https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ING5Pfrdk
The old bridge has 4 narrow lanes and no traffic divider. However, the new bridge won't have any bus or HOV lanes and no emergency lanes.
Chokepoint-bottleneck planning remains firmly entrenched in backwards BC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwwOqxqzNrQ
It's great symbolism with opening the bridge with just 1 lane. In 1800s backwater BC, it was amazing just to have a wagon road anywhere. Well the new bridge, when it's fully open,will have 2 wagon roads each way, just like the old bridge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0EeyJmmpuM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDFkc9Oa-j0
Unfortunatly, the old bridge is such bad shape that it can't be refurbished. Otherwise, each bridge could have provided 3 or 4 lanes each way. People will be in for a shock once the old bridge is dismantled. Then the new bridge will become just another classic 4 lane BC bottleneck-chokepoint.
No bus lanes or HOV lanes and especially no wide emergency lanes.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/riverview-bridge-opening-official-christmas-pattullo-replacement
They should have had a horse and waggon going over the bridge to symbolize the desire by some urban planners to have roads and bridges that aren't much wider than a wagon road.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pattullo-bridge-closures-replacement-opening
No matter how much NW wants to be one of the smallest cities in backwards BC, it can't stop Surrey from eventually being the biggest city in what should be bustling BC. The SkyBridge was deliberately designed to not have any HOV or truck lanes. The narrow SkyBridge wasn't even designed to eventually become a bus and bike bridge. Just a train bridge without even any sidewalks. It really should have been given an award for one of the worlds best examples of inept urban infrastructure.
It's like the SkyBridge (1990) was designed to be the first part of the new inadequate crossings between NW and Surry.
Indeed, just like its 1937 predecessor, the Pattullo_Bridge_replacement will open with only for lanes, but at least it will have 2 bike lanes and 2 sidewalks. The Pattullo_Bridge_replacement should have opened with 6 lanes and 2 wide shoulders or emergency lanes, but that would go against funneling everything into just 2 lanes each way. No emergency lanes or wide shoulders helps to reduce emergency vehicle inefficiency. No bus & HOV lanes helps to increase transportation congestion. Despite being a seaport region, there aren't any truck lanes. Perhaps the best feature of all is than the bridge wasn't designed to eventually have a lower deck for trains and trucks.
Multibillion dollar bridges can be designed with future widening capabilities, or at least having a provision for a lower deck. Unfortunatly, it's very difficult for BC to design prober big city size transportation infrastructure.
It's about time that backwards BC start building up a proper big city size medical center in watered-down Vancouver. Another proper big city medical complex should be built in Surrey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy%27s_Hospital#Facilities
Houston, TX has been building theirs over the past several decades.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Medical_Center
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Medical_Center#Hospitals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Medical_Center#Cityscape_and_infrastructure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Hermann_Memorial_City_Medical_Center#Facilities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Complex_Goi%C3%A2nia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_hospitals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurie_Children%27s_Hospital
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Medical_and_Dental_University#Campuses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herlev_Hospital
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_hospital_campuses#Ranked_by_capacity
Backwater BC has been under a multigenerational, KEEP THINGS SMALL OR INADEQUATE agenda for too damn long. The overbearing implemented symbolism is too much! An inept 3 lane Lions+Gate+Bridge and an absurd Canada+Line with only 2 car trains, are classic BC Mind Virus (BCMV) B$! Even the 4 lane Pattullo+Bridge+replacement is another example of the BCMV. Somehow, Vancouver & BC fell behind with having enough hotel rooms. Its as if the city & province just didn't think that adding hotels would actually help the local tourism business. The Greater Vancouver Region should have made it easier for more hotels to be built by cutting out so much red tape.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC+hotels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_(Tokyo) Unfortunatly, such double deck bridges just aren't allowed in Vancouver and BC in general.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DEjugfrP3wS/?img_index=2
https://www.kanpai-japan.com/tokyo/rainbow-bridge
https://www.alamy.com/rainbow-bridge-to-rainbow-town-daiba-tokyo-japan-image921088.html Tokyo has no problems with curves and loops. Unfortunatly, the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) and the BC Mind Virus keeps the city and metropolitan region as a warped mess just going round in circles.
https://www.gov-online.go.jp/eng/publicity/book/hlj/html/202403/202403_02_en.html
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20230828-132566/
https://www.tokyobybike.com/2014/08/tokyos-rainbow-bridge-by-bicycle.html
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge+replacement Will open with only 4 lanes, not 6 or 8 and no provision for a lower deck. Another fine example of BC bottleneck planning. There just isn't any interest in correcting most of the chokepoints in Greater Vancouver. A key giveaway is the lack of funding for a regional network of bus-bridges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Arm_Bridge This should have had 2 tracks for the airport and another 2 tracks for an eventual Vancouver-Richmond & Delta extension to the ferry terminal.
