Modular school additions a Band-Aid for classroom crunch in Surrey, BC

 https://globalnews.ca/news/11355992/modular-school-additions-no-solution-classroom-crunch-surrey-parent-leader/

Despite Surrey eventually becoming the most populated city in BC, it's still been scaled back for most of its history. It sure would have been nice if the SkyTrain between Vancouver & Surrey had 10 car trains. It's been tough enough just to finally start having some 5 car trains.

https://www.translink.ca/plans-and-projects/strategies-plans-and-guidelines/area-transport-planning/burrard-peninsula 

Unfortunatly, transportation connections between the Burrard_Peninsula and Surrey are too few and that's by design.

Fortunately, the BC mentality of limiting infrastructure hasn't been adopted in Portland, Seattle, Calgary, Edmonton & Winnipeg. Thus, they are all able to have a lot more bridges. One can clearly see that a lot more funding has been properly applied in several cities. However, Greater Vancouver has a lot less bridges than many other urban areas. Short trains are expected or forced to do the job of a proper big city, long train. Most of the regional bridges are so narrow, there isn't enough space for 2 bus lanes & 2 HOV lanes. 

Then, there is a multi-generational refusal to build a regional network of bus & HOV bridges. Even the (2030) tunnel wasn't designed to have 2 HOV lanes & especially a double track train tunnel component. At lest the (2030) tunnel will have 2 bus lanes & 3 general lanes each way.   

https://www.peacearchnews.com/local-news/surrey-mayor-looks-to-repair-lack-of-healthcare-services-in-this-city-7975235  

Of course the Surrey+Memorial+Hospital wasn't designed with a series of 5-10 story buildings with a capability to eventually add another 10-15 floors.

https://www.surreynowleader.com/local-news/surrey-mayor-aghast-at-citys-dearth-of-hospital-beds-compared-to-vancouver-7873315

"Despite having a population of similar size to the City of Vancouver, Surrey has 671 hospital beds compared to Vancouver’s 2,572. Even with 168 beds slated for the new Cloverdale hospital that is under construction, Vancouver will still have triple the number of hospital beds for a population of similar size..." https://www.surrey.ca/news-events/news/surrey-mayor-proposes-health-care-administrator-address-inequity  

https://globalnews.ca/news/10342083/surrey-healthcare-crisis-hospital-capacity/ 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-emergency-department-crisis-doctors-letter-1.7325687

The old and new Pattullo Bridge

Unfortunately, the Pattullo_Bridge of 1937 was built without any wide shoulders, or any shoulders at all. There was only one narrow sidewalk & no provision for trams or streetcars. It was all fitting for NW, a provincial backwater since its start.

In contrast, the 1932 Sydney_Harbour_Bridge opened with 6 lanes and 4 sets of train tracks & 2 sidewalks. Very fitting for the state capital of NSW.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-34593-7_49

https://www.targetproducts.com/pattullo_bridge_2024/

In the 1930s, it was still amazing to have plumbing & especially electricity in Surrey.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/surrey

https://www.cloverdalereporter.com/entertainment/surrey-now-and-then-2367955

https://www.surrey.ca/about-surrey/history-of-surrey

https://604now.com/history-surrey-bc-city/

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge

Surrey, BC

https://vancouversun.com/news/metro-vancouver-projected-to-hit-three-million-residents-this-year

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

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-population-growth-immigration-2024-report

https://www.surreynowleader.com/local-news/surreys-population-1054376-by-2046-7312331

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-suburb-in-the-Metro-Vancouver-area-the-City-of-Surrey-is-one-of-the-fastest-growing_fig1_350529878

https://www.straight.com/news/future-lives-here-surrey-population-growth-rate-outstrips-vancouver-by-almost-double

 https://www.surreynowleader.com/news/surreys-population-grows-to-568000-with-certain-communities-seeing-10-growth-2985167

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-population-forecast

https://www.westerninvestor.com/where-to-invest/surrey-fastest-growing-bc-city-to-become-future-core-of-the-lower-mainland-3829729

https://www.biv.com/news/economy-law-politics/swift-growth-surrey-drives-citys-economic-engine-8265448

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220209/mc-a002-eng.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey,_British_Columbia#Current_transportation_network

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

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=BC

Surrey ranks among Canada’s top cities for digital infrastructure and economic growth

 https://bcbusiness.ca/industries/invest-in-bc/surrey-ranks-among-canadas-top-cities-for-digital-infrastructure-and-economic-growth 

Digital growth is great, especially for backwater BC.

