Metro Vancouver Road Infrastructure Discussion

[logicbomb]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Which should absolutely be a thing... in about 30+ years when the new bus/HOV lanes finally approach capacity and we have enough room in the budget for both it and a SkyTrain at the same time.

Absolutely. It's always funny how these things go in history.

"We need more lanes! The road is congested!"
Adds more lanes which spurs on developments far and away from transit services.
"Oh my god, so much more traffic!!! We need more lanes"

Seriously, we built the Port Mann Bridge, added a few more hundred thousand people to the region and there's daily gridlock again. We keep adding people to the region, and people keep desiring properties away from density. There's no coherent regional planning.

I'm not against freeway expansion. I personally think Hwy 7 should be upgraded to a full freeway along with a new freeway through South Surrey/Abbotsford.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

...we built the Port Mann Bridge, added a few more hundred thousand people to the region and there's daily gridlock again. We keep adding people to the region, and people keep desiring properties away from density. There's no coherent regional planning.

I'm not against freeway expansion. I personally think Hwy 7 should be upgraded to a full freeway along with a new freeway through South Surrey/Abbotsford.

Aren't those two statements a bit at odds with each other?

[cganuelas1995]

The Lion's Gate is once again closed in both directions.

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

The Lion's Gate is once again closed in both directions.

Yeah, apparently it was some jackhole in a Corvette who slammed into the back of a traffic control truck.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

They're repaving all the pavement on Georgia from Richards to Hamilton

Went to Loblaws yesterday.
Westbound Georgia has been fully repaved from Hamilton westwards (presumably to Richards, as you mention).


https://trafficcams.vancouver.ca/richardsGeorgia.htm

[KincLosddy]

Originally Posted by Vantage

Yet there are still some terminally online people upset about the Hwy 1 expansions in the Fraser Valley, crying "induced demand" and "freeway median trains". Do these people ever leave their homes?

Oh we are out here and most of us are crying because of A, glacial progress at any infrastructure improvement and B, that the government is singularly focused on adding an HOV lane and a transit lane and that taking until well into the 2030s. We aren't saying do not widen. We are saying plan for more than just an HOV lane and a bus lane and maybe do those things faster than 20 years post-gateway.

I do love the amount of talking down you are doing, though. It really hits the nail in the head when I hear a lot of reasonable talk in the valley about how we are or are not meeting demand and planning for the future and others tell us to touch grass. I guess the thesis here is simple: A two lane highway serving a third of a million people with a population growth pushing past 10,000 people per year and one single intercity bus service is not enough... or maybe I am just terminally online? I don't know. I'm just living through these issues every day because I live in the valley and live and breathe these issues.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Went to Loblaws yesterday.
Westbound Georgia has been fully repaved from Hamilton westwards (presumably to Richards, as you mention).


https://trafficcams.vancouver.ca/richardsGeorgia.htm

Here’s hoping they do W.Pender next. There’s a stretch from Thurlow to Burrard that feels like bombs have been dropped on it.

[Vantage]

Originally Posted by KincLosddy

Oh we are out here and most of us are crying because of A, glacial progress at any infrastructure improvement and B, that the government is singularly focused on adding an HOV lane and a transit lane and that taking until well into the 2030s. We aren't saying do not widen. We are saying plan for more than just an HOV lane and a bus lane and maybe do those things faster than 20 years post-gateway.

I do love the amount of talking down you are doing, though. It really hits the nail in the head when I hear a lot of reasonable talk in the valley about how we are or are not meeting demand and planning for the future and others tell us to touch grass. I guess the thesis here is simple: A two lane highway serving a third of a million people with a population growth pushing past 10,000 people per year and one single intercity bus service is not enough... or maybe I am just terminally online? I don't know. I'm just living through these issues every day because I live in the valley and live and breathe these issues.

I don't disagree with you then. Sorry, when I wrote that I had just finished reading some comments on Reddit about how the government should not be building any new highway lanes at all and it was driving me insane.

Highway expansion and trains aren't mutually exclusive, but I don't think the highway median is a good place for rail from a connectivity perspective. Having rail in a highway median practically guarantees that the area around the station is a pedestrian and cyclist unfriendly hellscape for at least a 250m radius.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by Vantage

I don't disagree with you then. Sorry, when I wrote that I had just finished reading some comments on Reddit about how the government should not be building any new highway lanes at all and it was driving me insane.