.jpg)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/North_Arm_Bridge_%284378906640%29.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/North_Arm_Bridge_shot_from_SkyTrain_3622.JPG
https://bcbusiness.ca/industries/invest-in-bc/the-outlook-b-c-s-economic-action-plan-for-2025-2026/
BC has so much red tape to resolve that Alberta & Washington State never had or had gotten rid of long ago.
The transportation infrastructure is so lacking.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Lions+Gate+Bridge A lingering sad 3 lane joke of a bridge. No interest in at least having a bus, truck and train tunnel near it.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=YVR-Canada-Line A 2 car joke of a train.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge+replacement A modernern 4 lane joke of a bridge with no emergency lanes, let alone no bus and HOV lanes. Of course there is no provision for a lower deck to accommodate trains and trucks.
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. So much of backwards BC is about doing things that are impressive to the Yukon or Labrador. Not Quebec, Ontario and Alberta.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge In 1800s BC, having the width of 2 wagon roads would be amazing.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge+replacement In the 2020s, having 2 wagon roads each way is still amazing.
There seems to be an unwritten rule that whenever possible, no bridge system in BC should be as wide as the widest in Fort+McMurray,+AB or Edmonton,+AB.
https://www.canambridges.com/projects/athabasca-river-bridge
Most Albertans have no idea of what it would be like to be under something like a BC Mind Virus.
The same goes for Southern Quebec and Southern Ontario.
https://www.canambridges.com/projects/ile-des-soeurs-bypass-bridge/
Alberta, Ontario & Quebec would collapse or implode, if they had to do things the backwards BC way.
https://www.canambridges.com/projects/new-champlain-bridge-corridor-project/
Two bike lanes & 2 sidewalks are great, but the government really tipped their hand with this. Despite the SkyTrain not running 24hrs, the new bridge won't open with any bus lanes & no HOV lanes. Despite Greater Vancouver being a port region, there won't be any dedicated truck lanes & worst of all, no emergency or breakdown lanes.
Since there was such a push to only have 2 lanes each way, the new bridge still should have opened with 2 wide emergency lanes & 2 wide breakdown lanes. Thats 6 lanes already in place, with a provision to eventually add 2 more. However, that would go against the congestive planning agenda that is Greater Vancouver & backwards BC.
It's one thing to say or pretend to support bus & HOV lanes, but opening this new bridge without such additional lanes all fits in with the congestive planning agenda. Just like a 5 car SkyTrain squeezed into an 80 m station, is a far cry from a 9 car Montreal Metro train with 152.5 m stations. Thinking, planning & building big in BC goes against the congestive planning agenda.
Symbolism is very important in backwards BC. Thus, half-size infrastructure is one of the best ways to demonstrate an ongoing reluctance to accommodate growth & efficiency. There have been several decades, even generations where funding has only created half-size & HALF-A$$ED infrastructure. So the big question is, where did so much of the money go, when BC still needs proper size infrastructure?
This multigenerational backwards BC mind Virus is horrible!
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge 4 narrow lanes & a narrow sidwalk.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge+replacement 4 wide lanes with a central divider, pulse 2 sidewalks & 2 bike lanes.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pattullo-bridge-new-indigenous-renaming-art
While it's great to have a new name for the new bridge, there should have been a few more bridges between Surrey, NW, Coquitlam & Port Coquitlam.
https://604now.com/pattullo-bridge-new-indigenous-name
Another lost opportunity for backwards BC. This new bridge should have opened with 6 lanes, plus have at least 2 wide shoulders for future capacity. Then there could have been 2 HOV lanes, as well as 4 general lanes. There also should have been a lower deck for something similar to what the Tilikum_Crossing has. https://trimet.org/tilikum
Such a lower deck not only could have provided 2 sidewalks & 2 bike paths, but a provision for 2 streetcar or tram-train tracks and even 2 separated SkyTrain tracks. Instead, all the traffic will be crammed into just 2 lanes each way with no bus & no HOV lanes & especially no breakdown lanes. In the future, the existing 2 track Skybridge between Surrey & NW might not be adequate. People from all over the world should study the BC bottleneck planning mentality & avoid such bad planning at all costs.
