridge because maintenance costs keep going up and up.
But Nemy Banthia, a professor of engineering at UBC, said he was “astonished” by the decision to replace the Port Mann.
“The design life for Canadian bridges is 75 years. After 45 years, it should still have 30 years left if it is properly maintained,” he said.
NDP MLA Bruce Ralston said the almost $1-billion cost increase speaks to “poor management.”
“The tolls are projected to be $3 on opening day, but I don’t believe they will stay that way. There will be escalating clauses, which we haven’t seen,” he said.
Ralston said one of the private partners, the Macquarie Group, appears to be in financial difficulty in Australia.
“What will the risk be to taxpayers if there is a default?” he asked. “This is high-stakes poker.”
Campbell said the government will keep control of the price of the tolls, which will be removed when the costs are paid off.
Eric Doherty of the Livable Region Coalition said “harmful freeway projects” keep people in their cars and cost money which could be better spent on mass transit.
Falcon said the Port Mann is a traffic bottleneck 14 hours a day. He said traffic slowdowns cost the B.C. economy $1.5 billion a year. “Completely replacing the bridge is definitely superior to adding a twin,” said Michael McBratney of Get Moving B.C., a travel-monitoring group with ties to the Liberals.
“It will eliminate the worst traffic bottleneck in the Lower Mainland.”
Construction of the new bridge will create an estimated 8,000 jobs, with some workers to be hired immediately.
The project includes two new highway lanes west of the bridge (one in each direction) and four new lanes east of the bridge (two in each direction).
© Copyright (c) The Province http://www.theprovince.com/news/story.html?id=1253518 | 
|  | |
02-04-2009, 07:30 PM
|
#2 | | I Will not Admit my Addiction to RS
Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Richmond
Posts: 565
Thanked 63 Times in 26 Posts
Failed 5 Times in 4 Posts
|
"Campbell said the government will keep control of the price of the tolls, which will be removed when the costs are paid off."
big deep breath .........
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA yeah i'll believe it when i see it
__________________
__________________________
You park like old people fuck...
| |
| | |
02-04-2009, 07:57 PM
|
#3 | | HELP ME PLS!!!
Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 5,540
Thanked 980 Times in 166 Posts
Failed 399 Times in 67 Posts
|
hmm i think im goin to travel this way
exit to 104 ave, pattulo, columbia, brunnette, then back to highway 1
doing it that way will be longer but it also saves me $6 round trip. $6 of gas can get me around 50-100km
Last edited by alex.w *//; 02-04-2009 at 08:02 PM.
| |
| | |
02-04-2009, 07:59 PM
|
#4 | | RS.net, where our google ads make absolutely no sense!
Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Tokyo/Vancouver
Posts: 979
Thanked 126 Times in 59 Posts
Failed 6 Times in 4 Posts
|
wait till gas prices rise again, more fuel taxes, rebuilding of patullo, there is no escape. i hope they toll every exit.  | |
| | |
02-04-2009, 08:02 PM
|
#5 | | In RS I Trust
Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Mission
Posts: 20,760
Thanked 17,656 Times in 4,341 Posts
Failed 1,037 Times in 352 Posts
|
they took to tolls off the coke they will take them off the bridge in 40 years im sure
| 
| | |
02-04-2009, 08:02 PM
|
#6 | | Banned By Establishment
Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: New West
Posts: 3,998
Thanked 2,982 Times in 1,135 Posts
Failed 284 Times in 109 Posts
|
I hold them to that. They removed the tolls for the coquihalla. I think replacing the bridge is a bit extreme, and I disagree that its a bottleneck 14 hours a day.
| |
| | |
02-04-2009, 08:13 PM
|
#7 | | HELP ME PLS!!!
Join Date: May 2001 Location: South Central V
Posts: 5,538
Thanked 519 Times in 210 Posts
Failed 55 Times in 21 Posts
|
KEVIN FALCON FOR PM!!!
i love this guy -- he's no nonsense, common sense.
