Kelowna-Victoria-Prince George-Kamloops

There seems to be an unwritten rule that as long as Vancouver, BC builds things that are impressive by Victoria, Prince George and Kamloops standards, that's good enough. Kelowna is set to be the biggest urban area between Greater Vancouver and Calgary. Kelowna has already been able to build taller than what's in Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops

or

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Victoria-Kelowna-Kamloops-Prince+George

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

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

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/bus-network-improvements.aspx With so many narrow streets, its difficult to have a proper network of bus-lanes, especially on the bridges.

https://visionzerovancouver.ca/2024/07/10/take-action-add-bus-lanes-to-translinks-priority-routes Unfortunatly, most of the bridges in the Greater Vancouver Region are just too narrow. There was no logic to have enough extra width for future bus-lanes and HOV lanes.

https://www.biv.com/news/transportation/vancouver-new-dedicated-bus-lanes-translink-2024-9267523

Unless there is a regional network of new bus-bridges, Greater Vancouver will remain in a bottleneck or chokepoint nightmare. Stuck with only a half-assed express or BRT attempt. I suppose that would be impressive to Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops (K-V-PG-K) standards. Unfortunatly, those aren't big league cities.

Of course the 3rd line, or the YVR-Canada-Line or the Canada (embarrassment) Line, still hasn't been expanded up to a 2.5 car train, let alone having 5 car trains. Right from the start, the trains should have consisted of at least three, 20m coaches, with a provision for 6 car trains. Apparently, because of budget cuts, the station platforms weren't built to be 60-100m long in the first phase, they are only a 50m joke. 

The stations could have been roughed out to initially accomodate 3-4 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.

The YVR-Canada (embarrassment) Line doesn't have to be stuck as a symbolic example to not properly plan & build for longer trains in BC. This 3rd Metro-Vancouver rapid transit line doesn't have to be stuck with a 2.5 car train buildout. The incredibly short stations should be extended to 60m, which could accomodate a proper 3 car, walkthrough train. Then, with Selective_Door_Operation Technology, a 3 car train can become a 5 car train of 100m. Then, only the middle 3 cars would directly have access to the YVR-Canada-Line station platforms. 

Unfortunatly, due to the shortsighted planning mentality that is Vancouver & BC, the underground stations don't have enough level clearance to be lengthened to 152.5m or 500 feet, like the Montreal Metro stations, which can accomodate nine, 55 foot cars. At least a 5 car, 100m or 328 foot train is still possible in short-minded Vancouver.

For some strange reason, the YVR 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 HOV or 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 either. 

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 YVR-Canada-Line 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. Why plan and build like a big city, when Vancouver can mostly do things that are only impressive to smaller places like, Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-and-Kamloops?

Short trains, mostly stumpy buildings and mostly narrow bridges, provides powerful symbolism for the  antigrowth agenda. Building up proper size infrastructure is the opposite. 

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

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

Some gas, hydro or electric company office towers

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Company_Tower It has 52-stories, at 749 ft (228.3 m).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Gas_%26_Electric_Building It has 34 stories, at 150 m (490 ft).

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

I wish that the old BC_Electric_Building had at least 44 stories, but it only has 22 floors.

Even today, it would be a big building if it were in Victoria-Prince+George-or-Kamloops.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Electra_Building.jpg 

https://changingvancouver.wordpress.com/2016/05/30/homer-street-500-block-east-side/

https://ounodesign.com/2010/12/03/bc-hydro-building-now-and-then/

BC_Hydro never got very tall buildings constructed. 

https://karen-magill.blogspot.com/search?q=The+BC+Hydro+building

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_Hydro#History

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-hydro-rates-increase-2025

https://www.biv.com/news/economy-law-politics/province-launches-bc-hydro-review-8253022

Vancouver is stuck in a multigenerational trap of overlapping restrictions, which prevent it from reaching the scale of what Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne-SF-Boston-and-Toronto permit. As long as Vancouver can do things that are impressive by Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-and-Kamloops standards, that's good enough, apparently.

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

Landmark-luxury-hotel-resort-approved-downtown-Kelowna

http://dailyhive.com/calgary/landmark-luxury-hotel-resort-approved-downtown-kelowna

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=K-V-PG-K

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops

Will there ever be a second Okanagan lake bridge for Kelowna?

