https://lmnarchitects.com/project/4th-columbia-mixed-use-tower
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=27&status=15
Of course various planned buildings can go through a design change or even be cancelled.
https://www.theurbanist.org/2016/01/05/the-metro-neighborhood-a-renewed-vision-for-downtown-seattle/
Even transportation routes and technologies can change or be scrapped.
https://www.theurbanist.org/2017/08/21/map-week-sound-transits-new-system-expansion-map/
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/comments/1nttdgy/center_city_philadelphia
Philadelphia used to have stumpy restrictions almost as severe as Vancouver.
While cutting out some of the fat from the budget can be good, Vancouver is still decades behind with its infrastructure. Most other cities have been able to plan and build on a larger scale, simply because they don't have the backwards Vancouver mentality to hinder them.
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Vancouver is such a strange and backwards provincial city.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/no-fun-city-calls-to-extend-hours-at-vancouver-beaches/
For a city that claims that it doesn't have a NO FUN CITY (NFC) vibe, it occasionally keep emerging.
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/06/25/vancouver-police-english-bay-beach-sweeps-questions/
Fortunately, the mind virus that is Vancouver hasn't caught on with most cities around the world.
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/people-escorted-off-vancouver-beaches-2024-9130597
It's one thing if some people living close to the beach don't want to hear drinking parties going on until 2 or 3 AM. However, reasonably behaved people should be able to enjoy summer sunsets from a beach vantage point. Summer goes by too quickly in BC, so the best time to enjoy the beach is during the summer.
To think that there used to be a Vancouver Sea Festival. Fortunately, Vancouver was unable to get Seattle to give up on its Seafair. https://www.seafair.org/what-is-seafair
Vancouver was never able to waterdown the Calgary_Stampede. https://www.calgarystampede.com
Vancouver should be making it easier to have summer festivals, not more difficult.
Hopefully, the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) will never be accepted in proper cities around the world.
https://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/unpermitted-african-descent-festival-aug-2025.aspx
https://vancouversbestplaces.com/events-calendar/festivals-and-events/african-descent-festival
Fortunately, the Caribana Festival is far away from backwards Vancouver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribana#Economics_and_impact May it never be watered down or cancelled by anything like the Vancouver Mind Virus. The VMV is so horrible, don't let it take over your city.
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SF is just as scenic as Sydney. They allow taller buildings, longer trains and wider bridges than backwater Vancouver. Unfortunatly, backwards Vancouver keeps going in the opposite direction, despite more people wanting to move to SW BC.
The longstanding argument is that since Vancouver is in a scenic setting, every excuse should be used to scale back or water down the urban prescience.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/False_Creek%2C_Vancouver_%282025%29.jpg
Fortunately, this watered down approach hasn't made it to Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, SF, LA and Seattle. Thus, all of them are able to have taller buildings, longer trains and wider bridges. The Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) or the Backwards Vancouver Mentality (BVM) is an intertwined horrible concept.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Vancouver_Skyline_and_Mountains.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Los_Angeles_with_Mount_Baldy.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_San_Antonio 10,064 ft (3,068 m)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lions_(peaks)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Mountain_(North_Shore_Mountains)
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/comments/1nsu0xw/will_tribune_east_tower_chicago_be_built
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_East_Tower 1,442 ft (439.5 m) 113 floors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_Tower 1925
A 463-foot-tall (141 m), 36-floor building. Today, it's just another old Chicago size stump, but in if it was in Vancouver, it would still be an impressively tall tower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_Tower#Architecture
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/06/tribune-tower-100-years-chicago-magnificent-mile Even a centuray later, this would be one of the tallest office towers in backwater BC.
https://www.straight.com/arts/vancouver-art-gallery-picks-canadian-architects-for-new-building
For some reason, things take a long time to get done in backwards Vancouver. From the design and the construction, the project shouldn't take any more than a few years.
It took a very long time for Vancouver to have its first building permitted to rise over 500 feet in height.
152.4 meters = 500 feet and 150 meters = 492.12 feet
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=1
https://www.straight.com/article-371138/vancouver/city-approves-new-policy-taller-buildings-downtown-vancouver While there are some taller resedential towers, Vancouver still has no office tower with at least a 40th floor. Portland,_Oregon has 2. Perth, WA has 2 office towers with at least 50 floors. The_Bow tower in Calgary has 60 floors, when you count all the levels. The Columbia_Center in Seattle has 80 floors in total.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver#Cityscape
450 feet is equal to about 137.16 meters and that was the height restriction imposed on Vancouver for most of its restrictive, red-tape history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver
The powers that be tried their damndest to not allow most Vancouver buildings to be taller than the Smith_Tower, Commerce_Court_North and the Los_Angeles_City_Hall until after the year 2000. Of course in 2025 those buildings are like stumps now, but would still be tall by small Vancouver standards.
https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=6965 , https://www.smithtower.com/about/
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=27&searchname=timeline
https://beautifulwashington.com/king-county/attractions/seattle/448-sky-view-observatory.html
https://www.seattletimes.com/life/heres-a-cheap-way-to-view-seattles-skyline-coffee-at-the-starbucks-on-the-40th-floor-of-the-columbia-tower The 40th floor of an 80 story building, when you count the mechanical or plant floors as well. Perhaps some day strict Vancouver might permit an office building to have a 40th floor.
