Hwy 99 Fraser River Tunnel (George Massey Replacement) | Proposed

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Rome wasn't built in a day.

But it certainly wasn't cancelled, scaled down, put in the limbo that is election season, studied so much that the studies are studied, and the like, right?

[Klazu]

New lighting in tunnel.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TranBC/status/1361874769658970112

[s211]

Originally Posted by Klazu

New lighting in tunnel.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TranBC/status/1361874769658970112

Reeeeeeeeeaaaaallllly not a fan of street LED lighting. Every street installation seems overdone and overamped. Oak and 12th, for example, literally hurts my eyes. I can't be the only one. Or am I just "special"?

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by s211

Reeeeeeeeeaaaaallllly not a fan of street LED lighting. Every street installation seems overdone and overamped. Oak and 12th, for example, literally hurts my eyes. I can't be the only one. Or am I just "special"?

It makes a huge difference on those horrible winter nights IMO. Feels safer as a pedestrian too.

[MIPS]

It's a bit of an art choosing LED lights. There's a balance between per-luminaire cost, reliability (or how affordable it is to keep replacing ballasts which WILL fail before EOL) and lamp ageing. Most high output LED lamps will lose about 25% of their efficiency over ten years. More so faster if they are being overdriven.
Check out the LED lighting at the Shell at the corner of Hastings and Victoria. When that was new a little over a decade ago it was white, now it's got a very yellow tint.
The tunnel was originally fluorescent illuminated but converted to sodium I believe in the 70's?

BC Hydro has already announced they will be converting every streetlight in the province to LED over the next four years. Ministry of transportation and infrastructure are well underway already. In all over 110000 lights, not including municipal owned lights.
You bet your money these are going to be cheap and bright lights at the cost of reliability and things like glare and spectral color issues. (EG: https://www.bclocalnews.com/news/high-be...beach-streets-a-nightmare-for-residents/ )

[Klazu]

I hope at least long-distance highways will have softer and warmer color tone not to be so hard and tiring on the eyes.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by s211

Reeeeeeeeeaaaaallllly not a fan of street LED lighting. Every street installation seems overdone and overamped. Oak and 12th, for example, literally hurts my eyes.

Haven't seen Oak & 12th, but I like the other ones I've seen around - much less harsh and more natural in colour than sodium and especially mercury arc vapour lighting.

[vanman]

Originally Posted by s211

Reeeeeeeeeaaaaallllly not a fan of street LED lighting. Every street installation seems overdone and overamped. Oak and 12th, for example, literally hurts my eyes. I can't be the only one. Or am I just "special"?

You're not the only one. The street LEDs make my retinas burn. And don't get me started on LED headlights.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Yeah, somebody forgot to tell the City that LEDs are brighter and need to be dimmed.

At least they're deflected downward. Some cities' new streetlights are omnidirectional and shine right into your home.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by Klazu

New lighting in tunnel.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TranBC/status/1361874769658970112

Great! But wonder why they don’t light up the rest of the highway? It’s pretty common for freeways in metro areas to have lighting

[Bobert]

Preload is being removed section by section south of the tunnel.

Anyone aware of what's happening?

[DIYer]

Originally Posted by Bobert

Preload is being removed section by section south of the tunnel.

Anyone aware of what's happening?

Looks like the preload will be used for hwy 91/17 project, see "Highway 99 Preload Transportation" in this page:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/trans...way-91-17-deltaport-construction-traffic

[s211]

Originally Posted by vanman

You're not the only one. The street LEDs make my retinas burn. And don't get me started on LED headlights.

Holy moly. I drove the tunnel on the weekend and my god is that LED lighting overlamped. I had to put my sunshade down and because my dashboard lighting is light sensitive, it blazed to its highest setting, which it only does when I'm driving with the sun down low and directly ahead.

Slow clap, eco-friendly lighting. If the tunnel wasn't there, you could probably see the lighting from space.

[madog222]

Environmental assessment amendment from February gives us a few more details.

To summarize:
-Dedicated southbound bus connection from Bridgeport (but no northbound direct connection?)
-Steveston Hwy overpass will be 4 lanes plus a left turn lane.
-Shoulder bus lanes extended South until Ladner Trunk Rd.

• Improvement 1 – Bridgeport Road Bus Connection: Redirect southbound bus services from Sea Island Way to Bridgeport Road, and provide a transit-only connection southbound to the on-ramp to Highway 99.
• Improvement 2 – Highway 99 and 17A off-ramp widening: Extend and widen the northbound Highway 99 off-ramp approach to the Highway 17A intersection.
• Improvement 3 – Bus-on-shoulder transit lanes on Highway 99: Extend northbound and southbound bus-on-shoulder facilities south of Highway 17A.
• Improvement 4 – Steveston Highway Interchange: Replacement of the existing two-lane overpass structure at Steveston Highway and Highway 99 to accommodate two eastbound lanes and three westbound lanes (including a left turn lane), as well as improved connections to and from the overpass for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.

From the Massey Crossing site document library.

[Mininari]

Can we borrow a term from the building diagrams page and officially label this a "stale proposal"?

[Metro-One]

So essentially outside of the tunnel minimal improvements to the corridor.

Continued use of the shoulder as a “bus lane.”

Minimal upgrades to the interchanges bookending the tunnel (essentially retaining the existing late 1950’s era designs) with only a single overpass being replaced.

I am sure the direct southbound bus connection from Bridgeport Station will be a Mickey Mouse bare bones connection that will pale in comparison to the cancelled project’s version.

Oh well, just build the tunnel then and hopefully another project later will upgrade the highway.

Of course in the end that will take two multi billion dollar projects (one for the tunnel and one for the highway) with a combined price tag likely double or triple that of the cancelled project. Politics!

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Of course in the end that will take two multi billion dollar projects (one for the tunnel and one for the highway) with a combined price tag likely double or triple that of the cancelled project. NDP Politics!

fixed that for you.

also, with this massively decreased scope, it is already projected to cost 1 billion more.

its a god damn joke.

we should just label this thread as "terrible, delayed, overpriced proposed"

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

fixed that for you.

also, with this massively decreased scope, it is already projected to cost 1 billion more.

its a god damn joke.

we should just label this thread as "terrible, delayed, overpriced proposed"

By my calculations, if they demolished the tunnel and brought back the ferry, it would cost at least 10 billion.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

By my calculations, if they demolished the tunnel and brought back the ferry, it would cost at least 10 billion.

?

These aren’t imaginary figures, it is written in the official proposal itself that this tunnel option will cost at least 1 billion dollars more than the original cancelled plan while not involving any major highway corridor upgrades and a shoulder bus lane service that is a significant downgrade from the true centre lane rapid bus system that was originally to be built.

Not to mention the years of lost economic benefits of bei mg delayed for at least 5 to 6 years (more likely 10).

I think the original project would have been nearing completion now.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Given the choice between the GMB and the Broadway and Langley SkyTrains, I'll take the SkyTrains. I don't think there was ever a possibility of getting all three at once.