__________________ Visit my food blog! http://jaxandcs.com/ *its not the size of your army that matters; it's the fury of it's onslaught!* █♣█
| |
| | |
02-04-2009, 08:14 PM
|
#8 | | I subscribe to the Fight Club ONLY
Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Coquitlam
Posts: 7,091
Thanked 2,112 Times in 264 Posts
Failed 61 Times in 29 Posts
|
ok i dont get it...a 10 lane bridge
does that mean all of hwy 1 from vancouver will then be 3 lanes + HOV, and hwy 1 from port man to abbotsford and beyond will be 3 lane + HOV ?
| |
| | |
02-04-2009, 08:17 PM
|
#9 | | Willing to sell a family member for a few minutes on RS
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Surrey
Posts: 12,760
Thanked 689 Times in 376 Posts
Failed 61 Times in 38 Posts
| Quote:
Originally Posted by alex.w *//  hmm i think im goin to travel this way
exit to 104 ave, pattulo, columbia, brunnette, then back to highway 1
doing it that way will be longer but it also saves me $6 round trip. $6 of gas can get me around 50-100km |  I ain't paying to use no bridge that i've been using free for years. If they made another bridge and it was tolled from the start then I would pay if I ever had to use that bridge.
| |
| | |
02-04-2009, 08:20 PM
|
#10 | | Even when im right, revscene.net is still right!
Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kelowna
Posts: 1,301
Thanked 66 Times in 21 Posts
Failed 0 Times in 0 Posts
|
I wonder how many people are going to pay the extra what.. $120 a month to use the bridge? Anybody here going to do that?
__________________
Wut.
| |
| | |
02-04-2009, 08:36 PM
|
#11 | | RS controls my life!
Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Burnaby
Posts: 734
Thanked 135 Times in 51 Posts
Failed 0 Times in 0 Posts
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanaki "Campbell said the government will keep control of the price of the tolls, which will be removed when the costs are paid off."
big deep breath .........
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA yeah i'll believe it when i see it | Ever heard of the coquihala? (sp)
| |
| | |
02-04-2009, 09:05 PM
|
#12 | | RS.net, helping ugly ppl have sex since 2001
Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 8,858
Thanked 2,420 Times in 669 Posts
Failed 530 Times in 136 Posts
|
lets hire the crazy guy who tried to burn the pattulo bridge to burn this one too when its built
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 12:38 AM
|
#13 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 2,580
Thanked 58 Times in 22 Posts
Failed 1 Time in 1 Post
|
hmm..I thought the focus was to replace the Patullo since it is older, narrower and more dangerous.
__________________
Character is who you are when nobody is looking.
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 12:48 AM
|
#14 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 2,641
Thanked 634 Times in 260 Posts
Failed 12 Times in 9 Posts
|
A new bridge is useless unless you add more lanes to the highway. Otherwise we're just shifting the bottleneck point. So this 10 lane bridge merges back to our current 3 lane highway? Doesn't make a lot of sense.
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 12:50 AM
|
#15 |
Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Burnaby
Posts: 3,935
Thanked 3,779 Times in 1,005 Posts
Failed 267 Times in 76 Posts
| Quote:
Originally Posted by shenmecar lets hire the crazy guy who tried to burn the pattulo bridge to burn this one too when its built | if its supported by wood, im definitely not paying lol
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 01:00 AM
|
#16 | | Banned (ABWS)
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: MacLeod
Posts: 7,298
Thanked 542 Times in 289 Posts
Failed 1,639 Times in 418 Posts
|
$3!!!! that's a lot considering if you must cross that bridge twice everyday for 365 days a year for the next 10 years or more?
GG.......
Hm.. is it possible to bargain with the guy sitting inside the toll??
toll guy: "That will be $3 please"
driver: "Oh sorry, I only brought $1.50 with me. Can I just give you $1.50 and get by? There's a line up behind me."
toll guy: "Do you have credit/visa/master cards?"
driver: "Nope"
toll guy: "$2.50 then"
driver: "$2 + the piece of gum i'm chewing?"
toll guy: "Look $2.50 is the lowest I can, or you will just have to go back."
driver: "$2.25 + a top secret porn site address?"
toll guy: "look, $2.50! if you save 50cents here and 50cents on the way back for 3 consecutive days, you will have $3 so that mean you can get 1 free crossing."
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 06:20 AM
|
#17 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New West
Posts: 2,846
Thanked 719 Times in 251 Posts
Failed 222 Times in 38 Posts
|
does anyone remember the speaches that Kevin Falcon was giving about toll bridges when the topic first really started to gain media attention? he was saying something like there would never be a toll bridge only option for people and that it would only be used on bridges where there was an alternate travel route that was easy to use. I am paraphrasing A LOT here but that is the jist of it iirc. It seems to me that he is back tracking on what he said here as the Patullo is not much of an option for people and what he is doing here will simply cause even more traffic back ups in surrey/new west going over an already over used and dangerous bridge. bad move liberals, I may vote NDP because of this.
