General Infrastructure Discussion

[giallo]

Originally Posted by Repthe250

I was in Kelowna on Christmas Day last year and iirc, the daytime high was -25C. When I landed in Vancouver on Boxing Day, it was -8C at like 5 pm. I’ve never seen a Christmas that cold.

I was in Kelowna for Xmas as well, and it was -27c at 6am on New Years Eve. I never thought Kelowna could get that cold.

[jollyburger]

Confirmed

The regional district would normally lift restrictions on Oct. 15, but they are now in place until Oct. 31 to try to protect the region’s drinking water until the rain returns.

“The region has been experiencing a long period of warm, dry weather since mid-July that is extending into October, historic low river inflows, and higher than average water demands for the time of year,” Sav Dhaliwal, chair of Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directors, said.

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/1...t-rating-rain/

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

A few years ago (2018 maybe?) I took the paddlewheeler riverboat tour from New West to Fort Langley and the Fraser was frozen over. It was really cool being an icebreaker through it.

That's still a lot different than "walking across the Fraser". You need a good several inches of ice to do that.

[jollyburger]

While looking up some information on the Second Narrows Bridge I noticed BC Hydro is trying to improve the reliability of the electrical towers next to the bridge.

The 2L003 and 2L049 transmission lines that span Burrard Inlet at Second Narrows supply electricity to customers in Burnaby and Vancouver. The structures that carry these transmission lines, some of which were built in the 1920s, are at risk of being damaged during an earthquake and don’t meet current seismic standards.

What we're doing
We’re working to upgrade, replace, or relocate up to four transmission line structures that cross Burrard Inlet at Second Narrows near the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge so that they will continue to be able to operate in the event of an earthquake.

Project timeline
We plan to select a leading alternative in early 2023, complete project design by spring 2026 and start construction in summer 2026. The project has a target in-service date of March 2029.
What alternatives are being considered?
We’re studying three alternatives to address the seismic risks associated with structures 687 to 689 and ensure safe and reliable operation of the power lines they carry. These include:

Ground improvements and reinforcing the existing structures and their foundations.
Building a new overhead crossing near the existing alignment and removing existing structures.
Installing a new cable on the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge and removing the existing structures.

https://www.bchydro.com/energy-in-bc...g-project.html

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

While looking up some information on the Second Narrows Bridge I noticed BC Hydro is trying to improve the reliability of the electrical towers next to the bridge.

Thanks for the post. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I do think there needs to be some sort of inter-agency planning and coordination for that area to address the needs over the next few decades. It's a relatively small space with a lot of important infrastructure that currently includes the rail bridge, the IWM, and the electrical towers.

Given that TransLink is likely to need a transit crossing in the next ten to twenty years (if not sooner) and the replacement for the IWM will need to be under construction around the mid-century mark, they should be identifying and allocating space for these bridges and making sure that development does not encroach on those rights of way. It would be so nice if the new IWM doesn't have bends similar to the current bridge, especially on the north end. We've got enough examples of "make it fit" engineering on the North Shore as it is...

[jollyburger]

I was looking at that and I'm pretty sure a new road bridge goes to the west of the current bridge. Though the grain elevators might be an issue if you're doing a really wide bridge deck.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

...I do think there needs to be some sort of inter-agency planning and coordination for that area to address the needs over the next few decades. It's a relatively small space with a lot of important infrastructure that currently includes the rail bridge, the IWM, and the electrical towers.

What makes you think that there isn't any coordination between the various agencies?

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Thanks for the post. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I do think there needs to be some sort of inter-agency planning and coordination for that area to address the needs over the next few decades. It's a relatively small space with a lot of important infrastructure that currently includes the rail bridge, the IWM, and the electrical towers.

Given that TransLink is likely to need a transit crossing in the next ten to twenty years (if not sooner) and the replacement for the IWM will need to be under construction around the mid-century mark, they should be identifying and allocating space for these bridges and making sure that development does not encroach on those rights of way. It would be so nice if the new IWM doesn't have bends similar to the current bridge, especially on the north end. We've got enough examples of "make it fit" engineering on the North Shore as it is...

Trans link is so far down the list it will be a BRT lane they wont get a dedicated crossing. Not enough ridership unless there is another 100000 people. Remember half of the north shore has its own seperate plan

[jollyburger]

BC Hydro filed a plan to update their reactive power system on the transmission network but it has lots of details on the grid if you've ever been curious about it. (Large file 799 pages)

https://docs.bcuc.com/Documents/Proc...ion-Public.pdf

Using an analogy to a municipal water system, think of voltage as equivalent to water system “pressure” - without it water just sits in the pipes and, with too much, pipes explode. So, it's vital that water pressure is constant and consistent.

https://business.directenergy.com/bl...reactive-power

[jollyburger]

Another electrical vault explosion/fire

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/0...downtown-fire/

[SpongeG]

that caused a lot of chaos last night, for quite a while reporting about it on the radio last night there was no real info on what was happening other than "flames are shooting out of the ground", Skytrain is closed, seabus is shut down and traffic is in gridlock throughout downtown, but they couldn't give any real explanation on what was going on at the time. There was also filming of an explosion for the flash also happening so many people just said it was related to that and there was nothing going on.

So is the SkyTrain tunnel unusable now?

[Sheba]

From TransLink's Twitter feed (Feb 24th): "Update 9:10 PM - Waterfront Station is now open. Expo Line trains and SeaBus are resuming regular service..."

[Changing City]

The Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson was in Vancouver Friday to announce nearly $19 million in funding for more than 2,400 electric vehicle (EV) chargers in B.C.

Out of the more than 2,400 EV chargers allocated for B.C., the minister says 1,800 EV chargers will be installed in Greater Vancouver.

City news.ca

[jollyburger]

YVR is getting 74 new stations. Oslo Airport has like 700 parking stalls with charging stations.

These new EV Charging stations are planned to be installed by 2025, and will provide electricity to the YVR fleet, commercial and business partners’ vehicles, as well as passengers and the public. Currently, YVR provides 12 free electric vehicle charging stalls (Level Two) at its parking facilities, as well as one DC fast-charging stall.

https://www.yvr.ca/en/media/news-rel...hicle-chargers

Here's the list of projects. Of the 1800 new stations 782 for PCI King George Hub.

https://www.canada.ca/en/natural-res...vestments.html

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

While looking up some information on the Second Narrows Bridge I noticed BC Hydro is trying to improve the reliability of the electrical towers next to the bridge.





https://www.bchydro.com/energy-in-bc...g-project.html

If only they had used the tunnel that just got built right beside this.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

If only they had used the tunnel that just got built right beside this.

probably cheaper for them to do all above ground. theyd have to do so much underground construction on either side of the tunnel i bet this route is cheaper.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

probably cheaper for them to do all above ground. theyd have to do so much underground construction on either side of the tunnel i bet this route is cheaper.

Yeah even with a free tunnel it's still cheaper to do it above ground and the maintenance is probably cheaper as well.

[Lexus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-wQnWUhX5Y

This video titled: "Repairing Underground Power Cables Is Nearly Impossible",show how difficult, challenging, super technologically advanced and expensive it is to have high-voltage infrastructure underground, especially when things go wrong...

[jollyburger]

Someone posted their car camera video of the explosion. The fireball was huge!

https://www.xiaohongshu.com/discover...00000013003084

[jollyburger]

The coffee shop in the historic Marine building is expected to be closed for up to three months for a complicated heritage restoration that Neate estimates could cost well over $200,000.

Next door, the Donnelly Group’s Brass Fish Tavern was able to open Monday after staff and customers safely evacuated the building Friday.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9515907/v...osion-jj-bean/