Friday, November 29, 2024

Its not just Yaletown that's unaffordable

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-realtor-billboard-ad

High-end housing isn't the problem for those who can afford it. There just isn't a proper incentive initiative to always make sure that there is also an affordable housing available. 

Diesel made from old cooking oil to feed Metro Vancouver truck fleet

 https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/highlights/diesel-made-from-old-cooking-oil-to-feed-metro-vancouver-truck-fleet-9874319At least the anti-diesel crown won't be able to stop this.

12 staffers from Metro Vancouver fly to New Orleans

 https://globalnews.ca/news/10895399/metro-vancouver-reveals-more-travel-after-12-staffers-fly-to-new-orleans/

https://vancouversun.com/news/metro-vancouver-halt-staff-travel

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/highlights/metro-vancouvers-60k-12-staff-member-trip-to-new-orleans-preceded-travel-pause-chair-9886074

https://vancouversun.com/news/metro-vancouver-vows-changes-to-staff-travel-policies-as-part-of-clampdown


A new-roof-for the olympic-stadium-870-million

 https://globalnews.ca/news/10894997/new-roof-olympic-stadium-870-million/

Limited bus depot space caps TransLink bus service expansion at 15% (WTH?)

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-service-expansion-access-for-everyone-first-phase

Train cuts off only road access to Surrey's Crescent Beach for hours

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/train-crescent-beach

Unfortunatly, all the freight and passenger rail corridors in Greater Vancouver still haven't been double tracked. Some sections should even have 4 sets of main tracks. But BC is all about promoting and maintaining congestion and thwarting mobility.

Cambie Bridge repairs choke traffic out of downtown Vancouver

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/cambie-bridge-repairs-choke-traffic-downtown

Of course Vancouver won't build anything like the Boorloo_Bridge for bikes & pedestrians. Apparently, it's much better to take a lane away from the Cambie Bridge. 

Fortunately, the backward Vancouver mentality never made it over to Perth. Otherwise, the The_Third_Causeway bridge would have had 1 or 2 lanes removed.

With 6 lanes, The_Causeway_in_Victoria_Park, Perth provides a nice 6 lane crossing. Unlike backward Vancouver the Causeway in Perth was allowed to have 3 lanes each way. The key component is that the 3rd lane each way is for busses. In contrast, absurd Vancouver won't allow for a proper bus & bike bridge network to be built, because it would rather keep its bridges as narrow & congested as possible. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Causeway_-_Victoria_Park.JPG

It's very strange that Vancouver refused to have something like the 6 lane Causeway+Bridge in the 21st century. A 3rd lane each way for buses on the Causeway+Bridge makes so much sense in Perth. However, for stubborn Vancouver, such measures might help to improve mobility.

Apparently, Vancouver has no plans to build something like the Boorloo_Bridge or the Esplanade+Riel+Footbridge next to the Cambie & Burrard Bridges. Thus, the Cambie has lost a lane & the Burrard has lost 2 lanes. Had both bridges been allowed to retain 6 lanes, they both could have provided 2 bus lanes.

The Cushing+Bridge is a 4 lane bridge in Calgary. Thus, like the Oak Bridge & Knight Bridge in Vancouver, there was no room for 2 bus lanes on them. Unlike, backward Vancouver, Calgary was able to build a 2 lane bus bridge right next to its Cushing Bridge.

Fortunately, the horrible transportation planning mentality of Vancouver was never adopted in Perth & Calgary. Either you have a wide enough bridge for busses, or you build bus & bike bridges to help the existing bridges.

The Norwood+Bridge in Winnipeg provides at least 6 lanes, so a couple of bus lanes isn't a problem.

Singapore built its Helix_Bridge instead of removing lanes from the other bridges.

Thursday, November 28, 2024

BC Ferries warns of potential 30% fare hike as costs rise

 https://globalnews.ca/news/10892700/bc-ferries-warns-potential-30-per-cent-fare-hike/

BC Hydro imported a quarter of the province’s power in the last 12 months

 https://globalnews.ca/news/10892803/bc-hydro-imported-quarter-power-12-months/

There really should be a diversified power generating power system in backward BC.

Are Two major BC cities really at risk of disappearing due to rising tides?

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/victoria-vancouver-rising-sea-levels

Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, GC City, Singapore, Honolulu, SF and Seattle don't seem to be that concerned. They have had no problem building right next to the seawater shore.

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends.html

https://www.sealevel.info/MSL_graph.php?id=822-116

Apparently, a different set of physics is at work in backward BC. A few centimeters or even a few inches over the course of a century, gives cities plenty of time to prepare. Amsterdam and New Orleans still plan to be up and running. The main concern is to prevent a WW3 scenario.