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 07:23 AM
|
#18 | | Banned (BBM)
Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 16,142
Thanked 627 Times in 368 Posts
Failed 1,106 Times in 390 Posts
|
10 lanes bridge may sound nice but if the hwy is still stuck with 2 bullshit lanes and a useless HOV lane this plan is a major fail.
I dont even understand why the fuck we use HOV for. HOV is useful when we get enough lanes for the traffic to move, but we dont!!! so wtf
same with Barnet hwy from port moody to Burnaby north. 6am to 8:30am HOV occupies?? which means there is only one lane to travel? wat kind of bullshit is this? u cant even pass someone if there is a slow mofo sitting in front of u driving below speed limite. fuck even the normal roads gets two lanes, what kind of hwy only runs with one lane? fuck  | |
| | |
02-05-2009, 07:33 AM
|
#19 | | 14 dolla balla aint got nothing on me!
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Maple Ridge
Posts: 654
Thanked 279 Times in 95 Posts
Failed 47 Times in 13 Posts
|
So you create a bigger bridge to help traffic, then slow traffic down to stop so they can pay the toll for it? Im not sure I get the point here......
Being that the only other way around this is pretty far away, I can see people (including myself) getting REALLY upset about the "toll" bridge.
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 07:37 AM
|
#20 | | I answer every Emotion with an emoticon
Join Date: May 2002 Location: pc
Posts: 7,554
Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Failed 0 Times in 0 Posts
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanaki "Campbell said the government will keep control of the price of the tolls, which will be removed when the costs are paid off."
big deep breath .........
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA yeah i'll believe it when i see it |
lol I just got a Coquihalla hwy flashback.
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 07:44 AM
|
#21 | | I answer every Emotion with an emoticon
Join Date: May 2002 Location: pc
Posts: 7,554
Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Failed 0 Times in 0 Posts
|
It said that they are going to add 2 lanes on each side of the east side of the bridge and 1 addition lane on each side of the west side of the bridge.
So that is good.
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 08:06 AM
|
#22 | | reads most threads with his pants around his ankles, especially in the Forced Induction forum.
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 10,645
Thanked 2,191 Times in 1,131 Posts
Failed 929 Times in 340 Posts
|
I like the idea. I haven't cross to surrey for years so why should my tax dollar go towards a bridge I will never ever use?
Let the ppl who use it pay for it.
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 09:08 AM
|
#23 | | Willing to sell body for a few minutes on RS
Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Cloverdale
Posts: 11,605
Thanked 3,845 Times in 1,362 Posts
Failed 83 Times in 42 Posts
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp I like the idea. I haven't cross to surrey for years so why should my tax dollar go towards a bridge I will never ever use?
Let the ppl who use it pay for it. | I got into this debate in another thread on here but everyone East of the fraser could use the same argument for every provincial dollar spent West of the river. Rav line, 80 million in seismic upgrades to Lions Gate, Second Narrows and Burrard bridges. How do those things benefit me in Langley?
I use the Port Mann bridge and if it's tolled it's not going to cost me anything because my work will pay when cross but that's not really the issue. I don't even really have that big of an issue with the toll.
The whole argument of why should MY tax dollars from people East of the fraser who think their holier then thou really irks me. People that live on this side of the river are tax payers to and our taxes are always helping fund projects that we won't benefit from but you don't see us crying about it.
__________________
“The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place... and I don´t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently, if you let it. You, me or nobody, is gonna hit as hard as life. But ain't about how hard you hit... It's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward... how much you can take, and keep moving forward. That´s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you worth, go out and get what you worth.” - Rocky Balboa | |
| | |
02-05-2009, 09:14 AM
|
#24 | | Banned (ABWS)
Join Date: May 2008 Location: B.C.
Posts: 2,039
Thanked 101 Times in 57 Posts
Failed 44 Times in 20 Posts
|
always got this question in mind, anyone knows why they redraw the lines on hwy 1 starting around SFU area going west and canada way going east ???
i thought they were expanding to 4 lanes, they made the road all crooked
| |
| | |
02-05-2009, 09:39 AM
|
#25 | | OWNER/C.F.O./MONEYMAN
Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 16,486
Thanked 2,253 Times in 626 Posts
Failed 6 Times in 3 Posts
|
kinda like how the kok tolls paid off the highway years before, but they just kept charging the toll... Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanaki "Campbell said the government will keep control of the price of the tolls, which will be removed when the costs are paid off."
big deep breath .........
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA yeah i'll believe it when i see it | | |
| | | |
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
| | |
All times are GMT -8. The time now is 10:45 AM.
|
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
The banners on the left side and below do not show for registered users!
