Quote:
Originally Posted by fredinno
The reason was that New Westminster didn't believe it could handle the traffic from a 6-lane, which was proposed at the time. Truthfully, creating induced demand in New West streets isn't exactly a great idea, I can understand the sentiment.
They had to compromise with a 4-land 'expandable'.
And really, only NOF mayors hate bridges. Mostly because they are more transit-oriented due to greater densities, unlike the suburban SOF. 
Imagine what would happen when Surrey densifies. No highway expansions in Metro Van ever again.  |
Then why is it not considering a newer bridge with bus lanes? The 340 and 410 suffer from the painfully slow Queensborough traffic because it's only four lanes. They could expand that bridge to fit bus lanes, but New West won't because of NIMBYisms.
PoCo, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge are certainly not transit-oriented. The only thing that's a saving grace for them is the West Coast Express, which is vulnerable to being put out of service by CP at any given moment.
In SoF, densification doesn't mean jack 🞵🞵🞵🞵 when the townhouses are right next to a highway. The Highcrest development in Fraser Heights and the Willoughby development in Langley are just sprawl that are morphed into condos.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fredinno
Translink is technically a transportation authority, not a transit authority (even though it's 90% transit, it does own Golden Ears).
The Province gave control of much of the highway system to the municipalities, giving them more control over the highway system (who then prompted to declassify them- which is why 1A and 99A no longer exist- and why the Pautello expansion was originally a Translink Project.)
The idea was to make the transit and highway system work together, in a way that would 'address the multi-modal needs of the region'.
However, the GVRD (and Translink) are largely controlled by the mayors. Who disagree on pretty much everything, and end up constantly trying to compete with each other.
This is both a good, and bad thing- it spurs transit and development growth- but it results in a lot of...unintended consequences.
Vancouver and Surrey are the most powerful municipalities. The Pautello and Port Mann had the Liberals and Surrey as backers. The George Massey has Delta, Richmond, and...no one else, seemingly.
Is it a wonder why it's dead in the water? We either have to wait until the Liberals come back into power, or the NDP is convinced enough to accept the expansion.
The mayors do not decide solely on transportation expansions. In the end, the province still owns Hwy 99. However, they do have a large amount of influence-more than most other cities.
The biggest issue is that the NDP just doesn't care. I mean, Richmond, Delta, and even S. Surrey were generally pretty strongly Liberal in the last election, or were either-or districts.
|
The NDP needs to stop sitting on the couch and let the mayors bicker for territorial rights. They need to step in once in a while to keep them in check, otherwise the consequences will be worse than having no bridges or 10-lane highways.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fredinno
The anti-highway NOF generally wins out due to higher population. Only Surrey really has the population to compete with the NOF. If the SOF controlled Metro Van, there would probably have been the (admittedly not well-thought-out) NFPR, more road expansions, and generally more sprawl.
It's a mixed bag. However, this is probably the main reason why so many SOF people feel SOF is being screwed over by NOF. Because they kind of are, due to demographics.
|
There's constant conflict
within SoF. Langley, being so remote, gets easily left out by Surrey because it's 1/10 of its population and its identity is more aligned with the Fraser Valley.
Richmond is in No Man's Land when it comes to transit. On one hand, it has the motorist attitude that is typical of SoF cities, but on the other hand, it has the anti-highway mentality from the rest of NoF.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fredinno
He isn't really against expending the crossing, he just wants it done by twinning for some reason.  |
If he's legit, than he's not very smart about it.
Threaded Mode