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Prince Rupert has Canada's 3rd busiest port

City says boil water notices will keep happening as it works to replace century-old water system https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/prince-rupert-water-problems-1.7394095

B.C. Hydro seeking new energy projects as demand for power grows

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-hydro-call-for-power-2024-1.7162320

 https://www.bchydro.com/news/press_centre/news_releases/2024/record-breaking-electricity-demand-helps-neighbours.html

https://globalnews.ca/news/10225470/bc-experiences-record-breaking-electricity-demand-amid-cold-snap-says-bc-hydro/

https://www.sitecproject.com/reservoir

https://www.sitecproject.com/tunnel-conversion

Elizabeth Quay West in Perth, WA

 https://www.skyscrapercentre.com/building/elizabeth-quay-west/27327 186 m / 610 ft  

Unlike heavily restrictive Vancouver, BC, Perth, Sydney, Queensland & Singapore are allowed to build tall very close to the seawater. 

https://thetowers.com.au/the-future-of-elizabeth-quay/

https://www.skyscrapercentre.com/complex/2185 , https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=142273

https://bgeeng.com/projects/eq-west-lots-2-and-3-elizabeth-quay/

https://mice.net.au/perths-elizabeth-quay-spurs-business-events/

https://yourneighbourhood.com.au/367-million-towers-for-hotel-office-apartments-perth-cbd-western-australia/

https://thetowers.com.au/architecture/

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?stateID=47&status=15


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Perth

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Calgary's Green Line debuts southeast station designs

 https://calgary.citynews.ca/video/2024/11/25/calgarys-green-line-debuts-southeast-station-designs

https://www.calgarytransit.com/plans---projects/lrt/green-line.html

https://www.calgary.ca/green-line.html

https://www.calgary.ca/green-line/about/future-extensions.html Somehow Calgary is able to have a long-term vision to have a long north & south line running through the downtown. For Vancouver, it was tough enough just to have a line into Richmond. That should have just been the first phase which could have eventually connected Downtown Vancouver with W. Vancouver and Delta with Richmond.

https://www.calgary.ca/green-line/about/connecting-calgarians.html

https://www.calgary.ca/green-line/about/connecting-calgarians/_jcr_content/root/upperPar/responsivegrid/grid_layout_993387583/column-a0d1c401-9bfd-4aaa-ba65-9e4b662fc6fc0/gl_edge_to_edge_wrap/responsivegridA/grid_layout/column-c15d3771-930c-4516-a09a-532959e4d5f00/image.img.png/1729610351755/green-line-rapid-transit-network-map-october-2024.png


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Calgary

Calgary vs. Edmonton

 https://dailyhive.com/calgary/alberta-calgary-edmonton-real-estate-buy-homes

Calgary has a lot more tall buildings.

https://www.calgary.com/blog/calgary-vs-edmonton-ab

Edmonton has a cool downtown LRT subway.

Of course having the tallest skyscrapers & the longest subway stations in Western_Canada doesn't matter to a lot of people.

If you are from Calgary & visit Vancouver, you will be surprised as to how small most of the buildings are in Vancouver. If you are visiting from Edmonton, you will be surprised to see how much shorter the underground SkyTrain stations are when compared to the downtown LRT subway in Edmonton.

If you are from Edmonton, you will be surprised to see how small backwater Victoria, BC is, despite it being in a mild winter climate. Edmonton isn't just a mighty provincial Capital, it's almost on the same urban scale as Perth, WA. That's despite Edmonton being in a very cold winter climate zone.

Fortunately, BC was never able to gobble up Alberta, or strongly influence it. BC stopped a huge destination mall from being built in the 1980s. However, BC wasn't able to stop the West_Edmonton_Mall from being built.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Edmonton_Mall#West_Edmonton_Mall_Transit_Centre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Line_(Edmonton)#Valley_Line_West_(under_construction)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/ETS_LRT_System_%28long-term%29.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_LRT#Overview_of_planned_lines



https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Edmonton

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Calgary

Monday, November 25, 2024

Edmonton city council discusses how to help newcomers


"The city is preparing to hit a population of two million, which means an increase in Edmontonians using city services." https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2024/11/25/edmonton-city-council-helping-newcomers



https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Edmonton

Proposal to eliminate car lane on Mountain Highway in North Vancouver for new bike lanes irks residents

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/mountain-highway-bike-lanes-north-vancouver-proposal This is already a narrow road to begin with.

Every effort should be made to widen the sidewalks inward so that a bike lane can also be accomodated. Taking any lane away from a neighborhood on a regional connecting road will just cause even more congestion.

Unfortunatly, Greater Vancouver has so many narrow streets and narrow sidewalks.

The Top Largest Airports in North America

 https://www.airport-technology.com/features/largest-airports-north-america/

Saturday, November 23, 2024

The Struggle to Complete Hawaii’s $11B Railway

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLXZ0eIY_do

At least Honolulu eventually got it started.

