Quote:
Originally Posted by Metro-One
For me Broadway extension is #1
But then Massey Tunnel and Surrey Skytrain / LRT are a 2nd place tie. Honestly, with the potential transit improvements rapid buses can give Surrey and Langley (largely via highway 1), and their lack of progress until recently around their existing skytrain stations, I don't know why the south of the river extensions are so imperative. I am not against them though.
Patullo has dropped off my radar. New West is going to be (and has been) a pain every step of the way, let them enjoy their antique bridge and horrid traffic congestion on their local streets.
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I'd agree with you but would differ in that I'd have Broadway and Surrey as 1A and 1B because they are needed for very different reasons. Broadway is need for immediate demand though that stretch isn't really growing hugely. Surrey is needed in order to encourage future smart growth so we don't 15 years in the future find ourselves behind the 8 ball. Surrey Skytrain/LRT won't have nearly the ridership of a Broadway line but priorities can't entirely be made imo just based on ridership.
If it were, then quite frankly Millennium shouldn't have been built and I'd argue Evergreen should have waited even longer.
Still though I agree with you in that the tunnel is lower down on the list. It can be HORRIBLE though on days. I work quite close to the tunnel and while I don't get affected by it as I enter around HWY 17 and exit more often than not, you'd be amazed how far back it can line up.
And it is random to. 1 day you can fly straight through to Richmond in 3 minutes flat with no traffic at 5pm. Other days you can see it lined up all lanes including the HOV to the dump curve which translated to about 1 full hour to get through that 3 minute stretch.
And the fact that with 3 full lanes as counter-flow, the other direction out of Vancouver at the end of rush hour can extend all the way to Oak Street is telling.
What the problem with our road infrastructure is though in Metro-Vancouver is that we don't have any plans for spike capacity. In the IT world when you plan for capacity you have to take into account spikes. While you don't design for example IO bandwidth to constantly run at spike levels, your system has to be able to handle them without faltering.
When it comes to road infrastructure, you're almost guaranteed an accident per day on a major route to and from Metro Vancouver. Depending on what that major route is, some of our spike handling is poor if not non-existent and that's where you run into trouble.
Major accident on the EW Connector or Alex Fraser bridge, and the Tunnel is lined up to Whistler. Major accident at KGB and the Serpentine river and the Alex Fraser and HWY 10 are lined up to Seattle and Hope. Major accident on HWY1 and good luck getting out of Vancouver in less than 2 hours.
That's our big issue and that's where you do need a bit more than absolutely required capacity on routes. So if you run 75% capacity with 2 lanes of traffic during the regular day, you're way over capacity imo because you can't handle any spikes at all not even a slow driver in the fast lane.
You see it in Surrey too. If there is anything major happening on KGB for example or Fraser Highway, you're going to take decades trying to get around because you have quite frankly 1 or 2 alternatives if that and they're all 1 lane roads.
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