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-conservatives-second-okanagan-lake-bridge-kelowna 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelowna#Transportation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/97X_Kelowna_RapidBus 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelowna_Regional_Transit_System#Penticton

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

Population (2023)[2]
• Total	439,852

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okanagan#Geography 

Area [1]
• 3 Districts	20,817 km2 (8,037 sq mi)

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

Kelowna-transportation-plan-second-Okanagan-Lake-bridge

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/kelowna-transportation-plan-second-okanagan-lake-bridge

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=K-V-PG-K

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops

Kelowna's towers

https://www.kelownacapnews.com/news/landmark-7-breaks-ground-in-kelowna ,

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

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=K-V-PG-K

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops

The One in Toronto is soon to become Canada's tallest building

 https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2025/03/one-toronto-canada-tallest-building

In order to provide a sense of scale, a couple of short bindings in the area are referenced. These small buildings would be among the tallest in stumpy Vancouver.

Two_Bloor_West is like a classic Vancouver stump building, but in Toronto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Bloor_West#History  In 1972, it was already taller than any building in BC at, 148.74 m (488.0 ft) with 34 stories. Even in 2025, its equivalent to being the 2nd tallest office tower in Vancouver & BC.

2_Bloor_East opened in 1974 at 135 m (443 ft) with 35 stories. It would still be among the 10 tallest office towers in Vancouver. However, in Toronto its just another stump of a building.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Bloor_East#History

Even The+Simpson+Tower from 1968, would still be among the tallest office towers in Vancouver. Yet, it's just another stump in Toronto.

Vancouver just isn't allowed to have buildings as tall as those in Seattle & Calgary, Toronto & Montreal or LA & SF. However, stumpy Vancouver is allowed to build what would be impressive by Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops standards. Its all part of the backwards Vancouver and think small BC mentality. 

If you can't build a wall around BC, the next best thing is to constantly remind everyone with imposed small-scale symbolism. Unfortunatly now, BC is several decades behind with its infrastructure. 

Why New York City has a Two-Car Subway Train and provincial Vancouver is stuck with a 2 car airport train

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH37SqlW0Ks 

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R68_(New_York_City_Subway_car) 75-foot (22.86 m) length for each car. So roughly, a 2 car joke of a train is almost 46 m, or 150 ft. The absurd Canada_Line-Stations with its 2 car trains are in the 40 m to 50 m range. Thus, only two car & 2.5 car trains are only possible. In contrast, a 9 car Montreal_Metro train can be up to 152.5 m, or 500 ft.

Train length	2 car train: 150 feet (46 m) 4 car train: 300 feet (91 m) 8 car train: 600 feet (180 m)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R68_(New_York_City_Subway_car)#Description So, an 8 car, 600 foot long train is 100 feet longer than a 500 foot, 9 car Montreal train. 

The end of the line for the Franklin_Avenue_Shuttle is only a single track platform. 

Unfortunately, the YVR and the Richmond end if the Canada_Line stations are also a single track platforms. Even if this was initially decided as a cost saving measure, a double track guideway still should have been built. Then, a proper double track station could eventually be completed. Especially if the line is ever extended to the Delta Ferry terminal.

The YVR-Airport_station was deliberately designed to be narrower and shorter than what a proper big city airport station should be. Its another example of the unofficial BCMV reducing and thwarting the scale of things. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearson_Airport_station Almost like REM quality for Toronto, but not for provincial Vancouver. https://www.upexpress.com/en/up-express-stations/pearson-station , https://www.torontopearson.com/en/transportation-and-parking/up-express Wow, Toronto like Perth can run 3 car big city type trains. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pearson_Express#Rolling_stock Vancouver can only hope for a 2.5 car train, someday. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pearson_Express#Route Sometimes, a 2 car joke of a train might be OK to start with, but there should already be enough station clearance for at least 3-5 car trains. Then, as long as its a walk-through train, Selective_Door_Operation (SDO) can make it possible to add an extra car at both ends of a short train. SDO can be an intermediate step before having to extensively lighten each station. 

Stubborn, backwards Vancouver will eventually have to seriously consider SDO in order to have longer big city type trains. Unfortunately, as long as its stuck in the BC backwater mentality or under the spell of the BCMV, things won't improve.

https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/projects/2026/05/montreals-airport-rem-station-will-have-signature-iceberg-motif , https://montrealgazette.com/news/rem-has-begun-testing-trains-on-airport-branch Of course the YUL-P.E. Trudeau_station, like the Honolulu Airport station, will be longer and wider than the one at YVR.