Some people don't like the idea of Surrey eventually becoming the biggest city in BC. Yet, as long as Surrey continues to think, plan and build on a larger scale than Vancouver, Surrey will be the most populated city in BC. 

There has been a strong anti growth movement or slow growth agenda in BC for several decades. Eventually, Surrey will have a taller residential building than Vancouver's tallest and Surrey will likely have an office tower than Vancouver's tallest. As of late 2025, Vancouver still has no 40 story office tower. 

Surrey primed to surpass Vancouver population in the very near future

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-vancouver-population-estimates-rennie Fortunatly, the Vancouver Mind Virus won't be able to stop Surrey from having taller residential buildings. While Vancouver still won't permit any office tower to have 40 floors, Surrey will very likely have the first office tower in BC to have more than 40 stories.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-metro-vancouver-population-growth-forecast-bc-city-2038 

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

First new generation SkyTrain cars to enter service early 2025

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/new-skytrain-mark-v-cars-entering-service-2025

While a 5 car Mark-V-Skytrain is an improvement, the first 2 lines should have had stations that could eventually accomodate 10 car trains.

https://www.ticorp.ca/projects/surrey-langley-skytrain-project

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/08/15/surrey-langley-skytrain-cost-increase/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-langley-skytrain-costs-1.7295904

https://canada.constructconnect.com/joc/news/infrastructure/2024/09/contracts-in-place-for-6b-surrey-langley-skytrain-project

https://www.infrastructurebc.com/projects/projects-under-construction/surrey-langley-skytrain-project-sls-project-3

https://globalnews.ca/news/10702469/surrey-langley-skytrain-delay-cost-reaction So many cities are able to have LRT as well as subway & elevated trains. Greater Vancouver should have never gotten rid of its streetcars & tram-trains.

The 3rd line should have been designed to eventually accommodate 8-10 car trains. Its not even designed to have 5 car trains, it was only designed to ultimately have 2.5 car trains.  

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

A Fraser River boat tour takes you under five existing and future Metro Vancouver bridges

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/paddlewheeler-riverboat-tours-mv-native-new-westminster-fraser-river-cruises Unfortunatly, most bridges in BC are built to conform to a narrow-minded standard.

Had there been a proper urban vision between NW & Surrey 50-100 years ago, there would have been a lot more bridges by now. It seems that NW just wanted to be a provincial backwater. Eventually, Surrey kept growing & now its planning to become the largest city in BC. Back in the day, just like little NW, Surrey never saw it self as ever becoming a major river city like Portland, Calgary, Edmonton or Winnipeg. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:New_Westminster 

By the late 1800s and especially by 1910, Portland really started to see itself as a major river city. Just look at how many more bridges there are than what's in between NW & Surrey. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Portland,_Oregon#Bridges

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crossings_of_the_Willamette_River Most of these bridges aren't freeway or expressway crossings. They are just for general street access.

There should have been something like the Tilikum_Crossing between NW and Surrey by now. There also should have been something like a Tilikum_Crossing between Vancouver and Richmond. 

Fortunately, the backwater BC mentality never made it down to Oregon.

https://www.travelportland.com/attractions/portland-bridges

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Portland,_Oregon

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

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=New+Westminster

Why is Metro Vancouver Creating a New Downtown?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybMhTlj-l5s 

Unlike Seattle and Calgary, Vancouver has no office towers over 50 stories. There aren't even any 40 story office towers in BC. Vancouver is firmly against permitting any office tower from having a 40th floor. However, Vancouver cant stop Burnaby and especially Surrey from having an office tower over 40 stories. While a 50 story office tower anywhere in backwater BC still seems unlikely, Burnaby and Surrey will likely be the first 2 cities in BC to have at least a 45 story office tower. 

