Highway 17 (SFPR) Upgrades
 

So, given that the more info has come up regarding the desperately needed 17 / 91 Connector upgrade project, I think it deserves its own thread now instead of piggy backing on the 72nd Interchange page.

So the project will cost just under 250 million.

Is being paid for by the Federal government, The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, The Provincial Government, and the Tsawwassen First Nation.

Construction is to start in 2019, completion anticipated in 2023.

A link to the official page:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/t...1-17-deltaport

Comments can be made until July 12th.

Images of the current proposed design:

Shoulder widening and what looks to be lengthening of the westbound 17 on ramp from the 80th street intersection is also part of this project.

Here is the original concept for reference:


[IMG]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1789/...9d4e074a_z.jpgSunburyInterchange by Ian, on Flickr[/IMG]

Another SFPR upgrade to come is associated with the Patullo Bridge replacement.

The Old Yale Road intersection will be removed. It appears that the SFPR will run over top of it.

A direct ramp from the Patullo Bridge south bound to 17 west bound will also be added.

The image is a little fuzzy but it looks as if there may be a minor C/D system between this on ramp and the Tannery Road off ramp. Again just a speculation given the poor image quality.

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4764/...9e3e324e_b.jpgPatullo2 by Ian, on Flickr[/IMG]

With these improvements, for the SFPR to be considered an adequate freeway between the Patullo Bridge and 56th Street in Tsawwassen all that remains is for the 80th street intersection to be replaced with an interchange and for the bump in the road near 80th Street to be smoothed / removed.

As for the SFPR east of the Patullo Bridge, a lot of work remains to be done (especially between the railway crossing and 116th Street and the GEW connector intersection)

The truck scale is located right next to Nordel @ 91 Connector. Is that scale going to be at the same place during construction or if there’s going to be a temporary one?

Nice to see free-flow intersections on the 91 connector. It’s horrendous trying to deal with trucks crawling on left and right turns when the arrows are green.

Engagement summary is out.

Only a handful of people took part, but still interesting.

Wish more pressure / comments were made about making 80th / Tilbury intersection an interchange within the scope of this project.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/dr...port_final.pdf

At least things are moving forward.

2023 opening...

Can someone explain to me why free-flow from 91N to 17-91 Connector is unnecessary? :???:

We know that 80th and 17 will probably never bee an interchange. I hope at least they'll change the lighting configuration. Currently an advance arrow turns on from 17 east to 80th north even when there's no cars waiting to turn left. What a joke.

I wouldn’t say never. In fact given that it is in the list of projects that the port authority wants done it will happen probably sooner than later, which makes this half step in the middle seem all the more bizarre.

As for 91 northbound to the SFPR, while freeflow would be ideal not having it for that movement isn’t a deal breaker for me. This project will still be a massive improvement and it is getting the key traffic flows correct.

Do any of you guys know if the 91 Connector and Nordel Way intersection will be a full interchange?

Updates from the project site.

Project Updates – Posted December 21, 2018

Advance work will be taking place in early January 2019. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (port authority) will be removing preload material from the Deltaport Truck Staging Site and transporting it to the Project site. The removal, transportation and placement of this material will be done by the port authority’s contractor TFN Construction/Matcon Civil Joint Venture (the contractor).

The preload material (sand) will be placed on a section of the Project site between River Road and Highway 17. This work is required to prepare the ground in advance of Project construction activities. Please refer to the map below for location details.

Advance Work Project Map

Advance Work Project Map

What to expect

Advance work is anticipated to begin early January, and will be underway for approximately two months
Before the preload can be placed, the contractor will prepare the site, which includes some ground clearing activities
The contractor will use the following route to and from the Project site:
Trucks will travel from the Deltaport Truck Staging Project (located at the intersection of Highway 17, Highway 17A and Deltaport Way) along Highway 17 to 96 Street and then onto River Road.
Work will take place Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In order to minimize dust and debris on local roads, the contractor will be required to cover the dump trucks while on route to and from the site and conduct street sweeping
Flaggers and notification signs will be in place to safely direct trucks to and from the site
Local businesses may see a temporary increase in truck traffic while this advance work is underway

I still have a big question though: How will the jazz between 104 Avenue (Golden Ears Connector) and Highway 1 be made free flowing? Personally I’m gonna take “impossible” as an (acceptable) answer. Same thing with the intersection with Old Yale Road where there’s a cluster of rail tracks. :???:

I think the Old Yale Rd. Intersection might just become an overpass, with Pautello traffic moving into the new Scott Rd. Interchange instead.

There's more space around the Golden Ears Connector, so a more free-flowing limited interchange might be possible. A full interchange definitely needs to destroy a few buildings. Either Residential, or Industrial.

Oops I meant to say “unacceptable”. Thanks for the ideas anyway. Golden Ears Way, its connector, Pacific Highway, TCH and SFPR will sure be a messy cluster.

Meanwhile, the stubborn refusal to put an interchange at 80th Street is shocking: https://www.vancourier.com/245-milli...lta-1.23635997

I think it's like the 72nd Ave intersection. It's in the middle of Burns Bog, so making it a full interchange would have serious negative impacts to the Bog. (the creation of the SFPR did too, but :P)

80th Ave is so strange though. It looks like it was somehow designed to have an extension deep into Burns Bog where it meets Hwy 17. A conspiracy? ;)

^^seriously, what's the deal with 80th south of 17??! It's like there is a plan for a huge development

Well, if the intersection between Highway 91 and 72nd Avenue has become a bidirectional interchange, so can Highway 17 and 80th Street. If the environmental impact’s too severe, what about a 2-lane roundabout there (one that’s big enough to accommodate truck traffic)? It’s not like the speed limit of SFPR will hit 100 km/h anyway.

80th and SFPR is one of the few places in the Metro-Vancouver region where the land for an interchange is already owned by / available to the MOT.

It was originally going to be an interchange (don't feel like digging up the schematics) but was cut at the last moment to make the pile driving contract cheaper (just for us to spend more money on it in the future, which is related to my biggest beef regarding the GMT project that involves any scheme that retains the existing structure).

That said, i am surprised this project didn't involve a full interchange as well (I guess the feds are just as cheap).

Oh well, at least the embarrassment that is the Sunbury Interchange will end up better than originally envisioned when it too was to be an interchange from the get go.

On the bright side, when these projects are done, one can go from New West to Tsawwassen wit only one traffic light.

I think that’s even scarier simply because now everyone will be surprised by it.

In Manitoba, on TCH, the 2 sets of traffic lights in Brandon are much safer than the one at Yellowhead Highway immediately west of Portage La Prairie.

I still think that this intersection should be converted to a roundabout with future provision to turn it into an interchange.

I totally get what you are saying, and they will be surprised by it seeing how it will be 25km or so stretch of Highway with a single light, but I don’t think the roundabout is the answer. Such an investment will only postpone the inevitable interchange even further. Best just to ish the interchange now. Even with this intermediate solution being added it is very low investment (and a percaentage or two of this overall program) so an interchange is still within a ten year scope.

In B.C.’s defense, it’s already quite impressive that it even found a place to put down Highway 17 Extension. ;) Of course things could have been better, but they also could have been worse. :)