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=1&status=15
stumps and towers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnaby
Unlike Brooklyn merging into NYC, Burnaby has remained independent of strict Vancouver.
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/comments/1nsyaux/brooklyn/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Brooklyn#Tallest_buildings
While stubborn Vancouver only allows 2 buildings to be taller than the tallest in Bellevue,_Washington and nothing to rival the tallest in Vaughan, Ontario, Burnaby will.
Unlike Vancouver, Burnaby wants to even rival the tallest in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn used to be an independent city, but it eventually became part of NYC.
https://www.visitpiercecounty.com/plan/transportation/getting-to-seattle/
Of course Greater Vancouver isn't adding a regional network of ferries anytime soon. That's because it would go against the congestive planning agenda.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Royal_York
When you live in stumpy Vancouver for several decades, its always amazing to see how much wider the buildings are allowed to be in other cities.
https://torontopics.me/2016/08/29/fairmont-royal-york-hotel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Royal_York#Location "Opened on 11 June 1929, the Châteauesque-styled building is 124 metres (407 ft) tall, and contains 28 floors."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Royal_York#Design 1363 rooms
https://www.thefairmontroyalyork.com , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Hotels_%26_Resorts#Properties
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Vancouver
"Opened in May 1939, the Châteauesque-styled building is considered one of Canada's grand railway hotels. The hotel stands 112.47-metre-tall (369.0 ft), and contains 17 floors."
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/The_Fairmont_Hotel_Vancouver_%2842914562450%29.jpg Had the entier block been reseverd for future hotel space, a 65 story tower could have eventually been built, beside the first phase.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Vancouver#Design
https://www.straight.com/living/experience-magic-of-autumn-at-fairmont-hotel-vancouver
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/CN_Tower_observation_level_2023d.jpg Toronto like most real cities, is able to set aside enough space to go wider. Narrowminded Vancouver just keeps going the other way by continually watering the scale of things down.
https://vancouversun.com/news/developer-wesgroup-cancels-project-vancouver-river-district
https://vancouversbestplaces.com/city-of-vancouver/river-district-vancouver/
https://govancity.com/neighbourhoods/river-district/
https://wesgroup.ca/river-district/
Riverside living is very popular around the world. Urban industrial areas are still important land uses as well.
Unfortunatly, the Kent Avenue streetcar, interurban or tram-train was discontinued in the 1950s.
It seemed like such a good idea in the 1950s, remove the streetcars and tram-trains.
https://buzzer.translink.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/interurbanmap_web.jpg
With several narrow streets and mostly narrow bridges, having a comprehensive regional rail system is imperative.
https://buzzer.translink.ca/2009/03/a-short-history-of-interurbans-in-the-lower-mainland
https://montecristomagazine.com/community/vancouvers-forgotten-streetcars#gsc.tab=0
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+East+Kent+Avenue+Greenway
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/09/25/new-pattullo-bridge-to-open-by-christmas-bc-government
Not 8, not 6, just another 4 lane BC funnel chokepoint. Officially, NW isn't against bus and HOV lanes, they just weren't part of the new bridge design. Of course there was no provision for a lower deck, because that would go against the congestion planing mentality. This new bridge not only should have had 2 bus lanes, but 2 wide emergency lanes or shoulders as well. Even if it can eventually have 6 lanes, there still won't be any emergency lanes or HOV lanes.
This BC bottleneck planning mentality is so bad for transportation.
The city and the transit company should be working with the developer so that the new building has enough structural clearance for a future west train platform. With mutual cooperation, the developer should be allowed to add a few more floors to their tower.