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/50-storey-tower-community-hub-edmonds-burnaby 

So far, stubborn and strict Vancouver has only permitted 2 buildings to be taller than the tallest in Bellevue,_Washington. 

Vancouver has only permitted one building to be taller than the tallest in Vaughan, Ontario.

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/cg-tower/32139 

Since Burnaby and Surrey aren't under the backwards and thwarting restrictions that Vancouver has, Burnaby and eventually Surrey, will have taller buildings than stumpy Vancouver. Indeed, Burnaby already has some buildings taller than Downtown_Bellevue. Surrey will eventually have some buildings taller than the Vaughan_Metropolitan_Centre.          

Vancouver will continue to limit the height of its buildings for as long as possible. Vancouver won't allow a bus and train tunnel near the lion Bridge, let alone a 6 lane highway tunnel. Despite the Iron Bridge needing a parallel bus bridge and a Skytrain bridge, progress remains at a snail's pace. There still seems to be no interest in building a bus bridge next to the Oak and Knight Bridges. A city on the moon and Mars might happen before stubborn Vancouver ever builds a new Fraser Street bus & bike bridge. Not only should there be a Boundary Road Bridge to Richmond, but at least a Boundary bus & bike bridge to the North Vancouver.  

Its like backwards BC keeps hoping that by symbolically refusing to build up proper big city size transportation infrastructure, people will stay away. However, its only because no one has been able to effectively challenge the bottleneck-chokepoint mentality, that not much has been done.

Site preparation begins for the tallest office tower in Surrey and BC

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/centre-block-office-tower-construction-north-surrey-recreation-centre-demolition

https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=132164 225m / 738 ft. https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=2&status=15

https://storeys.com/surrey-centre-block-office-tower/

https://hariripontarini.com/projects/surrey-city-centre-block/

https://www.urbanstrategies.com/project/surrey-centre-block-master-plan/

Vancouver vs. Surrey urban-growth-planning-purpose

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-urban-growth-planning-purpose

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-housing-supply-needs-population-forecast-growth

Surrey, Burnaby & Coquitlam don't have the same imposed restrictions as Vancouver. Thus, they all can eventually have taller buildings than Vancouver & especially Richmond.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-urban-growth-planning-purpose

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-cities-new-housing-policies-barrier

Surrey

Surrey is growing fast, with over 800 new residents moving to the city every month. The population is projected to increase by an additional 250,000 people in the next 30 years. By 2041, Surrey will likely be the biggest city in B.C.
http://urbanyvr.com/central-city-2-invest-surrey

surrey-langley-skytrain

 https://www.surrey.ca/services-payments/parking-streets-transportation/surrey-langley-skytrain

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation-projects/surrey-langley-skytrain

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation-projects

Surrey transit-plan-east-west-bus-routes

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-surrey-transit-plan-east-west-bus-routes

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-conservatives-childrens-hospital-surrey

Surrey will eventually become the most populated city in BC, but for the foreseeable future, it's still Vancouver. 

Cost of Living in Vancouver (UPDATED) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWRTM1TY58A

City of Surrey to withdraw from Metro Vancouver's Regional Growth Strategy

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-withdraw-metro-vancouver-regional-growth-strategy

Surrey is destined to become the largest city in BC, but in order to achieve that, it has to be freed from the backwater BC mentality. Surrey needs to think and build like a proper big city.

City of Surrey to plan for new waterfront entertainment district next to Pattullo Bridge

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-waterfront-entertainment-district-fraser-river-study

A lot of potential, but there shouldn't be any scaling back of the riverport facilities.

Unfortunatly, for several generations, there wasn't a keen sense to properly develop the Surrey side of the river. NW never pushed for more bridges over the past few generations. 