The Broadway Tower Plan

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/broadway-plan-towers-yimbys-vancouver

The part of Broadway just south of the downtown Vancouver core is ideally suited to be a 2nd  downtown. Despite having some view corridor protections, Downtown_Montreal and Austin are still allowed to build taller than what's allowed in Vancouver.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Montreal#Tallest_buildings

Montreal already has three 200m towers, with 3 more 200m towers under_construction. Plus, 3 more 200m buildings_in_the planning stages. In contrast very strict Vancouver, has only permitted one 200m building. Any taller building in BC must be built outside of the city limits of Vancouver.


Downtown_Austin has 3 towers over 200m, with four more towers over 200m under construction. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Austin,_Texas

There are at least another four towers over 200m being planned. 


The Living_Shangri-La tower is the only 200m building allowed in Downtown_Vancouver. It looks like there will be no other 200m tower permitted anywhere in Vancouver for the foreseeable future. For most of its history, the biggest stuff in the BC part of Canada was only in extremely restrictive Vancouver.

However, Burnaby will now have the tallest_buildings_in_British_Columbia and Vancouver can't stop it. Eventually, Surrey might have some of the tallest buildings in BC, but that still could be a ways off. 

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Vancouver's Robson Street sports fan zone

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-robson-street-sports-fan-zone-lions-whitecaps

waterfront-station-gastown-railyard-redevelopment-vancouver-civitas

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/waterfront-station-gastown-railyard-redevelopment-vancouver-civitas

Some design insights for safe bicycle transportation from the experts

https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/article/2024/11/21/7-design-insights-for-safe-bicycle-transportation-from-the-experts


 

Is Life Better in the USA or Canada?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz_HqDSbPVA

How the City of Vancouver will pay for its 2026 FIFA World Cup costs

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/fifa-world-cup-vancouver-hotel-tax-costs

Of course the Catheter Line or Financial Drainage Line, AKA: the Canada Line, still hasn't been expanded up to a 2.5 car train. Right from the start, the trains should have consisted of at least four, 20m coaches. Apparently, because of budget cuts, the station platforms weren't built to be 80m long in the first phase, they are only a 50m joke. 

The stations could have been roughed out to initially accomodate 4 car trains and eventually, 8 car trains. 8 x 20m= 160m. The Montreal Metro stations were built to accommodate a 152.5m train. Fortunately, Quebec doesn't have anything like a backward BC planning mentality to hinder it.

For some strange reason, the Canada+Line wasn't designed to eventually provide a link beyond the Vancouver_International_Airport to Waterfront_station. Indeed, a 2nd phase of the inadequate line should have connected Waterfront_station with the Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre and the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal. Then the 3rd phase to connect the YVR-Airport_station with the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal

Like the Catheter Line, the George_Messey_Tunnel was designed to be inadequate, right from the start.

The George_Massey_Tunnel should have had at least 2 wide emergency lanes for future truck or HOV lanes. Plus, there should have been another tunnel section to accommodate a future express or rapid bus corridor & 2 tracks for a light rail train. Instead, cars, busses & trucks were all funneled into a 4 lane chokepoint. Ironically, over the past few decades, a bus & train tunnel or bridge should have been built, at least.

Express Bus lanes or Rapid Bus lanes vs. HOV & Truck lanes. Any bus lane has the potential to move many more people than any HOV lane. Any major port city & metropolitan area should have a truck lane as well as a bus lane. Thus any HOV lane would be more efficient in bussing people & trucking payloads.

Of course the new George_Massey_Tunnel still won't have a provision for a train section. No emergency lanes, but 2 bus lanes in addition to only 3 general lanes each way. Once again, backward BC gets its wrong. Greater Vancouver is suppose to be a major seaport. Unfortunatly, the new tunnel will only have 4 lanes each way & no emergency lanes of course.  

Even if there are only 3 general lanes each way, there should have been a provision for a truck lane in addition to a bus lane each way. That would be at least 5 lanes each way, but no emergency lanes & still no provision for 2 train tracks. 

Thus, the new tunnel will eventually have to have a bus & train bridge or tunnel next to it. That would allow the tunnel to have 3 general lanes each way & 1 HOV lane each way. A rapid bus & rail corridor would ensure 24 hour high capacity transit, even when the train is shutdown overnight. 

Unfortunatly, none of the 80m & 50m SkyTrain stations were designed to have 4 tracks. That would have allowed for a proper express & local train system. The BC mentality seems to be about keeping the trains as well as the roads inadequate to meet future high transportation demands.

The LG Bridge in Vancouver should have had bus, HOV & train tunnels near it decades ago. Surrey_and_Richmond also should have had proper bus, HOV & train tunnels, decades ago.

Why have 3 sets of tracks like the O'Hare_station in Chicago? Or, have at least have 2 tracks like at the SeaTac/Airport_station. The small-scale YVR-Airport_station just has a single track to make congestion more likely. The Vancouver_International_Airport should have had at least 4 long runways by now.

The multigenerational backwater BC mentality is a combination of overlapping restrictions and a keep it small or backwards agenda.