In the case of the Main_Street-Science_World_station, the VanCity Centre was built at and over the west side of the station.
https://www.mcmparchitects.com/projects/vancity-centre Aside from the building not even reaching 20 floors, its a fine example of being built over the train structure.
https://sfuurban.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/main-street-skytrain-station-the-history-part-1
https://www.translink.ca/about-us/doing-business-with-translink/real-estate
https://fcr.ca/properties/british-columbia/vancouver/new-westminster/shops-at-new-west
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Westminster_station , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shops_at_New_West , https://www.shopsatnewwest.com
https://www.loopnet.ca/Listing/800-Carnarvon-St-New-Westminster-BC/29986774/
Another nice type of bridge that would be great in Vancouver, but isn't allowed.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=6381435988563389&set=p.6381435988563389&type=3
Vancouver, Burnaby and NW all should have have at least 1 of this type of bridge.
https://www.indonesia-tourism.com/forum/showthread.php?52240-Gentala-Arasy-Bridge-Jambi
Why build a few bridges like this in Vancouver when lanes can be removed from the existing bridges?
https://elements.envato.com/moving-drone-footage-gentala-arasy-pedestrian-brid-WXCLQPZ
Pedestrian bridges are great, but bus, bike & foot bridges are even better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_of_Omaha_Headquarters_Tower
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Omaha#Tallest_habitable_buildings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WoodmenLife_Tower It wasn't until 1977 that a building in Vancouver was allowed to rival it.
"Construction of the building began in 1966 and was completed in the spring of 1969. At its completion, the 478-foot (146 m), 30-story tower was the tallest building in the state of Nebraska, overtaking the Nebraska State Capitol." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WoodmenLife_Tower#Description
Unfortunatly, they keep looking at the wrong location for a highway crossing.
https://www.capitaldaily.ca/news/bridge-fixed-link-vancouver-island-salish-sea
A further north option would make it a lot easier and cheaper to construct an 8 lane bridge and a 4 track train route.
There should have been plans by now to have a highway and train bridge providing a fast and efficient link between Powell+River and Campbell+River.
A possible route could go between Bliss+Landing, Cortes+Bay, Whaletown, Read+Island, Bold+Point, Heriot+Bay and North+Campbell+River.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Island_fixed_link , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sVUCNzodXU
https://www.change.org/p/ask-the-bc-government-to-study-a-fixed-link-to-vancouver-island
https://bcbusiness.ca/industries/general/fixed-link-idea-gets-a-brief-new-lifeagain/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Pledge_Arena#Seattle_Center_Coliseum
https://climatepledgearena.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Pledge_Arena
https://seattlecenter.com/about/plans-and-projects/arena
https://globalnews.ca/video/11438664/vancouvers-rogers-arena-marking-30-year-anniversary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Arena#General_Motors_Place
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rogers-arena-vancouver-25th-anniversary-1.5732118
When there is a refusal to build bigger and better bridges, there still should be a regional network of bus and train bridges. However, the gridloc planning agenda keeps winning out.
Unfortunatly, after decades of inept transportation planning and then so much money wasted down a $HIT-PIPE, the North Shore keeps getting hit hard from the $HIT-BOX planning mentality.
The Tilikum+Crossing in Portland is a fantastic example of modern infrastructure planning and development. It allows for the MAX-LRT, the streetcar, the bus, bikes and pedestrians to conveniently get across. The nice thing about the TC is that no lanes had to be removed or repurposed on the other Portland bridges. Perhaps that's why something like the TC isn't allowed in BC, because it could actually help to improve transportation efficiency.
The Washington+Avenue+Bridge is another example of what's not allowed in Greater Vancouver or anywhere else in the BC part of Canada. After all this time, Greater Vancouver is still so lacking in a regional network of transit+bridges.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-audit
It's amazing how several other cities are able to have enough money to properly fund such things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I3sbe2QRUM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston_Ship_Channel_Bridge Its as if somehow a backwater BC bridge got built in Texas. While a bridge with only 2 lanes each way & no emergency lanes seems to fit with the small-scale Vancouver mentality, such a narrow bridge in Houston was almost inadequate right from the start.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston_Ship_Channel_Bridge#Future While it doesn't seem to have a provision for rail, it's still on a grand scale like the Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge in Montreal. Especially like the new Tappan_Zee_Bridge near NYC.
Several cities around the world are able to build nice wide bridges, because they aren't hindered by anything like the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV), or the Backwards BC Mentality (BBCM).
https://www.traveltexas.com/articles/post/everything-is-bigger-in-texas Being from the BC part of Canada, its difficult to grasp that BIG Texas has more people than Australia, yet still has mostly wide open spaces. The THINK BIG mentality in Texas is the total opposite to the BBCM.
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/03/11/nyc-big-apple When you live in Vancouver for several decades, its amazing to see what several other cities can do, simply because they aren't hindered by the VMV.
Of course BC just has to move so much slower than Queensland on infrastructure projects.
Delta has the big seaport and Richmond has the airport, and for such a long time the highway is only 2 lanes each way.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/malcolm-brodie-richmond-mayor-retirement
A 10 lane bridge could have been completed last year, but this guy was against it. The new 8 lane tunnel isn't expected to be completed until at least 2030.