No 10 car trains to Surrey, but at least there is a hope of 5 car trains. No 8-10 lane bridges, because it's better to just omit bus & HOV lanes on the new version of the narrow Pattullo+Bridge. So narrow that at only 4 lanes, there isn't enough width to accomodate 2 bus lanes & 2 HOV lanes & certainly no provision for a future lower LRT deck. 

Unfortunatly, the Queensborough_Bridge in NW has only 2 lanes each way & no emergency lanes. Had there been 2 wide emergency lanes, the bridge could have become a 6 lane crossing. A new parallel bridge with wider sidewalks & 2 bike lanes, could also provide 2 general traffic lanes, a bus lane & a HOV lane & the same for the old bridge, minus any bike lanes. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensborough_Bridge Apparently, it's better to just keep funneling everything into one narrow 4 lane bridge. There is no direct train from NW to the airport, so a direct bus with its own lanes to YVR would be a good idea. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensboro_Bridge The NYC version has 9 lanes.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge

Surrey city centre and its future downtown skyline

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-city-centre-future-skyline-downtown

Having been forced to live in Cloverdale as a teenager, I would never want to live in Surrey again. However, whenever Surrey can become the biggest city in BC, then Langley & Delta will all become part of a nice urban area of well over a million people south of the Fraser River. 

However, without the necessary urban infrastructure, it will just become another half-assed BC endeavor.

Even if most of the farmland can remain protected, huge farm conglomerates could eventually buy up all of the smaller farms from families that could use the extra cash. Then the farm & food conglomerates can have more leverage to do what they want with the land. Thus, the ALR should have had a provision to help keep the farms as a family business. 

Urban densification can easily evolve around the farmland. The Metropolitan Vancouver Region is surrounded by mountains, forests, farmland & water. But that didn't stop Montreal & Seattle from becoming proper big urban areas.

Metro Vancouver regional district governance review changes

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-regional-district-governance-review-changes

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/metro-vancouver-treatment-plan-audit-1.7239051 Why have a train tunnel fromWest Vancouver to Waterfront_Station in Vancouver when instead, you can put a few extra billion dollars into a North Shore shit-pipe?

"The reasons behind the escalation are the subject of duelling lawsuits between the contractor Metro Vancouver fired and the regional district, but the now $3.9 billion is five times beyond the original $700 million budget Metro set a decade ago and more than double a revised $1 billion budget from 2021.

The issue’s complexity lies in the fact that Metro Vancouver’s sewage treatment services are broken up into four sewerage areas, unlike the drinking water system that is operated as a single entity.

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The sewerage areas are: North Shore; Vancouver, which includes UBC and parts of Burnaby and Richmond; Lulu, which is most of Richmond and Fraser, which is most other Metro municipalities.

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All municipalities pay for the capital costs of new facilities, but those within each district pay a bigger share for facilities in their own district." https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/metro-vancouver-will-pay-for-north-shore-sewage-plant

https://www.nsnews.com/in-the-community/north-vancouver-district-asks-province-for-public-inquiry-on-sewage-plant-debacle-9777554 So much extra money will have to be paid out for a shit-box & a shit-pipe cost overrun. A few extra billion dollars could have easily paid for an improved Canada+Line and extension from downtown Vancouver to Park+Royal and the Horseshoe+Bay ferry terminal.

https://vancouversun.com/news/new-westminster-mayor-sides-with-metro-vancouver-in-surrey-spat Surrey wants to eventually become the biggest city in BC. That means not having similar restrictions that Vancouver, NW & Victoria have. Surrey wants to have taller buildings than restrictive Vancouver. First, it will have to rival Burnaby & Bellevue, WA and ultimately, Vaughan, Ontario. Instead of having 1 big downtown area, there will be a few town centres as well. 

While Surrey might want to have more autonomy, its still part of the Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SHIT-BOX

Critics question Surrey mayor’s plan for 10,000-seat area

 https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/pie-in-the-sky-critics-question-surrey-mayors-plan-for-10000-seat-area/

A new arena in Surrey might not be an urgent concern today. However, whenever Surrey exceeds a million residents the arena project might be more appropriate. In the meantime, the best potential site should be set aside for when that time arrives.