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Canada+Line

Friday, November 15, 2024

A Calgary horse rides into a Vancouver hotel

 https://www.stampeders.com/2024/11/13/giddy-up-tu%EF%AC%80y-nu%EF%AC%80-gallops-to-111th-grey-cup-in-vancouver-for-special-appearances/

This also happened a decade ago.


Curv-Vancouver-tower

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/curv-vancouver-tower-social-rental-housing-changes

Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto

The Greater Toronto Area has been the only place in Canada where some Australian size residential towers have been permitted. So far, Montreal & Vancouver won't allow any residential towers to even reach 65 stories.

If Montreal were to ever allow something like a La_DefenseParramatta or a Canary_Wharf on the London_Docklands, then some Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto size towers would potentially be allowed.

Extremely restrictive Vancouver can't stop Burnaby, Coquitlam & especially Surrey from eventually having some Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto size towers.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/3200-east-broadway-vancouver-rupert-station-mst-aquilini Since these buildings would be within the small city linmits of Vancover, they won't be allowed to be on the scale of what Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto permit.

No residential or office tower within the city limits of little Vancouver is allowed to be as tall as the Telus_Sky tower at 222.3 m (729 ft) in Calgary and Seattle's Rainier_Square_Tower at 850-foot (260 m). 

The Living_Shangri-La tower, at 200.86 metres (659 ft) and the Paradox_Hotel_Vancouver at 188-metre (617 ft) are the tallest within Vancouver.


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Brisbane%2C+Sydney%2C+Melbourne+and+Toronto

Thursday, November 14, 2024

The Oakridge-41st Avenue Stations' expansion

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-oakridge-41st-avenue-station-upgrade-design-renderings

Despite the absurd cost-cutting measures, the Canada+Line still could have been designed & built to eventually have 152m long stations, like the Montreal Metro. However, Vancouver & BC are all about inadequate or congestive infrastructure. Planning for a future high capacity train line goes against the backward BC mentality. Thus, all of the underground train stations are shorter than those in Edmonton, Seattle, Toronto & Montreal. Having proper big city long stations isn't a problem for real cities, but Vancouver wants to be more like a false front or a movie set.  

https://thecanadaline.com/station-guides/oakridge-41st

LA & SF have their versions of a C-Train or an Edmonton LRT, but they also have proper big city size subway stations & trains. 

The entire SkyTrain-and-Canada+Line should have been built with a provision to eventually have 172m long stations, or at least 152m. While the elevated stations could somewhat be lengthened, it's much more difficult & costly for the underground stations. Had they already been roughed out, it would have just been a matter of eventually completing them.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oakridge-41st+Avenue The edge of the ridiculousley short train platform. This joke of a train really should have been designed to eventually accomodate 8-10 car trains. However, that would go against the multi-generational, KEEP THINGS SMALL OR BACKWARDS IN BC mentality. Apparently, even having 4-6 car trains would be too symbolic of recognizing urban transportation growth in backwater BC. Thus, a 2 car joke of a train, which can eventually become a 2.5 car train, was decided to be enough. 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oakridge-41st+Avenue At least some of the absurdly short underground stations are level enough to potentially be doubled in length, but not tripled.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oakridge-41st+Avenue

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oakridge-41st+Avenue/@49.2331553,-123.1166421,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMuAMM_RIhGU-EzA2NoKi0MFrPUeEkXwmbMg49z!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMuAMM_RIhGU-EzA2NoKi0MFrPUeEkXwmbMg49z%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i3899!8i2924!4m16!1m8!3m7!1s0x548673f143a94fb3:0xbb9196ea9b81f38b!2sVancouver,+BC!3b1!8m2!3d49.2827291!4d-123.1207375!16zL20vMDgwaDI!3m6!1s0x54867470d349b63b:0xabce161967e00006!8m2!3d49.2331553!4d-123.1166421!10e5!16zL20vMGN0d2do!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEyNC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

6 towers with 2,500 homes proposed for strip mall near Lougheed Town Centre SkyTrain station

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/439-465-north-road-coquitlam-lougheed-skytrain-wesgroup-choice-properties?

Nothing in the 70s or 80s like in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Toronto. So many of these buildings should be designed in which an extra 20-30 floors can eventually be added. 

The Lougheed Town Centre is one of the few areas in BC where some Australian & Southern Ontario size buildings could be constructed.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pinnacle-lougheed-burnaby-western-canada-tallest-building While this might seem like a very tall buildig complex by backwater BC standards, it would only be of an average tall size in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto.

