Quote:
Originally Posted by Klazu
Going back to the 4th runway...
How is building the new runway to the south being the cheaper option that building the foreshore runway? They will have to demolish the whole south terminal and all buildings around it vs. fill in the shallow bay and pave it over. I don't get it. 
I have also wondered how would the new north-south taxiway be implemented? They would have to place both the road and Canada Line underground to accommodate for planes moving across. Strange that such wasn't considered when Canada Line was built not-so-long-ago. Another lack of foresight that is so common in Metro Vancouver. 
Considering how much Richmond benefits from YVR being on their soil, one would think they understand the benefits of letting the airport grow. Building generic condos is just temporary income for the city vs. a global hub.
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A few things:
The photo you show is not for what you are talking about. It illustrates the Foreshore runway (to be built over completely unstable delta mudflats - it costs more than most think to make a runway on typical ground due to the weight of planes and the forces of acceleration/deceleration and the stopping of such a large mass with downward momentum); but the south parallel in this photo is not a major runway but a parallel replacement for the current cross wind runway. The photo must be old or they are thinking differently than a few years ago (which I doubt, given the way operations are developing.)
And . . . it is not a lack of forsight by Metro to have not put the Canada Line in a trench there. Its hard-nosed reality: who would responsibly spend millions to accomodate a possible development 20-30 or even 40 years down the road. Especially one that was a proposal not 100% committed to. And lastly, blaming Metro is curious, since they have little to do with it. The planning of the airport leg of Canada Line would have been driven by the airport authority. If you need to blame, target the right guy; although, as I said, no authority would have spent the money gambling on a future scenario.
Lastly, Richmond is like any jurisdiction, and rightly so - their job is to maximize things according to their own plans. Richmond (and yes, like so many they have a stupid group running the municipal gov't) knows all too well the economic and other benefits it gets from 'its' airport. They have done a lot of things over the years to prove it. They also know it will grow regardless (no-one dreams anymore of a 2nd major airport in the valley), so they need to serve their citizens and try to be a source of pressure within the process. It's like New West. They apply pressure against road enlargement, and they know its going to come anyway, but in doing so they get the most they can while it is planned, figured out, and implemented.
Damn, almost forgot: tearing down all those cheap buildings in the south area would not be much of a cost item compared to others . . . might even be seen as an opportunity to modernize a number of functions.
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