Saturday, February 15, 2025

Three dead, one injured in crash on Pattullo Bridge

 https://vancouversun.com/news/three-dead-in-crash-pattullo-bridge

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/02/15/new-westminster-surrey-pattullo-bridge-fatal-crash/

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/533640/Three-killed-one-seriously-injured-in-crash-on-Metro-Vancouver-bridge

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pattullo-bridge-crash-closed-1.7460474

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/3-dead-1-hospitalized-with-life-threatening-injuries-after-major-crash-on-metro-vancouver-bridge/

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pattullo-bridge-fatal-crash-february-2025

https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca Fortunately, the replacement bridge will have a central safety divider.

https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca/about/projectoverview Unfortunatly, the new bridge will open with only 4 lanes & no provision for a lower deck. However, there will be 2 bike & 2 footpaths. Despite being what is supposed to be a major port region, there are no truck lanes. Since Skytrain isn't a 24hr system & the Skybridge wasn't designed to have 2 bus lanes open at least during track maintenance, the new bridge should have had 2 bus lanes. Instead, cars, trucks & busses will all be funneled into only 2 lanes each way. So just like with the first bridge, BC bottleneck planning wins out.

https://www.highway99tunnel.ca While its several decades behind schedule, an 8 lane crossing is at least on the horizon.

https://www.highway99tunnel.ca/project-overview-frt Unfortunatly, in accordance with backwards BC infrastructure planning, there is no provision for a train tunnel or a bridge to Delta & especially the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal. That seems to fit right in with not having a train from Waterfront_station to Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre and the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal

Until the stations on the first 2 Skytrain lines are lengthened, they will be stuck with 5 car trains. Proper long-range planning should have allowed for 8-10 car trains. The joke that is the Canada Line, should have had stations that could initially handle 4-5 car trains, with a provision to eventually accommodate 8-10 car trains. The existing ridiculously short stations can only handle 2.5 car trains. WTH? 

This unofficial congestive BC planning initiative is a multigenerational ME$$! Aparenty, narrow bridges & no regional bus bridges & short trains, can adequately move people around in a region of over 3 million people. Fortunately, when greater Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Sydney, Melbourn, Seattle & especially the SFBA all surpassed having 3 million people, they weren't bound by anything like the backwater BC mentality.