Highways in Canada

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by Denscity

That province is flat as fuck. No shit it's that easy.

Meanwhile, the photos literally showed low mountain ranges and sections blasted through rock...

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Meanwhile, the photos literally showed low mountain ranges and sections blasted through rock...

I feel that, in Canada, there are 2 provinces that get very good at building roads through mountains.
One is B.C. The other one is Quebec.
Rock cuts exceeding 30 m in depth seem commonplace in these 2 provinces~

[craner]

Originally Posted by Denscity

That province is flat as fuck. No shit it's that easy.

I’m guessing the reason BC stopped building highways to the standard of the Coquihalla is simply the cost.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Meanwhile, the photos literally showed low mountain ranges and sections blasted through rock...

That's flat compared to here.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by craner

I’m guessing the reason BC stopped building highways to the standard of the Coquihalla is simply the cost.

Ya could be.

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

There has always been part of the population that think tax is theft. They are the ones that think they are going to be billionaires one day

The hosts astutely took the caller to task for his selfish attitude, which evidently amounted to the argument that anything that doesn't directly benefit him is not deserving of tax dollars. A shame society is full of people of his ilk.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Gresto

The hosts astutely took the caller to task for his selfish attitude, which evidently amounted to the argument that anything that doesn't directly benefit him is not deserving of tax dollars. A shame society is full of people of his ilk.

This brings me to what I say when someone wants the government to cut services to save taxes. I simply ask them "what service do you need and use would you like to have cut, and/or pay the real cost of?" Most of the time, people do not respond as the only things they think should be cut are things they do not need.

[Marshal]

Originally Posted by craner

I’m guessing the reason BC stopped building highways to the standard of the Coquihalla is simply the cost.

The Coquihalla was a one off - before and since. Even before and during construction the Coquihalla was controversial because of cost and the scale of its scope.

That said, they are spending a lot on the Kicking Horse rebuild. It is the the first time a non-urban highway has been built at a scale reminiscent of the Coquihalla.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Marshal

The Coquihalla was a one off - before and since. Even before and during construction the Coquihalla was controversial because of cost and the scale of its scope.

That said, they are spending a lot on the Kicking Horse rebuild. It is the the first time a non-urban highway has been built at a scale reminiscent of the Coquihalla.

I was on Highway 99 between North Vancouver and Squamish today. From Lions Bay northward that is one horribly inadequate road for the amount of traffic it carries. Traffic lights and the “accordion” of lanes fluctuating between 1 and 2 per direction really snarls traffic. It’s like this up near Whistler as well.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was passenger rail service up there. Those tracks are barely used but look to be in good shape.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I was on Highway 99 between North Vancouver and Squamish today. From Lions Bay northward that is one horribly inadequate road for the amount of traffic it carries. Traffic lights and the “accordion” of lanes fluctuating between 1 and 2 per direction really snarls traffic. It’s like this up near Whistler as well.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was passenger rail service up there. Those tracks are barely used but look to be in good shape.

If only there was a provincial agency that could do that.

[dmuzika]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I was on Highway 99 between North Vancouver and Squamish today. From Lions Bay northward that is one horribly inadequate road for the amount of traffic it carries. Traffic lights and the “accordion” of lanes fluctuating between 1 and 2 per direction really snarls traffic. It’s like this up near Whistler as well.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was passenger rail service up there. Those tracks are barely used but look to be in good shape.

And to think that section in question is the 'upgraded' section? I haven't driven the Sea-to-Sky enough to know it well, but would it be at all possible for an additional upgrade to have a four lane standard between Lions Bay and Whistler? That would include an urban four lane standard through Whistler.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I was on Highway 99 between North Vancouver and Squamish today. From Lions Bay northward that is one horribly inadequate road for the amount of traffic it carries. Traffic lights and the “accordion” of lanes fluctuating between 1 and 2 per direction really snarls traffic. It’s like this up near Whistler as well.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was passenger rail service up there. Those tracks are barely used but look to be in good shape.

Originally Posted by dmuzika

And to think that section in question is the 'upgraded' section? I haven't driven the Sea-to-Sky enough to know it well, but would it be at all possible for an additional upgrade to have a four lane standard between Lions Bay and Whistler? That would include an urban four lane standard through Whistler.

This all sounds like the Malahat situation.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by dmuzika

And to think that section in question is the 'upgraded' section? I haven't driven the Sea-to-Sky enough to know it well, but would it be at all possible for an additional upgrade to have a four lane standard between Lions Bay and Whistler? That would include an urban four lane standard through Whistler.

