Trans Canada Highway Twinning: Segments U/C

[Bobert]

That is the plan, and Kicking Horse is the 'hardest' remaining part. After this it would be Three Valley Gap.

But yes, the plan is to twin the entire thing. The province is doing it piecemeal, mainly focusing on bridge replacements right now

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by Bobert

That is the plan, and Kicking Horse is the 'hardest' remaining part. After this it would be Three Valley Gap.

But yes, the plan is to twin the entire thing. The province is doing it piecemeal, mainly focusing on bridge replacements right now

Good to know but I feel it will take a little while at this rate lol

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Good to know but I feel it will take a little while at this rate lol

The Rockies are probably more challenging than the Appalachian Mountains in terms of engineering.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Will they ever make a complete Dual-Carriageway between Calgary and Vancouver? Is it technically feasible?

4 laned, freeway speeds? Yes.
With more than a Jersey Barrier between them? No.

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

4 laned, freeway speeds? Yes.
With more than a Jersey Barrier between them? No.

Oh, I think a Jersey barrier do the job!

[craner]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Good to know but I feel it will take a little while at this rate lol

Yes - I would estimate 50 years at least

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by craner

Yes - I would estimate 50 years at least

It is probably BC's fault right? lol
I feel that if it was in Alberta, the Freeway would have been connected already to Vancouver lol

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

It is probably BC's fault right? lol
I feel that if it was in Alberta, the Freeway would have been connected already to Vancouver lol

It's BC's geography's fault. Building a freeway in the wide open Bow River valley is much easier than the terrain west of the border. It's pretty stark how large the change is literally right at the line.

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by milomilo

It's BC's geography's fault. Building a freeway in the wide open Bow River valley is much easier than the terrain west of the border. It's pretty stark how large the change is literally right at the line.

Yes. I was just pointing out that BC seems slower on Upgrading its roads / Freeways than Alberta, so that probably doesn't help too.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Yes. I was just pointing out that BC seems slower on Upgrading its roads / Freeways than Alberta, so that probably doesn't help too.

It is a mix of difficult terrain and BC underinvesting in infrastructure. Even around Abbotsford-Chilliwack there are bad highways with tons of slow downs and accidents and it's almost completely flat with ample space for expansion.

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by someone123

It is a mix of difficult terrain and BC underinvesting in infrastructure. Even around Abbotsford-Chilliwack there are bad highways with tons of slow downs and accidents and it's almost completely flat with ample space for expansion.

I wonder how a comparison looks between Alberta and BC's road budget looks, they're similarly sized population wise so you'd think it would be similar. But the roads BC has to build are far more challenging so it's not unexpected the money would go less far.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by milomilo

I wonder how a comparison looks between Alberta and BC's road budget looks, they're similarly sized population wise so you'd think it would be similar. But the roads BC has to build are far more challenging so it's not unexpected the money would go less far.

Could be although I'm not sure why in such a situation you wouldn't pick the low hanging fruit in the more populated areas that generate most of the economic activity that pays for the rest of the province.

Around metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island I think resistance to change is a major factor. Partly this is given cover by environmental concerns, and partly those are real concerns, but BC does not really have good transit either in the scheme of things (it only looks good compared to the US, while the road infrastructure here is much more limited).

Here's the website for the Patullo Bridge replacement: https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca/

They are replacing a 4 lane bridge with.. a 4 lane bridge with some expanded walking and bike space. The old Patullo opened in 1937. Basically this seems to be happening because New West does not want more car traffic and they gain little from trips to Surrey being less painful. If anything, big backups on the bridges might be a plus for New West residents. Much of New West is just gridlock every day around rush hour.

I think as time goes on metro Vancouver will feel more and more like disconnected islands. Surrey will feel like more of a separate city. This may sound good from the perspective of Surrey but it's not good in that the housing and work options will be greatly impoverished compared to what would be possible if you could travel around the whole metro in 30 minutes. The metro will probably also get more and more segregated along varies lines.

[Denscity]

BC doesn't have good transit now? Compared to who?

[Doady]

Man, some people will complain about everything, won't they? I am an outsider, but in the many statistics I have looked I have never noticed anything unusual about transit ridership or mode share in BC, at least not in any negative way. If there is evidence that the transit systems in the province of BC are bad compared to those in the rest of Canada, I would be VERY interested to see it. But somehow I doubt we will see anything, except yet more complaining.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by Doady

Man, some people will complain about everything, won't they? I am an outsider, but in the many statistics I have looked I have never noticed anything unusual about transit ridership or mode share in BC, at least not in any negative way. If there is evidence that the transit systems in the province of BC are bad compared to those in the rest of Canada, I would be VERY interested to see it. But somehow I doubt we will see anything, except yet more complaining.

