Metro Vancouver Road Infrastructure Discussion

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Pinion

It makes more sense for you to list cities around 2.5 million that handle traffic worse than Vancouver. Once you start looking at those cities instead of comparing us to to ones that are five times our size like LA, London, NY, it should be clear that we're way worse than we should be.

Mezzanine kindly provided a link back in the Viaducts thread; Portland, Orlando, Denver, Zurich, Stockholm and Vienna have similar populations to Vancouver and worse traffic.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Pinion

You really think there are no cities with around 2.5 million population that handle people movement better than us?

I'm not sure, but I know your incessant complaining without any realistic solutions is tiring. Crying wolf constantly gets the predictable results.

I've driven in a lot of cities around North America thanks to work, and our traffic is comparable to other urban areas.

It's not about absolute population size, that's a false equivalence. It's more about the overall density of the city, and the geographic barriers. In that sense, Seattle is a great comparable, and their traffic is terrible.

[KPELLY]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Mezzanine kindly provided a link back in the Viaducts thread; Portland, Orlando, Denver, Zurich, Stockholm and Vienna have similar populations to Vancouver and worse traffic.

Although Vancouver went from 257th (2015) worst to 157th (2016) worst in one year according to that source.

[moosejaw]

From the viaducts thread i posted earlier

Originally Posted by moosejaw

To be fair, seattle has more roads and more space so it seems like it has worse traffic.....however I-5, SR520, and I-90 traffic counts are similar to Vancouvers BC99, TCH1 and BC91 yet we have less lanes. Not to mention Seattle has twice the area and more than half the population density. But to its credit..its rush hours are less than Vancouver and it doesnt have the obstacles of waterfront around its perimeter.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I'm not sure, but I know your incessant complaining without any realistic solutions is tiring.

I've posted my solutions repeatedly, including in the post you replied to. You disagree but can't argue your point and are instead trying to make this personal. We're trying to have a civilized discussion here.

I complain because I'm a victim of Vancouver's awful infrastructure every single day. It robs me of hours of my life every week. Don't read this thread if you want to pretend everything is perfect.

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Mezzanine kindly provided a link back in the Viaducts thread; Portland, Orlando, Denver, Zurich, Stockholm and Vienna have similar populations to Vancouver and worse traffic.

Thanks, that proves my point.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Let me rephrase: the cities listed above are roughly as big as Vancouver, but have more congestion. Our city has a relatively easy commute for its size.

[Pinion]

I get it. Half a dozen cities in the world, four of which are American. Again, point proven.

That list also says Vancouver plummeted 100 spots in a year.

I don't need a rankings site to tell me what I experience, though, and neither do most Vancouverites. A few days ago all of North Van grinded to a halt because someone decided to repave a single lane on Marine drive for 20 feet at 2pm. Stop pretending this is normal.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Pinion

I complain because I'm a victim of Vancouver's awful infrastructure every single day. It robs me of hours of my life every week. Don't read this thread if you want to pretend everything is perfect.

This from the person who by his own admission drove down Dunsmuir for 30 years without ever realizing that it has timed traffic lights...

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by moosejaw

Let me guess.....
No kids, no pets, studio apt, and ride a bicycle?
I guess families should pony up or find activities within the confines of their apartments to keep their kids occupied?

IMO your reply is right-on, Moosejaw!!

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

This from the person who by his own admission drove down Dunsmuir for 30 years without ever realizing that it has timed traffic lights...

I know it has timed lights, it just never works due to congestion. I drive down it five days per week, even at 2pm it doesn't work.

When your opponents resort to personal attacks you've won.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Let me rephrase: the cities listed above are roughly as big as Vancouver, but have more congestion. Our city has a relatively easy commute for its size.

I disagree with this. It is easy if you live in say the municipality of Vancouver and work in the municipality of Vancouver and don't really leave it much. If you are commuting from Surrey in to Vancouver, or vice versa good luck. That's a hour plus no matter what mode you chose. Its pretty difficult to cover km's in Vancouver. I think people forget that we are talking about the entire region, not downtown here. Traffic in central Vienna, Stockholm, Prague, Denver, LA sucks during peak hours. But lets look at the regions as a whole.

Also a commute from North Vancouver to the other side is hell and I feel sorry for anyone who has to do that daily.

[makr3trkr]

Originally Posted by Pinion

I know it has timed lights, it just never works due to congestion. I drive down it five days per week, even at 2pm it doesn't work.

When your opponents resort to personal attacks you've won.

Dunsmuir went from a four lane road (at rush hour) down to two lanes now. The timing absolutely doesn't work any more.

[ryanmaccdn]

Originally Posted by makr3trkr

Dunsmuir went from a four lane road (at rush hour) down to two lanes now. The timing absolutely doesn't work any more.

It worked before Vision added the light at Citidell Parade that isn't linked... and also they removed 50% of the lane capacity. So the moment some jackass turns onto Smithe it drops down to one lane. Fuck them.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by cornholio

Also a commute from North Vancouver to the other side is hell and I feel sorry for anyone who has to do that daily.

Yep, here's today's "relatively easy commute"



I had to rat race just to pick up my wife in Central Lonsdale and go back to Lower Lonsdale.

