Quote:
Originally Posted by CanSpice
The Queensborough Bridge and 20th Avenue is already a gong show. You're proposing adding a Pattullo Bridge's worth of traffic to that mix? Or do you think that somehow New West might agree to a six lane highway up 20th Avenue when they've been against that everywhere else in the city?
It also tears right through residential in Queensborough. There's no way that your red route is anywhere near realistic. You can't just draw lines on a map and think that they're going to work.
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There would be a new bridge from Annacis island, or the Queensborough bridge would be upgraded/replaced of course. The current situation is a gong show, and this impacts fewer residents to a lesser degree.
New West city council wants through-traffic routed around the city instead of through. Everyone else just wants to have smoother/shorter/faster trips.
Something big will have to be done. If there is a new crossing downriver, it makes every other choice easier.
There could be 2 bridges. This new red route, built first. Then a smaller than otherwise necessary bridge at the current Patullo site, except its traffic could be directed straight to Hwy 1 instead of along 10th Ave in New West.
The red route could come from 104 Ave in Surrey, if preferred. It could connect in New West to 12th St straight onto Kingsway, if preferred. It could be like the Granville St bridge and have a couple feeder roads, and distribute onto a couple roads on the far side. 2x2 lanes of bridge traffic on two roads, feels much different than 8 lanes of bridge traffic on one road cutting a city in half.
Everyone holding their breath and doing stupid things like emergency repairs to the Patullo, which should have been torn down a decade ago for safety reasons, is not the easiest path to a solution.
The only person choosing to do emergency repairs on the Patullo, is a politician worried about an election. It's the worst value for money spent of any option. The Port Mann has plenty of capacity, the problem is the politician in charge doesn't want to be held responsible for the high cost of living for which the toll is just a small addition to.
Prior to WWII, there was almost nothing in Vancouver or BC. About 1 paved road. Bridges were built privately and even pedestrians paid the tolls. No airport. No hydroelectric dams. In building all that there was a lot of brutal expropriation where land was taken and little to no compensation given, that did keep the costs down but it was unfair and if money was the issue, there were people inside the government who mystifyingly got rich on such small salaries like Gaglardi.
It was still worth the development though, even to those who lost the most initially, because what they gained in the future was so much more than they would have had if they sat on their thumbs and nothing ever happened.
Understandably we've swung in the opposite direction, with anyone that can exercising veto power to protect their interests. There's just no trust.
You see it all the time in Vancouver, and it's probably the bureaucracy's fault -- there's a million ways to stop a project, and there's a million ways to pass a project that goes against every precedent and plan the city has. If people thought they could participate in the benefits, they would be much more likely to say yes than live in fear of missing their one chance to actually get into a position where they can force negotiation.
We're very much a growing region, whatever is torn down does get replaced by something better that was not possible otherwise. It is totally possible to just draw lines on a map, make everyone impacted happy, and get good value for money spent. You can't rush it though, it's not something within the abilities of our current politicians who hold no plans and instead only hold photo-ops.
Right now real estate prices are high, and beyond depending on that for retirement savings the bigger concern is where could they move to. Finding 300 homes to do a house swap up front would make the issue of cash compensation much smaller, less emotional. This stuff isn't impossible, even with many people involved. Now imagine if land prices dropped to become historically cheap so that those residents were willing/able/motivated to sell, would we be ready with a plan like the red route?
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