Perhaps the short, single track & platform at the YVR-Airport_Station would be impressive if it were in Victoria, Prince George, Kamloops or Kelowna, but its hardly impressive when compared to the SeaTac/Airport_station, Portland_Airport_station, Lelepaua_station in Honolulu, Brisbane_Airport station, Sydney_Airport stations, the future Melbourne_Airport station and Perth_Airport station. The scale of the San_Francisco_International_Airport_station, which can accommodate 10 car trains, is on a whole other scale. All major airports and their train stations in Asia & Europe are so far beyond what Canada has. There is no reason as to why Greater Vancouver and some other cities in BC, can't be upgraded to a Pacific Rim infrastructure level, instead of  being stuck in a perpetual BC backwater mindset. 

The VMV, under the umbrella of the larger BCMV, is such a horrible impediment and it doesn't even officially exist. 

Columbia Centre in Vancouver and Columbia Center in Seattle

 https://modtraveler.net/city/vancouver_694/listing/columbia-centre Not even 30 floors in Vancouver, but its impressive when compared to what's in Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops.

However, the Columbia_Center in Seattle almost has 80 floors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Center#Design It would still be an impressive building in NYC, Chicago, Houston, LA & SF. It's still the tallest office tower in Seattle.

It's not just that Vancouver gets more rain than Seattle & especially Calgary, but that almost everything has to be symbolically watered down in Vancouver, when compared to those cities.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-wettest-city

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

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

611 Place in L.A. and Place Ville Marie, Montreal

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/611Place_LosAngeles.jpg , 

https://buildingsdb.com/CA/los-angeles/611-place-building , 

https://calisphere.org/item/c808aa829349df0b62b97853207d216f

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/611_Place Its a 42-story, 189 m (620 ft) skyscraper at 611 West 6th Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It was completed in 1969, some 7 years after PVM in Montreal. 611 Place is a few feet higher or a meter taller, but PVM is much wider building. It would take until the early 21st century before strict Vancouver would permit a building to rival their height.

PVM:

https://mtltimes.ca/business/have-a-look-at-the-changes-on-the-45th-and-46th-floor-of-place-ville-marie The building is equvalent to a 51_story tower, but the main widowed floors stop at 46. Some of the floors and of course the roof, have no windows, as they are mechanical or building plant operation levels.

Although it's not quite the tallest in Montreal, PVM is the tallest wide building in Quebec. It really should have been in the 55-60 story range, but Montreal wasn't ready for a big, bulky NYC office tower on the scale of 28_Liberty_Street or the MetLife_Building. Montreal has some view corridor restrictions, which prevent it to rival the tallest buildings in Austin Texas. However, Montreal is still allowed to have taller buildings than stumpy Vancouver.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Boulevard_Ren%C3%A9-L%C3%A9vesque.JPG Unlike narrowminded Vancover, Montreal has allowed for some tall wide buildings and even some wide streets or boulevards. Wide streets can allow for better accomodation of bus & bike lanes. The Vancouver approach is to try to cram everything into 4 lanes.

"This widening to 8 lanes was requested by the real estate developer planning the construction of Place Ville-Marie . This urban gesture allowed the arrival of several tall buildings, especially in the city center. It is without a doubt the boulevard of skyscrapers since it is on this artery that the largest buildings in Montreal and Quebec are located."

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulevard_Ren%C3%A9-L%C3%A9vesque_(Montr%C3%A9al)#Historique

 https://montrealjemesouviens.blogspot.com/2012/07/place-ville-marie.html

https://www.voirvert.ca/projets/projet-etude/ecologisation-place-ville-marie

https://www.pcf-p.com/projects/place-ville-marie PVM opened in 1962 & 6 years later, 777-Hornby a stump building in Vancouver with a similar shape, wasn't even allowed to have half as many floors as PVM. However, it would be an impressive building compared to what's in Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops, but not most real cities.

https://pcfandtypecodewebstuff.s3.amazonaws.com/images/2.lin.PCF.5503_plan-section.max-1600x1600.jpg

https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=937 43, 46 or 50F. 188m/617' https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=107855813&offset=75

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?size=375x375&zoom=18&center=45.501488%2C-73.568466&maptype=satellite&key=AIzaSyCNedHKUJhos7_OH_zp9Xtyw-eV8ylf-78 The Montreal tower.