And before anyone says it, this is NOT a North Vancouverite problem. We get home fine. Way slower than a decade ago, sure, but it's ok northbound. These are people leaving the north shore to go home elsewhere and aren't moving AT ALL right now. This is the new normal, not a weird abnormality.

[officedweller]

Of interest:

Washington’s I-405 express tolls should rise past $10 to keep traffic moving, new report says

Originally published December 13, 2017 at 11:56 am | Updated December 13, 2017 at 2:53 pm
By Mike Lindblom 
Seattle Times transportation reporter


A typical congested morning commute south of the Bothell-Everett Highway along Interstate 405 displays $10 maximum tolls in the express toll lanes. These commuters were headed toward Bellevue in January this year. (Mike Siegel/The Seattle Times)

The top toll on Interstate 405 should be raised beyond the $10 limit, so the express toll lanes don’t break down into delays, says a report by out-of-state experts.
...

The toll lanes opened in September 2015 at taxpayer cost of $462 million for pavement widening, engineering and tolling equipment.

Two performance goals are required by law:

• That the lanes make money. Income has come in at triple the initial estimates. WSDOT is making close to $22 million a year after expenses. That’s lucrative enough that the state is considering bond sales next decade to widen the I-405 chokepoint north of Bothell where two toll lanes narrow to just one.

• That the toll lanes flow 45 mph or faster during at least 90 percent of peak commute times, in accordance with federal standards.

WSDOT acknowledged last winter that the toll lanes fell short, meeting speed goals only 88 percent of the time — and Wednesday’s report shows performance slower than that for the first half of 2017.

The toll lanes actually met their requirement only 85 percent of the time northbound and 78 percent southbound, for January to June of 2017, the report says. But that’s better than the pre-toll carpool lanes, which moved at least 45 mph only 69 percent of the time northbound and 67 percent southbound.
...

Slowdowns there are related to the $10 maximum toll, which was designed to assuage political worries that Washington state was building “so-called Lexus lanes” for the rich.

“The $10 maximum toll was predicted to be rare,” the Minnesota report says.

But the top rate actually took effect 15 percent of peak hours, and in some months 20 percent or more — which consultants consider far too often. Once the toll lanes hit a price ceiling, it’s impossible to manage the volumes of cars by pricing.
...

Patty Rubstello, WSDOT’s director for urban mobility, has previously said in public that higher rates eventually should be discussed. However, she and lawmakers chose not to make proposals in 2016 or 2017. Other tweaks to I-405 toll operations should be tried first, Rubstello said.

On Tuesday morning, the new Interstate 66 tolls in suburban Washington, D.C., spiked to $40 for a trip into the city. Toll rates around Atlanta are allowed to float as high as $13.75.

Meanwhile, the Washington State Transportation Commission just launched its deliberations over tolls in the Highway 99 tunnel, to bypass downtown Seattle in early 2019. Current scenarios point to a fixed afternoon rate of perhaps $2.50 — deliberately low so that drivers won’t divert onto gridlocked downtown streets.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...w-report-says/

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Pinion

I know it has timed lights

Your posts in that section of the thread suggest otherwise, for example:

Originally Posted by Pinion

Pretty sure you got the streets wrong there. As far as I know it's only Nelson and maybe Smithe with timed lights, and it works really poorly now that there's constant gridlock.

When your opponents resort to personal attacks you've won.

Sorry, it's not meant to be a personal attack, it's an observation on your knowledge of the local infrastructure that you're criticizing. It is, after all, simply pointing out what you said in that thread.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

Your posts in that section of the thread suggest otherwise, for example:

Sorry, it's not meant to be a personal attack, it's an observation on your knowledge of the local infrastructure that you're criticizing. It is, after all, simply pointing out what you said in that thread.

I know it is intended to be timed now thanks to our previous conversation in this thread, three months ago. As has been said several times by several different people it hasn't worked as a green wave in many, many years, which is why I didn't even realize it was supposed to be.

And you brought it up to try to discredit me, which is a dick move.

Less about me, more about roads.

[moosejaw]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Of interest:


https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...w-report-says/

Virginia (DC metro) averages $17 each way
I see $12 every day in Miami to drive 7 miles.
Its a cash grab and unsafe (many people have died in accidents as a result from lane jumpers)

[s211]

Originally Posted by Pinion

And before anyone says it, this is NOT a North Vancouverite problem. We get home fine. Way slower than a decade ago, sure, but it's ok northbound. These are people leaving the north shore to go home elsewhere and aren't moving AT ALL right now. This is the new normal, not a weird abnormality.

It's also a total non-win for a skier coming back from a Whistler day trip. By the time you hit the North Shore, you're in for a world of hurt. Both bridge options are UNACCEPTABLE.

[flipper316]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Yep, here's today's "relatively easy commute"



I had to rat race just to pick up my wife in Central Lonsdale and go back to Lower Lonsdale.

And before anyone says it, this is NOT a North Vancouverite problem. We get home fine. Way slower than a decade ago, sure, but it's ok northbound. These are people leaving the north shore to go home elsewhere and aren't moving AT ALL right now. This is the new normal, not a weird abnormality.

All because of one accident.