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View Full Version : Bottlenecks, bridges and tunnels: The joys of commuting


SpongeG
Sep 6, 2007, 12:49 AM
i posted part two (about parking) in the vancouver construction thread) here is part 1

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First in a series


Inching along the Trans-Canada Highway before the Port Mann Bridge, en route from rural Abbotsford to downtown Vancouver every morning, Michael O'Shea felt the smog getting under his skin.

"You probably don't notice it, but you're probably being anesthetized every morning," said O'Shea in an interview, describing the hell of the commute, which took an hour and three-quarters each way.

Several years ago, O'Shea got sick of the stench and the road rage, and started taking the West Coast Express commuter train from Mission.
"Once I got a regular routine, I realized it was nuts to fight your way in and fight your way out," he said.

The hour and 10 minutes it now takes to get him to and from work each day is still an agonizing commute, but if driving the Port Mann Bridge is the only other option, that's okay.

As people in the Lower Mainland say goodbye to summer vacation and head back to work this week, there are a few roads and bus routes they should be trying to avoid - if they can.

The Trans-Canada Highway leading to the Port Mann Bridge is the worst of several choke points identified in a 2003 study by Lower Mainland transportation authority TransLink.

After the Port Mann Bridge, on Highway 1 between Brunette Avenue and Douglas Road, and on the Lougheed Highway and the Mary Hill Bypass towards the Trans-Canada, cars move well under 60 per cent of the posted speed limits during the morning rush between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Other bridges and tunnels also create bottlenecks during the morning commute- Highway 91 south of the Alex Fraser Bridge, and Highway 99 south of the George Massey Tunnel also see traffic slow to a crawl during peak periods.

The study showed that about 20.4 per cent of all roads in the Lower Mainland were congested, showing average speeds of less than 60 per cent of posted speed limits.

High-occupancy vehicle lanes fared better, with an average speed of 73 kilometres an hour on Highway 1 between the Port Mann Bridge and Willingdon, compared to regular traffic, which travelled 51 kilometres an hour.
Who hasn't wanted to break free, crank the steering wheel and drive down the shoulder of the road, leaving other drivers in the dust? Who hasn't prayed for just one more lane to ease the pressure?

But additional roads would just send the region into a vicious cycle, said Gordon Price, a former Vancouver city councillor and now adjunct professor at University of B.C.'s School of Community and Regional Planning. Studies show more roads would mean more people will choose to live far from where they work; that would mean more cars, and result in the Lower Mainland being exactly where it is today.

"All the messages are clearly that whenever traffic begins to congest we will build our way out of it," he said. "There's no example where you build a spanking new bridge that it doesn't get filled up very quickly," he said.
More cars than ever drive along many of the choke points, and the numbers are rising quickly - a traffic count on the Lougheed Highway during the morning rush showed a 93-per-cent jump to 2,336 cars between 1996 and 1999, according to the most recent figures available from TransLink.

But one mystery is that in downtown Vancouver - presumably where many of these cars end up - traffic is barely increasing at all.

The number of cars on the Burrard Street Bridge in the morning rush increased only three per cent from 3,018 in 1996 to 3,100 cars in 1999. Traffic on the Granville Street Bridge and the Cambie Street Bridge increased by three and one per cent respectively in the same period.

What's behind this? It's all about having options, says Price. In downtown, which has seen a sharp increase in residential development, people can take buses, taxis, bikes, or even walk. Since the late 90s, the number of walking trips has exploded while car trips have tanked, he said.

"The automobile dropped out as the first choice," he said. "It became the alternative form of transportation."

On the other hand, in those areas where gridlock is worst, people have no option but to take their cars down a single major thoroughfare, he said.
It's too far to walk, the bus system is patchy and bicycling may take too long.
"The suburbs designed themselves around the car," he said. "They didn't leave any room for other choices - and to lay down transit there now is expensive and futile."

Some of that congestion is easing as more people expand their transportation options by taking their cars down different roads - suburb-to-suburb treks to businesses in densified satellite urban cores, such as Metrotown, said Price.
But commuters face a lack of options when they're up against a packed SkyTrain, a congested West Coast Express train, or B-Line buses so full they're forced to drive by bus stops.

Eight routes were flagged this year by TransLink as needing new buses, said TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie. Many of them take U-Pass-holding university students to the UBC and Simon Fraser University, including the 99 B-Line, the 49 and the 84.

Two years ago, there were only 21 coaches travelling from the the Commercial Drive station to the UBC Bus Loop, said Hardie; as of today, there will be 44, he said.

The 51 new high-tech, low-pollution diesel buses yet to arrive this year will be spread out over other routes, he said.

But just as a car accident can stop an entire highway from moving, even on the least-used bus routes, TransLink decisions can drastically affect individuals' commutes.

Donna Beer, who lives in Cloverdale, said she relied on a single bus route for 20 years to make an 80-minute pilgrimage into downtown.

Now that construction on the highway has stopped her bus route, she has to take the only other route available, adding 20 minutes each way.

The feeling of having to rely on a single bus must be similar to what's felt by a driver who has only one road on which to travel: frustration, she said.

"You just surrender your control," she said. "And it becomes a total disaster."
Erik Systad, 22, spends about three hours each day on a bus commuting to and from Tsawwassen to work as a bartender at Broadway and Granville. He lives in the suburbs to save money, but was shocked when he found out he didn't actually save that much.

He estimates he saves about $375 per month on rent, but spends $130 on a three-zone bus pass.

That leaves $245 that he saves, he said - about $3.71 for each of the 66 hours he spends on the bus each month.

"Is it worth it? No," said Systad, musing that he could work longer and make another $50 per day without the commute. "This is madness."
But for people looking to buy a house, it's much harder, said Debi Melnyk, who lives with her daughter in Tsawwassen and commutes to her job at a construction company downtown.

"It's the paycheque. I can't find anything decent that's closer," she said. Family ties also bind her to Tsawwassen, she said.

The only people who enjoy their commutes are the people who use physical energy to get there, said Johann Groebner, 39, who manages Our Community Bikes on Main Street.

He's been commuting for 25 years and says despite the dangers of dodging traffic (and the trouble finding a workplace that doesn't mind if "you're a bit sweaty") it's a huge high.

"For a lot of people, they're at work, someone's yelled at them or whatever and they can go and ride a bike. There's a tremendous feeling of freedom."
Perhaps the only real escape from the rat race comes when walking, said Alice Atkinson, 32, who walks from her apartment in the West End to an office job downtown.

The 14-block commute is just an "energizing short walk," she said.
"I wish everyone could live this close to work. It's like you're not commuting at all," she said.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=d6ec015c-cec4-47f3-b204-5604c3284345&k=8464

miketoronto
Oct 2, 2007, 3:23 AM
It is funny how these articles focus on people commuting into the city, when the fact is most of the bad commutes are not people going downtown.

Downtown commuters in any city, except for maybe certain areas, have pretty easy access to the city centre(unless you live in a really really far out burb).

But most of the traffic is going from suburb to suburb, etc. Yet they hardly focus on that in articles.

Its always about the downtown commuters. And really downtown commuters are a small percentage of people anyway, as we continue to undermine our downtowns as employment destinations.