UTL is about exploring past, present and future urban technologies in science and fiction, etc...
Monday, March 3, 2025
Kelowna-Victoria-Prince George-Kamloops
Monday, October 7, 2024
A-second-okanagan-lake-bridge-for kelowna?
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Kelowna
A growing Kelowna should be able to think big and grow to continue to be the main city between Calgary & Vancouver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Kelowna
Friday, May 23, 2025
UBC tower in Kelowna, BC
https://ok.ubc.ca/about/ubco-downtown , https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=147739
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=48&status=15
https://ok.ubc.ca/about/ubco-downtown/why-ubco-downtown/
https://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/news/article_2957e4e0-d7f1-11ee-84d4-fb12b9ae9269.html
There should be a UBC tower in or around Vancouver that's at least 65 stories.
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?stateID=1&status=15
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
BC Okanagan Valley Region
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okanagan
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/okanagan-valley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelowna#Transportation
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/okanagan-valley-electric-regional-passenger-rail-over-pr-lrt-kelowna There should be a properly separated highspeed train between Kelowna & Kamloops. Plus, a proper highway with truck, bus & HOV lanes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Central_Okanagan
Kelowna was in the backwater BC trap for generations, now it's starting to be the centerpiece of a potentially substantial urban area.
Monday, March 3, 2025
Kelowna, BC, Canada
Kelowna and the Okanagan+Valley+Region not only should continue to be the 3rd largest urban area in BC, but really start to rise above its backwater scale.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=K-V-PG-K
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Kelowna's towers
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/business_news/article_4af48192-8d98-11e9-92fc-2731cab74bb7.html ,
https://www.kelownacapnews.com/news/new-23-storey-tower-for-kelownas-landmark-district ,
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Stober+Group/@49.8823634,-119.4697017,2918m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x7785da4e8f6a3e2a!8m2!3d49.881119!4d-119.4611079
http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=48&status=15
Friday, January 24, 2025
View cone changes enable 26-storey West End social housing tower
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1111-broughton-street-vancouver-social-housing-tower
There has been a muntigerational fear and cultivation to use the local mountains_of_British_Columbia as an excuse to keep Vancouver thwarted & backwards. Yet, most of BC is a mountainous wilderness. Indeed, there are only a handful of cities or urban areas in BC to flourish and thrive. Greater Vancouver & Greater Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops and Prince Rupert.
Kelowna, Vernon & Penticton are set to be the largest urban region between Vancouver & Calgary.
https://www.hellobc.com/travel-ideas/mountains , https://peakvisor.com/adm/british-columbia.html
Montreal & Toronto are specks when compared to the wilderness ladndmasses of Quebec & Ontario. NYC & Chicago have hardy overtaken NY State & Illinois. Greater Seattle takes up a small part of Washington State. Calgary & Edmonton are small areas within the Albertan landmass.
Yet somehow, if Greater Vancouver was allowed to become a proper metropolis, it would overwhelm BC. An area where Switzerland can fit into 23 times. Yet, BC has yet to reach the population of 1 Ch. Canada is nowhere close to containing 1% of the worlds population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops
or
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Victoria-Kelowna-Kamloops-Prince+George
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Evergreen Point Floating Bridge in Seattle vs. W.R. Bennett Bridge in Kelowna
The Evergreen_Point_Floating_Bridge in Seattle has 6 lanes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Point_Floating_Bridge#Public_transportation
The William_R._Bennett_Bridge in Kelowna should have been designed to eventually have 6 lanes, plus 2 bus lanes, with a long-term provision for 2 Tram-Train or LRT tracks.
The sidewalk could be reconfigured into a 6th lane, but only if a bus, bike & train bridge was built next to it. Thus, this remains as another incomplete BC transportation crossing. A parallel bus & bike bridge would also have 2 footpaths & even 2 HOV lanes. Eventually, there should be something like a CTrain or G:link connecting Vernon, KELOWNA and Penticton. Unfortunatly, BC seems to want to excel in congestion planning.
https://www.drivebc.ca/mobile/pub/webcams/id/149.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_R._Bennett_Bridge#Construction_budget
https://www.google.com/maps/place/William+R.+Bennett+Brg
Somehow Australia is able to put more funding into building better infrastructure.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Evergreen+Point+Floating+Bridge
Monday, June 8, 2020
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Senakw's first rental housing towers begin to take shape
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/senakw-squamish-first-nation-vancouver-towers-construction-july-2024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver
The tallest buildings in this Vancouver development should have been taller than the tallest building in NW.