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?size=375x375&zoom=18&center=49.282982%2C-123.121780&maptype=satellite&key=AIzaSyCNedHKUJhos7_OH_zp9Xtyw-eV8ylf-78 The watered down Vancouver version is just a stump by comparison.

777 Hornby Street Vancouver BC Canada

https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=4904 20F 72m/237' https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=107855260&offset=25 It opened in 1968.

https://www.cityfeet.com/cont/listing/777-hornby-st-vancouver-bc-v6z-1s4/cs4415499

"777 Hornby is a 20 storey office, retail and parking complex strategically located at the corner of Hornby Street and Robson Street within walking distance of Vancouver's many amenities and top restaurants." https://www.777hornby.com

The former World_Trade_Center_in_New_Orleans was converted to a 34 story hotel. The building was first completed in 1967 as a 33 story, 407 feet (124 m) structure.

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

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/(former)_World_Trade_Center_in_New_Orleans.jpg

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=611+Place

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, Burnaby, Coquitlam or Surrey. 

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/pier-west-1/30319 

178 m / 584 ft https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/complex/3304

https://www.newwestrecord.ca/real-estate-news/new-wests-changing-skyline-pier-west-towers-hit-top-heights-7676861

Senakw should have had at least 2 or 3 towers much taller than the Living_Shangri-La, the tallest in Vancouver at 200m. Something like the Crown_Sydney scale, is banned in Vancouver, but it's no problem for big thinking cities like 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/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_San_Francisco#Tallest_under_construction,_approved_and_proposed

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.

Vancouver city council decision on controversial towers development delayed

 https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-council-decision-towers-delayed-june-10

There is a good argument to have more affordable housing in these towers.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-housing-city-hall-polka

Thus, if a developer was allowed to build 10-20 floors higher by including more affordable units, then there would be more vertical space to work with. 

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1780-east-broadway-commercial-vancouver-safeway-proposal-public-hearing While these would be consider to be MEGATOWERS by Victoria, Prince George & Kamloops, they wouldn't be in Burnaby or eventually Surrey & Coquitlam.   

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Commercial-Broadway_station.jpg

The Safeway, parking lot & the Commercial-Broadway_station area is all a prime high-rise development zone.

Amazon opens major office atrium as part of its phased growth within The Post building in Vancouver

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/amazon-office-atrium-the-post-vancouver-expansion 

Perhaps if you are from Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna or Victoria, a double office stump complex might seems impressive. However, for most big cities, a building complex that doesn't even have 25 floors isn't that impressive. 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Post+building+complex

Just mostly more stumps or some real Towers in Vancouver?

 https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2026/05/02/opinion-the-yiyby-critique-bilsker 

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/the-stack/35667 Only 38 floors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Centre_(Vancouver) Just 37 stories. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Center Seattle's tallest has 76 stories. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_Canal_Bridge 12 lanes consisting of three 4 lane sections.

Mostly short buildings, short trains and narrow bridges are all part of the imposed symbolism to keep Vancouver small and backwards. 

While Seattle had its first 50 story office tower in 1969 and Calgary in 1984, stubborn Vancouver still won't permit any office tower to have a 40th floor. 

A 30-35 story office tower would be impressive if it was in Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops and Prince George. However, what's impressive in backwards Vancouver & backwater BC isn't impressive in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Washington State, Victoria State, NSW, Queensland & WA... 

Stumpy buildings, short trains and narrow bridges makes for the Vancouver trifecta of B$ city planning.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fort+McMurray,+AB 10 lanes. Only the TCH bridge between Surrey and Coquitlam in BC has been allowed to have as many lanes as this. Some people still wish that everything could have remained funneled into just 2 or 3 lanes each way.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Quesnell+Bridge 8 lanes in Edmonton. 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hwy.+2A+Red+Deer+City+Centre+Bridge 6 lanes.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Calgary,+AB 10 lanes.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Calgary,+AB 8 lanes.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lethbridge,+AB It has 6 lanes. Being from backwards Vancouver, its amazing that this 6 lane bridge wasn't funneled into just 2 lanes each way. That's what happened with the Knight_Street_Bridge.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hwy.+2A+Red+Deer+City+Centre+Bridge As a 5 lane TCH crossing, it only has 1 less lane than the 6 lane Iron Bridge in congested, backwards Vancouver. Since Alberta isn't under anything like the imposed BC restrictions, this crossing will likely be eventually upgraded to have 6 lanes, plus 2 wide emergency lanes & 2 wide shoulders that could provide 4 lanes each way, some day. 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Winnipeg,+MB A TCH bridge with 9 lanes, because no one from narrow-minded Vancouver was able to get them to narrow this crossing. The TCH Iron Bridge in Vancouver just has 6 lanes. No bus and LRT bridge has ever been built next to it, so far.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Winnipeg,+MB A 6 lane crossing. 