Ya and even worse he's an out of province person who is always complaining about Vancouver and praising his home city.
Like why is he still here then?

[Dengler Avenue]

Thus the blasting begins... not of rocks to make way for 2 more lanes of TCH, but of people~

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Denscity

BC doesn't have good transit now? Compared to who?

Compare the top 5 CMAs. Toronto/GTA is 1, Montreal area is 2, and Vancouver is 3. The fact that Vancouver has less commuter lines than Toronto or Montreal definitely makes Vancouver worse than them.

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Yes. I was just pointing out that BC seems slower on Upgrading its roads / Freeways than Alberta, so that probably doesn't help too.

Freeways are cheaper to build in Southern ON than Northern ON. That is primarily due to the geology. The same can be said about AB and BC. Proof? How many km of freeways exist in the mountains of AB vs BC?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Doady

Man, some people will complain about everything, won't they? I am an outsider, but in the many statistics I have looked I have never noticed anything unusual about transit ridership or mode share in BC, at least not in any negative way. If there is evidence that the transit systems in the province of BC are bad compared to those in the rest of Canada, I would be VERY interested to see it. But somehow I doubt we will see anything, except yet more complaining.

Modal share does not tell you how good transit is. It just tells you what the best alternatives are.

I did not say that BC has worse transit than most of Canada and that wasn't my point. The transit infrastructure here does not make up for the relative lack of road infrastructure, nor is the overall infrastructure enough to overcome the inherent geographic challenges around the metro area. It takes a long time to travel around here and it seems like it's getting worse, not better. It is somewhat exacerbated by the housing shortage and affordability problems that make it harder for people to live close to the places they want to get to regularly.

This is relevant to the TCH discussion too. If you want to get to the end of the TCH you have to drive through metro Vancouver. You will often hit multiple horrible bottlenecks. A couple of weeks ago the Horseshoe Bay ferry traffic was backed up onto the TCH for 1-2 hours for example. Or you might sit for an hour in the east end of metro Vancouver when you're going from Kelowna to Victoria or vice versa. There is not really any transit alternative for these trips because we have no practical intercity passenger rail service. There are limited buses that get stuck in the same traffic.

[GoTrans]

Originally Posted by someone123

This is relevant to the TCH discussion too. If you want to get to the end of the TCH you have to drive through metro Vancouver. You will often hit multiple horrible bottlenecks. A couple of weeks ago the Horseshoe Bay ferry traffic was backed up onto the TCH for 1-2 hours for example. Or you might sit for an hour in the east end of metro Vancouver when you're going from Kelowna to Victoria or vice versa. There is not really any transit alternative for these trips because we have no practical intercity passenger rail service. There are limited buses that get stuck in the same traffic.

The presence of ntercity passenger rail will not reduce the traffic volumes in Metro Vancouver. Even with multiple frequencies there are only 4 options, south to Seattle via Amtrak ( BNSF), north to Whistler/Prince George, northeast to Jasper/Edmonton or east to Banff/Calgary. The primary problem is dense urbanization and a lot of topographical constraints such as mountains, rivers and seacoasts. The biggest improvement to crowded highways is improved transit and /or commuter train service. Even though many of the places that commuter service could serve are cities in their own right they are part of metropolitan Vancouver, not far enough away to considered for intercity service.

[dmuzika]

Originally Posted by milomilo

It's BC's geography's fault. Building a freeway in the wide open Bow River valley is much easier than the terrain west of the border. It's pretty stark how large the change is literally right at the line.

Interesting enough, Hwy 93 through most of Kootenay National Park probably has more favorable terrain to widen to a freeway than TCH east of Golden. I have no idea how it would go west from the Columbia Valley.

I do wonder if completely different alignment is possible for east of either Kamloops or the Okanagan Valley? The Coquhalla Highway was a brand new route that also had difficult terrain, but was able to be constructed to freeway standards with mostly grass medians. Obviously it won't happen, but an "Interior Thruway" following high plateaus and possibly tunnels could have been an option. It could have been tolled while the former two lane route could have remained as the slower, scenic option.