https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/pier-west-1/30319
178 m / 584 ft https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/complex/3304
Senakw should have had at least 2 or 3 towers much taller than the Living_Shangri-La, the tallest in Vancouver. Something like the Crown_Sydney scale, is banned in Vancouver, but it's OK for big city Sydney & SF.
| Tip | 271.3 metres (890 ft) |
|---|---|
| Observatory | 250 metres (820 feet) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Sydney#Approval
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver#Tallest_proposed_and_under_construction Most of BC is a backwater wildernes that is unapealling for people, but great for wildlife & vegetation.
The plan was to continually thwart Vancouver, Victoria & Kelowna for as long as possible. That in turn slows down the few key areas of urban grown in BC. NSW & California, just never had the same, KEEP THEM OUT MENTALITY. Thus, they were able to think & properly plan for growth. There seems to be an unwritten rule, that as long as Vancouver can do things which are impressive to Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-and-Kamloops, that's good enough.
Sydney, NSW & SF, California just were never under the extreme restrictions that Vancouver has. Plus, Syd & SF haven't been under a multigenerational agenda to keep holding those scenic cities back.
Sydney and SF aren't afraid to build taller next to a bridge, like Vancouver is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Sydney#Tallest_buildings_(150m+)
"The taller tower, One Rincon Hill South Tower, was completed in 2008 and stands 60 stories and 641 feet (195 m) tall.[A][B] The shorter tower, marketed as Tower Two at One Rincon Hill, was completed in 2014 and reaches a height of 541 feet (165 m) with 50 stories." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Rincon_Hill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_San_Francisco#Tallest_buildings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_central_business_district#Transport This is what you are able to do when you aren't bound by the limiting mentality & backward agenda that Vancouver has. For some reason, Vancouver hasn't been able to get established big cities to emulate its congestive & inept planning standards. That's because most major cities want to plan & implement good transportation infrastructure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Public_transportation
Fortunately, Sydney & SF never wanted to take the backwards Vancouver approach to things.
Canada is far off from even containing 1% of the world's human population & BC has yet to have the population of 1 Switzerland. Proper infrastructure planning like in Japan & S. Korea, the UK, CH & Germany, has already been able to accommodate many more people. However, most of the world is non-white & some parts of Canada still want to hold onto the old White British Colonial mentality for as long as possible.
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Monday, January 27, 2025
Kelowna bridge reopens
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kelowna-bennett-bridge-closure-1.7442622
This is why it's a good idea to have another bridge in the region.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10979322/william-bennett-bridge-closed-police-incident/
Friday, March 29, 2024
The Stumps of Vancouver, Canada
If you are from Prince_George, Kamloops, Victoria or Kelowna, you might think that Vancouver is a big & tall place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver#Tallest_buildings
However, it's all on a much smaller scale than real big cities around the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver#Under_construction
Seattle & Calgary never fell into the Vancouver trap.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver#Approved_and_Proposed
Simply because they aren't under the Vancouver type restrictions.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops
Saturday, January 24, 2026
Monday, April 15, 2024
Much more home construction and infrastructure in Metro Vancouver is urgently needed
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-housing-starts-construction-statistics-2023
After Vancouver & the metropolitan region kept imposing so many restrictions for decades, BC is compelled to upgrade & build more infrastructure.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-pre-sales-april-2024
The KEEP THEM OUT symbolism has been perpetuated for well over a lifetime. Especially with short trains & narrow bridges & only a half-assed bus lane network. The Cushing+Bridge in Calgary is a fine example of a new bus-bridge next to a narrow Vancouver type of bridge. The+Tilikum+Crossing+in+Portland is also a great example of the type of transit bridge that should be built next to almost all of the narrow bridges in Metro Vancouver. Fortunately, the backward BC type of planning mentality never caught on in Calgary, Edmonton, Portland, Seattle & Montreal.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-development-permits-changes-2024 Speeding up the permits & rate of construction is a good slap in the face towards the KEEP THEM OUT agenda. It was hoped so many decades ago, that by gradually imposing so much municipal red tape & BC B$, that would help to stunt BC growth. It also helped the old colonial mentality to see less non-white people moving into BC.