Unlike backwards BC, Queensland was able to twin or duplicate the 6 lane Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges#Design
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges#Duplication
https://www.mageba-group.com/de/en/1023/Australia/Australia/19745/Gateway-Bridge.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Motorway (Brisbane)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Program_(Greater Vancouver) Of course the BC version was watered down.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Brisbane#Transport_links
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/south-vancouver-railway-bike-lane-proposal-mike-klassen
https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/kent-avenue-greenway-upgrades.aspx
https://www.trailforks.com/trails/east-kent-ave-bikeway/
https://medium.com/v%C3%A9lo-vancouver/beloved-vancouver-cycling-routes-and-greenways-bddaa003a8ed
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+East+Kent+Avenue+Greenway
Unfortunatly, there doesn't seem to be any BRB plan in place.
A North Boundary Road Bridge could provide an excellent BRT crossing between Burnaby and North+Vancouver. This would help to relieve pressure on the Iron Bridge.
https://movementyvr.ca/bby-heights-brt
The same with a South Boundary Roade Bridge with a BRT route between Vancouver and Richmond.
Then another BRT bridge between Richmond and Delta to the ferry terminal. This could help to relieve some of the pressure on the new tunnel, because it wasn't designed to have 2 HOV lanes & no train section.
https://www.translink.ca/plans-and-projects/projects/bus-projects/rapidbus-projects
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/east-vancouver-clark-drive-port-entrance-traffic-issues
https://council.vancouver.ca/20050329/tt5App1.pdf It is very unlikely that there will ever be a truck tunnel under this corridor.
https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/2021-117-release.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Street
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1407-east-41st-avenue-vancouver
Backwards thinking & planning is so ingrained in BC. The R5 is already a frequent bus route along Hastings. https://www.translink.ca/schedules-and-maps/route/r5/direction/0/map
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/08/26/transit-advocates-push-for-brt-through-burnaby-heights/
https://ehq-production-canada.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com
A BRT route along Boundary Road would be much better in the long run. Especially, if someday there can be a serious BRT route running the entire length of Boundary Road between North Vancouver & Richmond.
https://www.translink.ca/plans-and-projects/projects/bus-projects/rapidbus-projects
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/rennie-commercial-real-estate
https://storeys.com/rennie-launches-commercial-real-estate-brokerage/
A 50 story office tower in Seattle, San Francisco & LA is hardly the tallest. Even a 50 story office tower in Toronto & Calgary wouldn't be the tallest on the skyline. However, super restrictive Vancouver has never permitted any office tower to even have a 40th floor. At least Montreal has allowed 1 office tower to have 51 stories.
It's sad and unfortunate that so much money was diverted and wasted on an over-budget $HIT-box. Yet, no bus bridges or bus tunnels have been built to the North Shore, so far. At least one of the SkyTrain lines should have been extended to the North Shore at least a dozen years ago.
It's so easy to throw money down a $HIT-pipe, but very difficult to put more funds towards bus and train bridges and tunnels in backwards BC.
Unfortunatly, despite YVR handling more traffic than the Montreal-Trudeau+International+Airport, Greater Vancouver is still quite lacking with its infrastructure.
https://radicalstorage.com/travel/is-vancouver-expensive-complete-2025-cost-guide-money-saving-tips/
https://dailyhive.com/montreal/montreal-trudeau-international-airport-yul-expansion-rem-train
https://www.admtl.com/en-CA/corporate/about-us/future-projects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUL%E2%80%93A%C3%A9roport-Montr%C3%A9al%E2%80%93Trudeau_station
https://www.admtl.com/en-CA/parking-and-transport/roadworks
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/yul-trudeau-airport-10-billion-transformation-1.7586489
Eventually, the Pierre+Elliott+Trudeau+International+Airport could have 3 long runways. Fortunately, there is enough clearance to lengthen the shortest runway.
https://www.admtl.com/en-CA/community/soundscape-management/construction-on-runways-and-taxiways
Orly_Airport has 3 runways.
Sea-Tac also has 3 runways, but are all parallel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle-Tacoma_International_Airport
Heathrow_Airport has 2 very long runways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathrow_Airport#Future_expansion_and_plans
Charles_de_Gaulle_Airport has 2 very long runways, plus 2 of moderate length.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond-San_Rafael_Bridge
The R-SR Bridge should have been built with two 4 lane decks, 3 lanes and1 emergency lane on each level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond-San_Rafael_Bridge#Third_lanes
Plus, enough space for at least 1 wide bike lane & 1 foot path. Unfortunatly, in the 1950s, having a provision for such things wasn't seen as that important.
https://abc7news.com/post/officials-seek-ideas-for-replacing-richmond-san-rafael-bridge/5733399/