Highway expansion and trains aren't mutually exclusive, but I don't think the highway median is a good place for rail from a connectivity perspective. Having rail in a highway median practically guarantees that the area around the station is a pedestrian and cyclist unfriendly hellscape for at least a 250m radius.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the stations would be in the median. It just means using the existing right of way where you can. Rail to Abbotsford could easily turn off the freeway at Fraser Hwy, or another road.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

That doesn't necessarily mean that the stations would be in the median. It just means using the existing right of way where you can. Rail to Abbotsford could easily turn off the freeway at Fraser Hwy, or another road.

Not much point running passenger rail down a freeway median if that's not where the stations are going to be. Either most of the stations are in the median, which makes them unpleasant and not terribly useful, or most of them are where people actually need to get to, which means the rail isn't in the median.

[KincLosddy]

Originally Posted by Vantage

I don't disagree with you then. Sorry, when I wrote that I had just finished reading some comments on Reddit about how the government should not be building any new highway lanes at all and it was driving me insane.

Highway expansion and trains aren't mutually exclusive, but I don't think the highway median is a good place for rail from a connectivity perspective. Having rail in a highway median practically guarantees that the area around the station is a pedestrian and cyclist unfriendly hellscape for at least a 250m radius.

Oh there are plenty of idiots out here in the valley wanting this or demanding none of that. People seem to think that it's either one or the other with infrastructure progress.

I would kill for some gradual, strategic and clear planning for the Fraser Valley to be integrated better with our Metro neighbours. BC Transit out here is out to lunch entirely.

Our freeway system (in general) is definitely in need of mass improvement. It's just sad to see only minor improvement and no plans for anything else (especially counting the absurd population increases, both historical and projected)

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

Not much point running passenger rail down a freeway median if that's not where the stations are going to be. Either most of the stations are in the median, which makes them unpleasant and not terribly useful, or most of them are where people actually need to get to, which means the rail isn't in the median.

Sure there's a point. It's a right-of-way with essentially zero grade crossings that dead's straight and isn't going to piss off any neighbours.

Why don't you find another right of way from Surrey to Abbotsford where a train could do 200 km/h?

[mcj]

Having just come back from the Abbotsford Canucks game, I wish there was a train to the McCallum Interchange area

If you're going to have a highway median running station, I'd say that would be the best spot in Abbotsford (assuming only one station). It's right near UFV, the Abbotsford Arena, and has a bunch of new ~6 story buildings nearby, and the interchange area itself is one of the tighter ones.

[cganuelas1995]

So the 5 is disrupted because of a hole on Robson and Thurlow, not sure why the city workers don't just put a big steel plate over top of it as a temporary measure while they work on it

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

So the 5 is disrupted because of a hole on Robson and Thurlow, not sure why the city workers don't just put a big steel plate over top of it as a temporary measure while they work on it

The hole looked too big for a standard plate. Traffic's running as of 2 hours ago.

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

The hole looked too big for a standard plate. Traffic's running as of 2 hours ago.

Ok sweet they finally filled it. The reroute made no sense. Going to work I got on at Denman and Robson, then it went along Georgia and Pender and continued as normal, but coming back home it went as normal until Burrard and Robson and continued down Davie then turned left. They need more junctions, can only go right from Denman to Georgia.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Went to Loblaws yesterday.
Westbound Georgia has been fully repaved from Hamilton westwards (presumably to Richards, as you mention).

Eastbound being done this weekend.

[s211]

^ I wish that remedial work was extended west to Granville Street. Georgia eastbound from there to Richards is a bit of a goat path these days.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by madog222

Eastbound being done this weekend.

Live



In progress

[whatnext]

I’m not sure where to put this observation so I’ll drop it here. I saw some thing this morning that I’ve never seen before.

I had to go through downtown and went over the Granville Bridge around 9:30. The left hand curb lane of Seymour from Davie all the way to Georgia was almost all taxis! I can only assume they were waiting to pick up cruise passengers at Canada Place! As anyone else ever witnessed that?