Langley Township new road into Surrey won't open right away

 https://www.surreynowleader.com/local-news/langley-township-says-new-road-into-surrey-wont-open-right-away-7732981

https://www.surreynowleader.com/home/2-inured-in-early-sunday-morning-shooting-in-surrey-7732309

The WORST part about living in Surrey BC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktozhUDjT7M

All cables and final steel girders now installed for new Pattullo Bridge

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pattullo-bridge-construction-milestone-cables-deck Unlike the old, inadequate bridge, which only has 4 narrow lanes and just 1 sidewalk, this will have 2 sidewalks and 2 bike lanes. Unfortunatly, there won't be any bus or HOV lanes. Thus, all the traffic will be funneled into just 2 lanes each way. Of course there won't be any emergency lanes or breakdown lanes, so this is another quintessential BC bottleneck by design. At least a provision for a lower deck would have provided some hope. While this bridge can eventually be widened to 6 lanes, there seems to be no serious consideration for there to be bus and HOV lanes. So it will end up like the overloaded 6 lane Iron Bridge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyBridge_(TransLink) No bike lanes and sidewalks and it wasn't built wide enough to eventually accomodate 3-4 tracks and 2 bus lanes. There is just something about backwards BC that makes it so obtuse and inept. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/SkyBridge_from_SkyTrain_%285770458210%29.jpg/500px-SkyBridge_from_SkyTrain_%285770458210%29.jpg At the very least, this bridge should have had 3 tracks and 2 bus lanes, a bike lane and a sidewalk on a lower deck. There is only a middle service track and apparently, no provision for a bike lane and a sidewalk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Westminster_Bridge Still, only a single track bridge for freight and passenger trains. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/New_Westminster_Swing_Bridge.jpg/960px-New_Westminster_Swing_Bridge.jpg This old single track bridge should have been double tracked on a lower deck and have at least 4 lanes on an upper deck. Then when the first 4 lane Pattullo Bridge opened, it might not have been quite as overloaded in its later decades. 

In order for this joke of a river railway crossing to be properly upgraded and efficient is for there to be at least a new double track bridge.  

NW should have really had something like its own version of the Steel_Bridge in Portland. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Amtrak_talgo_train_crossing_steel_bridge.jpg/960px-Amtrak_talgo_train_crossing_steel_bridge.jpg Fortunatly, Portland didn't have a provincial backwater mentality like NW. Thus, they could build a lot more bridges. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/SteelBridgePano1.jpg/960px-SteelBridgePano1.jpg MAX light rail on the upper deck and Amtrack and freight trains on the lower deck. Fortunately, Oregon is far enough away from ever catching the BC Mind Virus. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Aerial_view_of_Willamette_River_crossings_in_Portland%2C_February_2018.JPG So many nice bridges in Portland.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Fraser_River%2C_Surrey_-_panoramio_%281%29.jpg/960px-Fraser_River%2C_Surrey_-_panoramio_%281%29.jpg 

Look at the lack of bridges between NW and Surrey.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Portland_OR_aerial.jpg/960px-Portland_OR_aerial.jpg Portland is a city that really exists on both sides of the river.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/New_Westminster_Aerial_view_2015.jpg/960px-New_Westminster_Aerial_view_2015.jpg For most of the history of NW, Surrey was just some farmland south of the river with not much going on, but its many times larger than little NW. 

There just didn't seem to be that much a big city vision for little provincial backwater NW. Back in the day, NW could have acquired what would become the Tri-Cities and perhaps, even Surrey. There just wasn't any desire to have a big river city in BC on the scale of Portland,_Oregon. So while NW is stuck as a tiny city, Surrey is on its way to becoming the biggest city in BC.

Unfortunately, the Iron Bridge and Granville Bridge were never designed to have a lower deck for trains and buses either. That's just how it is in backwards BC.