Yep, upgraded prior to the 2010 Olympics. There's some Street View imagery I've seen from 2007 where it's even worse.

From what I could see, there's very limited space between the railway tracks and the mountains in some areas. Those are areas that would be ripe for tunnels for at least the northbound direction. Ideally the whole highway, as the existing road comes frighteningly close to the railway tracks on a couple curves.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I was on Highway 99 between North Vancouver and Squamish today. From Lions Bay northward that is one horribly inadequate road for the amount of traffic it carries. Traffic lights and the “accordion” of lanes fluctuating between 1 and 2 per direction really snarls traffic. It’s like this up near Whistler as well.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was passenger rail service up there. Those tracks are barely used but look to be in good shape.

I've driven the Sea-to-Sky at least 30 times and I've never seen a train on that route. And, yes, the tracks are in excellent shape. I think I even saw concrete ties, but I could be wrong.

A passenger train doesn't even have to run all the way to Lonsdale Quay. The tracks are about 50 meters above the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, from which there are frequent buses into downtown Vancouver - either way you'd have to transfer at least once to continue on your trip into Metro Vancouver, and at least the bus to Horseshoe Bay is [relatively] fast without upsetting the NIMBYs of West Van. Just build a funicular connecting the Ferry terminal to a train platform on the upper level. Would be handy for people connecting from the ferry and going north to Squamish/Whistler too.

The Train de Charlevoix in Quebec, which runs from Montmorency Falls in the suburbs of Quebec City to Baie St. Paul in the picturesque Charlevoix region, would be worth emulating. They basically bought two new Alstom hydrogen DMU (HMU?) units, which is perfect for a Horseshoe Bay-Squamish-Whistler run.

[Dengler Avenue]

So that’s how MTQ’s planning to hold off extending A40 to Charlevoix.

[harls]

Denscity is a highway engineer, see.. and BC is the toughest place to build on earth. As well as being the most beautiful place on earth.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by harls

Denscity is a highway engineer, see.. and BC is the toughest place to build on earth. As well as being the most beautiful place on earth.

And these two almost always go hand in hand. Laurentian Wildlife Reserve and Gatineau Valley are other examples.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I've driven the Sea-to-Sky at least 30 times and I've never seen a train on that route. And, yes, the tracks are in excellent shape. I think I even saw concrete ties, but I could be wrong.

A passenger train doesn't even have to run all the way to Lonsdale Quay. The tracks are about 50 meters above the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, from which there are frequent buses into downtown Vancouver - either way you'd have to transfer at least once to continue on your trip into Metro Vancouver, and at least the bus to Horseshoe Bay is [relatively] fast without upsetting the NIMBYs of West Van. Just build a funicular connecting the Ferry terminal to a train platform on the upper level. Would be handy for people connecting from the ferry and going north to Squamish/Whistler too.

The Train de Charlevoix in Quebec, which runs from Montmorency Falls in the suburbs of Quebec City to Baie St. Paul in the picturesque Charlevoix region, would be worth emulating. They basically bought two new Alstom hydrogen DMU (HMU?) units, which is perfect for a Horseshoe Bay-Squamish-Whistler run.

I saw a short CN train on those tracks once last year, it startled me as it was on one of the sections that runs right next to the road, I wasn't expecting to see a CN locomotive right in front of me as I came around a curve!

There are a few industries in and around Squamish that are served by those tracks. I have sometimes seen some freight cars sitting in a yard near Squamish.

I also understand that CN diverted some trains that way following the Lytton wildfire in 2021, as the route through Lytton was unusable for a period of time.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I saw a short CN train on those tracks once last year, it startled me as it was on one of the sections that runs right next to the road, I wasn't expecting to see a CN locomotive right in front of me as I came around a curve!

There are a few industries in and around Squamish that are served by those tracks. I have sometimes seen some freight cars sitting in a yard near Squamish.

I also understand that CN diverted some trains that way following the Lytton wildfire in 2021, as the route through Lytton was unusable for a period of time.

Actually, I saw trains on that track beyond Whistler too, as my friends and I were hiking from Whistler to Wedgemount. This was back in 2013 though.

[madog222]

CN runs a daily (I believe that's still the case) train to/from Squamish, I can't say how much use the northern subdivisions get. They had closed service on the line from Squamish to Williams Lake in March 2020 'due to covid', that has since been reactivated for Rocky Mountaineer service in 2021. It saw increased use by CN when the Fraser Canyon saw fires and floods that year.