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

In China, authorities put an end to Henan students' late-night bike rides

 https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/11/14/in-china-authorities-put-an-end-to-henan-students-late-night-bike-rides_6732766_4.html

The Police & Military STATE of control provided a reminder.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-12/china-cycling-movement-in-kaifeng-for-soup-dumplings/104588926

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/11/12/asia-pacific/society/china-night-biking-control/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/11/china-midnight-dumpling-bike-ride-zhengzhou-kaifeng

The Surprising Depth of Train Station Platform Design

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87vcQpR0vGQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ZnGNRk8V0 Elevated Lines

Oakland Airport vs. SFO (San Francisco)

 https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/11/14/oakland-airport-san-francisco/8381731560943/

https://abc7news.com/post/sfo-oak-court-orders-oakland-international-airport-stop-using-san-francisco-bay-name/15541191/

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/judge-oakland-airport-new-name-court-battle-sfo/3707682/

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/judge-oakland-airport-new-name-court-battle-sfo/3707682/

TransLink's tower projects

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2096-west-broadway-2560-2576-arbutus-street-vancouver-rental-tower-station-translink-pci

Hopefully, the first of dozens throughout the region.

As a proponent of transit oriented development, especially for housing, various BC transportation entities should have had a real estate development department decades ago. Then by now there could have been a series of bus and HOV bridges. 

The inadequate Lions+Gate+Bridge should have had truck, bus & HOV tunnels next to it by the 1980s or 90s. 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Ironworkers-Bridge

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Why free public transport doesn't fix traffic vs. what does

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6md7gny4pY

Trains and BRT can easily move the most amount of people efficiently.

Friday, November 8, 2024

Has living in Canada has become Impossible?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJHm03osbHc

No, just unaffordable for most people.


The Horrific Economy of Canada Explained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySxdfdl8gwU


Why are so many buildings going bust? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ydd6R9vv0c

Why are so many big-city condos sitting empty? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGfFBP7U7pQ

If someone has the money to own an empty condo, that's their problem or benefit. However, unless enough highrises mid-rise & low-rise residential structures are built, there will always be a housing shortage in Canada.

Luxury condos aren't so much of the problem, it's the lack of affordable apartments & condos being built.

Vancouver-international-airport-yvr-parkade

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-international-airport-yvr-parkade-pay-parking-rates

Vancouver earthquake damage injuries deaths study

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-earthquake-damage-injuries-deaths-study

Why ‘The Big One’ could be worse than we thought https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1qr9qnWR7E

Cascadia: The Earthquake that will Destroy West Coast America? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR-8PZ_nCvE

The Really Big One; The Feared Cascadia 9.0 Earthquake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt6UxFIK17w

San Andreas Fault: When the Big One Hits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGTv4XdZhko

Great Earthquakes of the Pacific Northwest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ7Qc3bsxjI 2016 CWU

Marine Drive station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Drive_station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Drive_station#Services

https://www.urbanyvr.com/marine-gateway-cineplex/

https://thecanadaline.com/station-guides/marine-drive/

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/marine-gateway-2-pci-developments-8530-cambie-street-vancouver

https://marinegateway.com/

https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/TransLink_SkyTrain_Marine_Drive_Station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Drive_(Greater_Vancouver)#Main_section

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/marine-drive-upgrades.aspx

https://www.translink.ca/schedules-and-maps/station/marine-drive/map

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-housing-unit-construction-completion-statistics

https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/marine-and-cambie-revisited-alternatives-to-tod-towers/

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Canada's Rail Network

https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/transparency/corporate-management-reporting/transportation-canada-annual-reports/canada-s-rail-network 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/via-rail-on-time-performance-1.7374337 

https://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our-destinations/trains 

Is Canada's Getting High-Speed Rail? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pMIDqGMP0A

https://cnebusiness.geomapguide.ca/?map=TL&lang=en 

Japan & Switzerland have great population density & excellent intercity train service. Just because Canada is a vast, underpopulated country, there should have been a long term, 4 track intercity linking plan. 6-8 tracks in the larger cities. Almost every major city eventually being connected with at least 1 freight track & 1 passenger track, each way. Plus, an east-west high-speed line to almost or sort-of compete with air travel.

What Canadian high speed rail could look like — if it ever happens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXOKVIokp-Q

Even when the railroads were first built in Canada, there should have been 2 tracks on all the main lines. Thus, any bridge & tunnel should have been wide enough to immediately or gradually accomodate 2 sets of tracks.

The TCH has just been a 2 lane country road for most of its history, so far. At least its better than a waggon road. Of course in the cities, its more like a modern highway. https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/policies/trans-canada-highway-map

Bow River (LRT) Crossing, Calgary

 https://www.beam-architects.com/projects/bow-river-crossing/

https://www.beam-architects.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Brownlie-Ernst-and-Marks-BEaM-CalgaryLRT-BowRiver3.jpg

https://engage.calgary.ca/greenline/bowbridge

Crowchild Trail Bow River Bridge Interchange Rehabilitation and Widening

 https://www.acec.ca/awards/CCE_awards/2022awards/06.html

The inadequate Queensborough Bridge in BC

 https://x.com/DriveBC/status/1523759813179494401 

Just another backwards 4 lane BC bridge with narrow sidewalks & no emergency lanes. There is no traffic safety divider or barrier & of course no provision for bus & HOV lanes. Thus, its a classic bottleneck or choke point. If such an inadequate bride were in Australia or the US, it would have been duplicated or twinned by now.  

