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Originally Posted by city-dweller
More bridges? Expand the roads to take the volume in New West?
What are people smoking?  We just spent billions on the #1 route and bridge.
I am with the mayor of New West who has said that they have been asking for 30+ years to fix the patullo and no one except him has suggested that maybe we don't need it now with the new Port Mann. They should just close the patullo bridge for a while and see if it still makes sense to fix it or knock it down. He has repeatedly been quoted as the traffic from people skipping the toll is harming his city livability. So you can understand he doesn't even remotely want a six lane bridge that can bring more cars faster to his city. (sorry through his city) Yes, the bridge is dangerous. Take the professional truck drivers off will help the bridge, but not taking the distracted drivers racing to work while trying to make up the time they lost skipping the PM will not deal with the safety issue. Finally, having translink go through this ridiculous process of looking at options to replace the bridge when they don't have enough money to even replace it as is. This is despite declarations of money budgeted for this project. I can't even begin to start on the mediocre transit service SOTF (partly because it would belong in another thread.) I drive to Surrey because transit is brutal away from the skytrain in north surrey.
So while translink looks at a bridge they can't afford to fix and that may not be needed, they are also optimizing service from routes that are underused to better "revenue-riders". What is their mandate again?
So in summary:
Golden Ears Bridge: tolled, built for projected demand -> underused
Port Mann Bridge: tolled, built for projected demand -> evaluation of use remains to be seen, as people are bypassing and they still haven't opened the final lanes.
Massey Crossing needed: But, Patullo promised despite a dying bridge with a questionable need.
BTW: I have a problem with people skipping the toll. I see it as tax evasion in principle. I pay much higher property taxes to live on the Burrard Peninsula which part of go to regional services. Those SOTF pay less property tax but have tolls for the new bridges. More than fair exchange. (and yes I would pay more for services and goods that I benefit from that use the bridge) No Free Lunch! |
So, you would prefer to make everyone who would preferrably take the bridge a 30km detour? Suddenly the SFPR is full and all the main E/W roads through Surrey, Delta and Burnaby have to deal with all that new traffic generated.
I would bike from South Burnaby to Whalley on occasion when I lived back there. That detour would more than double the distance and make an otherwise short pleasant trip, a long not so pleasant trip.
Not that much of the demand on that bridge is induced by tolls or congestion on the PMB. Some of it is just the shortest and fastest route. Demoing the bridge prior to replacement would be a huge blow to the region.
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