It is foolish for the most urban part of BC to not have wide or double deck bridges. Unfortunatly, this new 4 lane bridge wasn't designed to have 2 bus & 2 HOV lanes & no provision for at least 2 train tracks. At least it will have more than 1 sidewalk & 1 more lane than the LGB and even a safety divider.
Despite Surrey eventually becoming the most populous city in backwater BC, no 2 track train bridge like the Tilikum has been allowed to be built in backwards BC. https://trimet.org/tilikum/#about
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge+replacement
The shutdown to motor vehicles is needed as part of the replacement project on the span between Surrey and New West https://vancouversun.com/news/traffic-alert-pattullo-bridge-closed-victoria-day-weekend
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pattullo-bridge-full-closure-long-weekend
Backwards BC has always had a problem with proper planning for future infrastructure capacity. In the 1930s, NW was the remnant of a small backwater provincial capital. In the late 1800s or the early 1900s, NW could have absorbed what is today known as the Tri-Cities. There could have been better cooperation with Surrey to become a proper river metropolis region.
Unfortunatly, in the 1930s it was still amazing just to have plumbing & electricity in Surrey. So to have a Pattullo-Bridge (PB) with 4 wagon roads on it, was also amazing. Apparently, there was only enough funds to have one sidewalk. The PB should have been on a similar scale as the Burrard_St._Bridge, with 6 lanes & 2 sidewalks & even a provision for a lower tram-train deck. But in backwards BC such forward planning is difficult.
Of course the Burrard+Street+Bridge was reduced to 4 lanes and the replacement of the 4 lane Pattullo+Bridge will only open with 4 lanes. Of course there is no provision for a rail transit line on it.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=the+BC+inter-urban+railway
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/overnight-closures-highway-17-pattullo-bridge-replacement-project
It's unfortunate that the Pattullo-Bridge-Replacement wasn't designed to have 2 levels. Just like the SkyBridge didn't. The new bridge won't be opening with any bus & HOV lanes. Opening a 4 lane bridge in the 2020s with the same number of lanes as the one from the 1930s is a sad joke, an insult & an indication of the reluctance to plan & build for the future.
While NW & Surrey aren't officially against bus & HOV lanes, this was another case of 2 cities & the province not properly communicating & planning to gradually build a proper regional express bus & HOV network.
The Skybridge opened in 1990 without any future capacity for 2 express bus lanes & 2 HOV lanes. The inept Pattullo_Bridge just has 4 narrow lanes. Yet, somehow the SkyBridge didn't open with at least 3 tracks & 2 sidewalks & 2 bike lanes on an upper deck & 2 express bus lanes & 2 HOV lanes on a lower deck. Instead, it's just a single level bridge with only 2 SkyTrain tracks.
The New_Westminster_Bridge opened in 1904 and in typical backwater BC style, it was too narrow to do the job, right from the start. Not only should the bridge have been double-tracked, there should have been at least a 2 lane upper deck. At least having a provision for 2 tracks and more than just a 1 lane wagon road.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Fraser_River_Bridge%2C_New_Westminster%2C_BC.jpg
http://archives.newwestcity.ca/Results.aspx Thats all you got back then, just a 1 lane wagon road.
http://archives.newwestcity.ca/Results.aspx? Despite the bridge being required to handle passenger trains as well as freight trains, everything is funneled into a single track, even well over a century later.
http://archives.newwestcity.ca/Results.aspx?AC Had there been some real forward planning, there should have been at least 4 wagon lanes on the upper deck & at leas 3 tracks on the lower deck.
Unfortunatly, NW only saw itself as a provincial capital backwater & that also became the case when the BC capital was relocated to Victoria.
http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/bridges/Vancouver_area.htm
https://www.newwestrecord.ca/local-news/looking-back-and-looking-forward-pattullo-bridge-opened-85-years-ago-today-6106270 It must have been amazing to finally have a bridge with 4 wagon roads. Unfortunatly, there was no provision for a lower deck to accommodate interurban tram-trains & trucks. https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=britishcolumbia/pattullo
https://www.reddit.com/r/SurreyBC/comments/yhf6wg/pattullo_bridge_in_silver_grey_1957 Had there been a provision for a lower deck, then perhaps by 1960, both decks could have provided a wider 3 lanes each way.