Two 4 lane bridges would allow for 2 lanes each way, plus 1 bus lane & 1 HOV lane each way. A newer bridge would also have enough room for a wide bike path as well as wide sidewalks. This really should be a 10 lane crossing, bust at least 8. Only for lanes today is such a sad joke.


Fortunately, the NYC QB was built on a grand scale, right from the start.

The Queensboro_Bridge, or the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge in NYC, is a fantastic 9 lane wonder from 1909. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensboro_Bridge#Description

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensboro_Bridge#Levels

https://www.ascemetsection.org/committees/history-and-heritage/landmarks/queensboro-bridge

https://www.webuildvalue.com/en/infrastructure/queensboro-bridge.html

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2023/05/23/not-again-queensboro-bridge-pedestrian-path-delayed-til-mid-2024 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Ivfo0DCpw

If the QB only had four lanes, it would have been twinned decades ago.

The Vancouverized Burrard Bridge

 https://viewpointvancouver.ca/2017/10/02/burrard-bridge-1934when-motordom-reigned-supreme/

The original configuration of the BB had a 6 lane upper deck and a provision for 2 streetcar or tram-train tracks.

https://viewpointvancouver.ca/2017/10/04/burrard-bridge-always-controversial/

Given the backward Vancouver planning mentality, a 2 level bridge was like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. Thus, a lower level 

The inadequate Lions Gate Bridge

https://viewpointvancouver.ca/2017/09/28/twinning-the-lions-gate-bridge/

No twinning the Lions Gate Bridge, but what about tunneling?

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/north-shore-rapid-transit-study-skytrain

A 6 lane highway and a 3 track train tunnel+deep+under+Stanley+Park is possible, but still unlikely for the foreseeable future.

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

The Sydney Metro Train

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Metro , https://www.sydneymetro.info/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InYZw4mIWGA

https://www.sydneymetro.info/citysouthwest/project-overview

Train length
  • Sydney Metro North West, City and South West: 6 Carriages (with potential for 2 additional carriages to be added)
  • Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport: 3 or 4 carriages
Headway4 minutes (peak)
5-7 minutes (intra-peak)
10 minutes (off-peak)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Metro#Operations

"The Metro North West Line currently operates with 6-car trains running on 4-minute headways. After the addition of the Stage 2 extension to Bankstown, the stations’ platforms will be configured to allow for future use of 8-car trains and the signalling system designed to allow for 2-minute headways, both of which are planned to be introduced once increased patronage demands it. Eight-car trains have a design capacity of 1,539 customers and increasing the running frequency to ultimately 30 trains per hour (2-minute headway) would provide a maximum capacity of 46,170 passengers per hour per direction." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Metro#Capacity

Unlike backward Greater Vancouver, Sydney makes it easier to have longer trains to better handle future capacity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Metro_Metropolis_Stock


Fortunately, Sydney builds to NSW standards, not the backwater standards of backwards BC.

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Megaprojects: Shaping Metro Vancouver’s future

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxJ1EPJD8mw

Second Narrows Water Supply Tunnel

https://metrovancouver.org/services/water/second-narrows-water-supply-tunnel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIwbBicnSzg

 https://www.tunnelcanada.ca/members/documents/2022/papers/SES7LHY0J1K0U8CKS_SNWST_Design_and_Construction_of_a_Deep_TBM_Launch_Shaft_in_Coarse-Grained_Soils_-_Emslie_et_al_1.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHw6eLNep00

Vancouver prepares to dig a tunnel deep under Stanley Park

 https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/highlights/metro-vancouver-prepares-to-dig-tunnel-deep-under-stanley-park-9761677

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/stanley-park-water-supply-tunnel-vancouver-construction

https://globalnews.ca/news/10853316/stanley-park-water-tunnel-timeline/

https://vancouversun.com/news/construction-to-begin-on-new-495-million-water-supply-tunnel-in-stanley-park

https://metrovancouver.org/services/water/ConstructionDocuments/fact-sheet-stanley-park-water-supply-tunnel.pdf

https://brander.ca/watertunnel/

https://metrovancouver.org/services/water/ConstructionDocuments/stanley-park-water-supply-tunnel-engagement-summary-phase-3.pdf


https://www.mottmac.com/contentassets/89f18a046b4d49c8874e32f58b71bc90/stanley-park-water-supply-tunnel-1.png?width=1696&height=960&quality=90&rmode=crop

https://www.mottmac.com/en-us/projects/stanley-park-water-supply-tunnel


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=a+new+water+tunnel+deep+under+Stanley+Park

A busy highway in Edmonton will be reduced to one lane for the rest of 2024

 https://dailyhive.com/edmonton/highway-west-edmonton-reduced-single-lane

Prince Rupert, BC

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert,_British_Columbia

https://www.abbynews.com/news/bc-study-calls-prince-ruperts-downtown-northwest-bcs-most-vibrant-7627977