It's not that BC isn't multicultural, it's just that by slowing down the growth of the 10 largest BC municipalities, that becomes a perpetual excuse to not keep up with building more infrastructure.
The area of Switzerland or the Netherlands could fit into BC 23 times. Yet, BC doesn't even have half the population of the Netherlands. Indeed, BC doesn't even have the population of one Switzerland.
If Metro Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna & BC in general, would ever allow a proper scale of infrastructure, things would gradually improve.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Switzerland
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=old+and+new+narrow+bridges
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
YVR receives unique accolade among the world's best airports
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/yvr-worlds-best-airports-accessibility
Unfortunatly, the YVR-Airport_station has one of the shortest & narrowest stations of any major airport.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Vancouver_Airport_Skytrain_Station_2008-04-22.JPG All of the C-Line stations should have been designed to ultimately accomodate 10 car trains, at least 8 car trains. This picture shows what a 4 car train could be like. Unfortunatly, its only two, 2 car trains. Ridiculously short 50m stations can only accomodate a 2-2.5 car train, not 4 or 5, let alone 8-10 cars. Combine this with mostly very narrow bridges in the Greater Vancouver Region and you see congestion or bottleneck planning at its best in backwards BC.In true lack of a big vision for BC, the YVR-Airport_station_Platform is so narrow & short that only 1 train at a time can stop on the very short single track station. While such small-scale train infrastructure would be impressive for Victoria, Kelowna, Prince George & Kamloops, it's hardly impressive to Seattle, WA and Perth, WA.
https://www.yvr.ca/en/passengers/transportation/public-transportation
https://thecanadaline.com/station-guides/yvr-airport/
https://www.translink.ca/schedules-and-maps/station/yvr-airport/schedule
Being from backwards BC, it's amazing to see how several major airports will have at least a double track airport train station. The Portland_Airport_MAX_station is another one of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Airport_station , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAX_Red_Line
Ideally, the+airport+train should be more than a 2 car joke. Even 4 car trains should be able to stop at stations with enough future clearance to accomodate 6 car trains.
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
SkyTrain's Canada Line service disruption
(service disruption ends after 14 hours) https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-canada-line-service-disruptions-january-14-2026
For a rapid transit line that opened in 2009, on the surface, it sure wasn't designed to be an efficient high capacity line for the future. It's still just a 2 car joke of a train. Fortunately, most real cities around the world planned for not only 6 car trains, but even 8-10 car trains.
Unfortunatly, Vancouver has been hit very hard with a multigenerational agenda of continually imposed small scale infrastructure. Vancouver has water on 3 sides, as its on a peninsula. Since the powers that be couldn't build a Boundary+Road moat or trench, the next best thing was to symbolically show the reluctance to build proper big city size infrastructure. This stunted approach to things is about symbolically holding the scale of the city back for as long as possible.
Despite backwards Vancouver not being able to apply a castle-moat-and-drawbridge control system, the next best thing was to symbolically keep things smaller than what normal or proper big cities allow.
Here are some of the best examples of holding the size of things back. The 3 lane joke that is the Lions+Gate+Bridge has never had a rapid transit rail tunnel and no express bus tunnel next to it. Especially, no 6 lane highway tunnel. It's a classic BC bottleneck-chokepoint, by design.
From a 3 lane joke of a bridge to a two car Canada+Line joke of a train. It met the symbolic requirement to be shorter than the LRT in Edmonton, the C Train in Calgary and the trains in Seattle and Portland.
The+Post+building+complex could have been Vancouver's first 50 story office tower, it's not even 25 floors. It would be impressive if it were in Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops or Prince George. That's the unfortunate thing about Vancouver, so much is done to only be impressive to small cities or towns.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+small+Westin+Bayshore+Hotel+in+Vancouver
Things have been kept so small in Vancouver throughout its history, that any big city stuff might seem overwhelming. There has been an unofficial KEEP THEM OUT mentality, but since the city cant have checkpoints, building things small symbolically demonstrates the perpetual reluctance to not allow a big city in backwater BC.
Since Vancouver can't control Burnaby and can't stop Surrey from eventually becoming the biggest city in BC, they are able to build things on a larger scale than Vancouver.