Unlike the SHB in NSW, the Old-Pattullo-Bridge wasn't built with the same level of quality and wasn't designed to last that long.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pattullo-bridge-new-replacement-construction-update-2024 Of course the new bridge is a year behind schedule and once again, doesn't seem to be designed with much that much future capacity in mind.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pattullo-bridge-new-crossing-widening-six-lanes-surrey-board-of-trade Aparently, opening the new bridge with 6 lanes & a provision for a lower deck with 2 bus & HOV lanes & 2 truck lanes is too advanced thinking for BC infrastructure development. Just like the short Skytrain stations, having double deck bridges goes against the congestive planning agenda. So, the new bridge will open with only 2 lanes each way & no emergency lanes & especially no bus-HOV lanes or truck lanes for a seaport region. Thus, everything will be crammed into a 4 lane crossing. Why would such a bridge not open with enough width for 2 bus & HOV lanes? Most people in the Greater Vancouver Region know that the Skytrain isn't open 24 hours, so a good bus & HOV bridge between NW & Surrey would make sense, but this is the BC part of Canada where a lot of things don't make sense.
https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca/
https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca/about/projectoverview/
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=old+and+new+narrow+bridges
https://vancouversun.com/news/three-dead-in-crash-pattullo-bridge
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/02/15/new-westminster-surrey-pattullo-bridge-fatal-crash/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pattullo-bridge-crash-closed-1.7460474
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pattullo-bridge-fatal-crash-february-2025
https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca Fortunately, the replacement bridge will have a central safety divider.
https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca/about/projectoverview Unfortunatly, the new bridge will open with only 4 lanes & no provision for a lower deck. However, there will be 2 bike & 2 footpaths. Despite being what is supposed to be a major port region, there are no truck lanes. Since Skytrain isn't a 24hr system & the Skybridge wasn't designed to have 2 bus lanes open at least during track maintenance, the new bridge should have had 2 bus lanes. Instead, cars, trucks & busses will all be funneled into only 2 lanes each way. So just like with the first bridge, BC bottleneck planning wins out.
https://www.highway99tunnel.ca While its several decades behind schedule, an 8 lane crossing is at least on the horizon.
https://www.highway99tunnel.ca/project-overview-frt Unfortunatly, in accordance with backwards BC infrastructure planning, there is no provision for a train tunnel or a bridge to Delta & especially the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal. That seems to fit right in with not having a train from Waterfront_station to Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre and the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal.
Until the stations on the first 2 Skytrain lines are lengthened, they will be stuck with 5 car trains. Proper long-range planning should have allowed for 8-10 car trains. The joke that is the Canada Line, should have had stations that could initially handle 4-5 car trains, with a provision to eventually accommodate 8-10 car trains. The existing ridiculously short stations can only handle 2.5 car trains. WTH?
This unofficial congestive BC planning initiative is a multigenerational ME$$! Aparenty, narrow bridges & no regional bus bridges & short trains, can adequately move people around in a region of over 3 million people. Fortunately, when greater Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Sydney, Melbourn, Seattle & especially the SFBA all surpassed having 3 million people, they weren't bound by anything like the backwater BC mentality.
If only the 1937 Pattullo-Bridge was built a little higher & with a provision for a lower deck, It easily could have become a 6 lane bridge. Or, there was a provision to widen the narrow bridge at least a few meters on both sides, but that would indicate thinking & planning for the future.
Some people have houses that are wider than the incredibly narrow Pattullo-Bridge. The PB should have been twinned in the 1950s, especially by the 1960s. Thus, a new bridge could have provided 3 lanes 1 way, while a refurbished old PB could have 3 lanes in the opposite direction, with not just 1, but 2 wide sidewalks on both bridges.
Then when the Skybridge was finally built, it should have had at least 3 tracks & 2 bike lanes & a lower deck for 2 express bus lanes, which emergency vehicles could also use & 2 truck lanes, given that this is supposed to be a major seaport region.