Monday, November 4, 2024

bike-lane-debate-flares-in-new-westminster, bc

 https://globalnews.ca/news/10850395/bike-lane-debate-flares-in-new-westminster/

https://www.reddit.com/r/NewWest/comments/ydlrlj/am_i_the_only_one_that_thinks_the_new_bike_lanes/

The Seattle Streetcar

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Streetcar

https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/getting-around/transit/streetcar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Streetcar#Future_expansion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_North_America#Second-generation_streetcar_systems

https://www.theurbanist.org/2024/02/02/it-could-be-the-end-of-line-for-the-seattle-streetcar Hopefully, thais can be resolved. Otherwise, Seattle might start to emulate some of the backwards planning that is in Vancouver, BC.

https://www.ggnltd.com/seattle-streetcar-city-center-connector

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Lake_Union_Streetcar

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/vehicles/press-release/55137917/king-county-metro-transit-service-resumes-on-south-lake-union-route-of-seattle-streetcar


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=streetcars+and+trams

The Portland Streetcar

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Streetcar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Streetcar#Proposed_expansions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Streetcar#Comparison_with_light_rail

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_North_America#Second-generation_streetcar_systems


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=streetcars+and+trams

The Dallas Streetcar

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Streetcar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Streetcar#Future_expansion_plans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Line_Trolley#Future

https://www.dart.org/guide/transit-and-use/dallas-streetcar

https://www.mata.org/about/learn/

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2023/10/dallas-wakes-up-to-a-hazy-dream-of-a-streetcar-system


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=streetcars+and+trams

Vancouver's former Olympic Line streetcar

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-olympic-line-streetcar-future

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Downtown_Historic_Railway#Olympic_Line

Fortunately, the Vancouver mentality of anti-streetcars and trams was never adopted in Seattle, Portland, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Melbourne, SF & N.O...

https://montecristomagazine.com/community/vancouvers-forgotten-streetcars

https://kumtuks.ca/streetcars-and-metro-vancouver/

https://vancouversun.com/news/this-week-in-history-1890-vancouver-gets-cutting-edge-with-an-electric-streetcar-and-light-system Unfortunatly, over the course of several generations, Vancouver keeps doing the wrong thing, especially with urban transportation planning. 

https://digitize.library.ubc.ca/digitizers-blog/streetcars-before-buses-british-columbia-electric-railway/

https://open.library.ubc.ca/viewer/bcbooks/1.0376526#p6z-8r0f: Greater Victoria could have been a prper big citties like Seattle or Sydney Australia. Greater Vancouver could have been on the scale of a Montreal by now. 

https://monova.ca/the-story-of-streetcar-153

https://westendvancouver.wordpress.com/historical-background/streetcars/

https://spacing.ca/vancouver/2013/06/18/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1/

https://buzzer.translink.ca/2017/04/from-rails-to-rubber-a-look-back-at-the-regions-transition-from-streetcars-to-buses


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=streetcars+and+trams

Thousands without power, trees down in B.C. as storm sweeps through on Monday

 https://globalnews.ca/news/10850151/bc-storm-monday-power-outages-pooling-water/

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/highlights/wind-warning-issued-for-vigorous-storm-in-metro-vancouver-9755993

https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouver-wind-rain-storm-live-updates-thousands-lose-power

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/overnight-power-outages-expected-after-destructive-b-c-storm-1.7097643

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/11/04/metro-vancouver-delta-capilano-wind-warning-trees-fall/

NYC "A" train subway service to be suspended for 5 months

 https://pix11.com/news/transit/a-train-subway-service-to-be-suspended-for-5-months-what-to-know

https://new.mta.info/maps/subway-line-maps/a-line


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_Division_(New_York_City_Subway)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Division_(New_York_City_Subway)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60th_Street_Tunnel_Connection

Edmonton's historic Mill Creek Trestle Bridge is being replaced

 https://dailyhive.com/edmonton/mill-creek-trestle-bridge-replaced-edmonton

https://www.edmonton.ca/projects_plans/roads/mill-creek-ravine-trestle-bridge-replacement

https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4664-0060


https://www.edmonton.ca/projects_plans/roads/mill-creek-pedestrian-bridges

https://islengineering.com/project/mill-creek-pedestrian-bridges/

https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/edmonton_archives/edmonton-bridges

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=6f9421d312f5455c85ccbbe29727bd24

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Bridges_in_Alberta

TransLink seeking creative ‘retirement plans’ for old SkyTrain cars

 https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/11/03/vancouver-skytrain-cars-proposal-refurbish-retirement-expo-line/

At least a couple of them should be in a special exhibit to show more evidence of backwater BC planning that was supported by inept Vancouver planning. 