As of 2026, congested Vancouver only allows 2 bridges to have 6 lanes. A total of 5 lanes were removed from 3 Vancouver bridges. Had Vancouver built a series of proper bus and bike bridges, no lanes would have been removed. 

Despite NW trying to be one of the smallest cities in BC, Surrey is set to become the biggest city in BC. Fortunately, small NW & backwards Vancouver can't stop that from happening. However, narrowminded NW was able to force a narrower new bridge to Surrey. 

This bridge-replacement is one of the best examples of BC bottleneck-chokepoint planning today.

McBride_Blvd. and Royal_Ave_in_New_Westminster are mostly 4 lane corridors.

King_George_Boulevard and Scott_Road both are at least 4 lanes wide. One might think that the new bridge should have had 10 lanes, or at least 8 lanes, because two 4 lane boulevards, a 4 lane avenue and a 4 lane road, are all funneled into a bridge that opened with only 2 lanes each way. The old bridge that it replaced was also a 4 lane crossing. A congestive approach to transportation planning is the name of the game in backwards B.C.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Stalewasem_Bridge_%282026-03%29.jpg/960px-Stalewasem_Bridge_%282026-03%29.jpg 

At the very least, this new 4 lane bridge should have had enough room for 2 wide emergency lanes, 2 wide shoulders and especially, 2 bus lanes. There should have been a provision for a lower deck for LRT, bus and truck lanes, given that this is supposed to be a seaport region.

The narrowmindedness planning by Greater Vancouver to still have mostly narrow crossings, has made it very difficult to implement a proper regional express bus network, let alone BRT. 

The first 2 Skytrain lines only have station lengths that can barely accommodate the new 5 car trains. The YVR Line or the C Line, has stations than can only accommodate a 2.5 car train, some day. Given that the Skytrain network is a multibillion dollar transit system, all of the stations should have been designed to gradually accommodate 8-10 car trains, but that's what a proper big city would do. 

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/05/02/expo-86-40-years-later-the-memories-live-on 

Four decades later and Greater Vancouver remains so far behind with the scale of its infrastructure.

How Zürich fixed the commuter train problem

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cvuthXbTDQ 

This is the type of intercity train that could link some BC cities like Victoria with Nanaimo, Vancouver with Abbotsford & Chilliwack. Kelowna, Vernon & Penticton. Kamloops and Prince George. Prince Rupert & Kitimat with PG. Unfortunately, with the slow mindset and backwards approach to things in BC, it might not happen for a very long time.

Telus Boot Tower or just another office stump in BC?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJqr-6j3yww This would be an impressive building if it was in Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops or Prince George. Even in Lethbridge and Spokane, but not in Calgary or Seattle. That's because they been allowed to be proper big cities.

Its not even 25 stories, just like the Post office complex, but if it had at least 50 floors it would have been quite an impressive office tower for BC. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/1jav5f9/burnaby_approves_bc_tel_boot_redevelopment_5/ Acording to this rendering, the main part of the Telus boot stump will still be around. Its only a smaller part of its base that will face demolition.

https://www.jarmanrealestate.com/burnaby-telus-boot-redevelopment/

Burnaby or Surrey will likely have the first office tower in BC that's at least 45 stories in the next few years. Vancouver won't permit any office tower to have a 40th floor.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/3696-kingsway-vancouver-telus-rental-housing-tower Across the street, not a 50, only a 25 story residential stump. 

Boundary Road should have already had an express bus service and eventually a rapid bus route connecting Burnaby to North Vancouver and Richmond. Unfortunately, Vancouver still doesn't seem interested in having a B.Rd. bridge to NV and Richmond, even if it would improve on regional transportation.