Why have trains as long as those in Montreal (152.5m), when Greater Vancouver is all about excelling in congestive planning?

Saturday, November 2, 2024

The North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant saga

 https://thebreaker.news/news/nswwtp-progress-reports-foi 

https://westvancouver.ca/government-administration/major-projects/north-shore-wastewater-treatment-plant

https://metrovancouver.org/services/liquid-waste/north-shore-wastewater-treatment-plant-project

https://metrovancouver.org/services/liquid-waste/north-shore-wastewater-treatment-plant-program-timeline

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/north-shore-wastewater-treatment-plant-cost-sharing-metro-vancouver-1.7221140 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Vancouver,+BC/@49.3159608,-123.1111074,221m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x548673f143a94fb3:0xbb9196ea9b81f38b!8m2!3d49.2827291!4d-123.1207375!16zL20vMDgwaDI!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEyNC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The City of Paris, ÃŽle-de-France region

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele-de-France

Île de Montréal - Island of Montreal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_Montreal

 https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9gion_m%C3%A9tropolitaine_de_Montr%C3%A9al


Vancouver quietly proclaimed Chip Wilson Day

 https://bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-quietly-proclaimed-chip-wilson-day-as-billionaire-installed-sign-calling-b-c-ndp-communist-1.7096391

https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-election-chip-wilson-ndp-communist-sign-vancouver-mansion

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/chip-wilson-vancouver-ndp-signs

The old SkyTrain cars are finally entering their retirement phase

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-mark-i-cars-ideas-reuse-proposal

Such ridiculously small, plastic railcars. They were designed to be even smaller that the steel ones in Chicago, which can have longer trains than backward Vancouver.

Service interrupted on Metro's green line, REM back to normal

 https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/public-transit-troubles-service-interrupted-on-metro-s-green-line-rem-back-to-normal-1.7094960

Unlike BC, at least Montreal has a good level of infrastructure, when its working.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/metros-green-line-service-interrupted-again-because-of-water-infiltration

https://montreal.citynews.ca/2024/11/01/service-green-line-montreal-metro/

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bonaventure/@45.4985644,-73.5665737,693m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x4cc91a541c64b70d:0x654e3138211fefef!2sMontreal,+QC!3b1!8m2!3d45.5018869!4d-73.5673919!16zL20vMDUycDc!3m5!1s0x4cc91a5d23cb7eb9:0x8cce01ab91b1d89d!8m2!3d45.4980335!4d-73.5668115!16zL20vMDRzNzRu!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAyOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

https://www.google.com/maps/place/REM+%C3%8ELE-DES-SOEURS+Station/@45.4703096,-73.5380778,127m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x4cc91a541c64b70d:0x654e3138211fefef!2sMontreal,+QC!3b1!8m2!3d45.5018869!4d-73.5673919!16zL20vMDUycDc!3m5!1s0x4cc911564250dde1:0x6e42f617ef20d4a4!8m2!3d45.4703598!4d-73.5384674!16s%2Fg%2F11t9lr6r37!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAyOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Montreal

Friday, November 1, 2024

Vancouver's inept Knight Street and Bridge

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-knight-street-video-concern

The Knight_Street_Bridge was deliberately designed to not have a couple of emergency lanes. No truck lanes and especially no bus and HOV lanes. No proper bike lanes, just 2 narrow sidewalks. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Street_Bridge#Infrastructure

Thus, the Knight_Street_Bridge is one of the best examples of BC bottleneck planning.

https://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwaycam/pub/html/www/695.html

The Knight_Street_Bridge is so narrow and inept, that a new HOV, bus and bike bridge should be built right next to it.

The incredibly inept Fraser_Street_Bridge should have been rebuilt or replaced by the 1970s, especially by the 1990s. The city and the Provincial_government didn't seem to understand that a new bridge there would be great as a HOV, bus and bike bridge. A couple of wide emergency lanes would have made it a lot easier for emergency vehicles to go between Vancouver & Richmond.

Despite Oak Street being 6 lanes wide, the BC bottleneck mentality wanted to force everything into a 4 lane Oak_Street_Bridge. Even if there was no concept to have bus lanes in the late 1950s, the OSB should have had 6 lanes, plus 2 wide emergency lanes and 2 wide sidewalks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Street_Bridge#Infrastructure

By now, there should have been a HOV, bus & bike bridge built next to the narrow & inept Oak_Street_Bridge

The multigenerational inept Vancouver & BC planning agenda is all about creating more congestion. 

Fortunately, the 8 lane Champlain+Bridge also has 2 passenger train tracks. This was possible, because Montreal and Quebec don't have anything like the Vancouver & BC mentality to hinder them.

Why have a provision for 10 car SkyTrains, when a 2-4 car train can enable more congestion? That's the backward BC way.

It's amazing that the Montreal+Metro was designed to have 9 car trains even back in the 1960s. Montreal and Quebec in general, just don't have anything like a backwater BC mentally to contend with.