Urban Tech Links: UTL: Search results for Surrey

Showing posts sorted by date for query Surrey. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Sunday, September 27, 2026

Surrey’s Fraser River waterfront

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/imagine-surrey-mike-starchuk-stadium-commonwealth-games-bid

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

More closures coming to busy Surrey highway for SkyTrain construction

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-langley-skytrain-highway-closures-construction

Saturday, September 5, 2026

Before and after the Pattullo Bridge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw934knFUgc

In the 1930s, NW was still a former tiny BC capital and an ongoing provincial backwater. It was amazing just to have plumbing and electricity in parts of Surrey. No one thought in the 1930s that Surrey could eventually become a major city, at least by BC standards. Then by the 2030s, becoming the biggest populated city in B.C.

Unfortunately, the Pattullo Bridge and its replacement weren't designed to accommodate 2 streetcar tracks or 2 LRT tracks. Both bridges opened with just 2 lanes each way. The 4 lane Pattullo Bridge should have been designed to have 2 very wide shoulders and 2 wide sidewalks so that it could have become a 6 lane crossing with a proper safety divider for traffic.

While the replacement bridge is also just 4 lanes, there is a 6 lane potential in the design. However, the new bridge should have opened with 3 lanes each way, plus a 4th lane for express busses. Then, a 5th lane could have been a very wide shoulder, or an outright emergency lane.

Instead, when either 4 lane bridge has a stalled vehicle, the 2 lanes become a 1 lane chokepoint. If there is an accident on 1 side of the bridge and a stalled vehicle on the other side, 3-4 of the lanes can instantly become blocked.

The old and the new bridges weren't designed to have a lower deck for 2 tracks and 2 truck lanes, even though its part of a major seaport region.

In contrast, the 1932 Sydney_Harbour_Bridge opened with 6 lanes and 4 tracks. Then, in the late 1950s, two tram tracks were removed, thus allowing for the Sydney_Harbour_Bridge to become an 8 lane crossing. This was possible, because NSW wasn't thwarted by anything like a provincial backwater BC mindset, or the BCMV.

Monday, August 31, 2026

VMV and BCMV

What is the Vancouver Mind Virus and the BC Mind Virus?

Sometimes, it can be a provincial backwater approach to things. Other times, its a total Half-A$$ED attempt towards getting something done in backwards BC.

Its taken the City of Vancouver a very long time to surpass half a million residents. Its amazing that Vancouver finally surpassed having 3 quarters of a million people.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/cities/canada/vancouver 751,644

It remains to be seen if Vancouver will ever have more people than Winnipeg. Indeed, Winnipeg, like Edmonton and Calgary don't have something like a Burnaby next to them, or a Surrey & Coquitlam close by. While Vancouver barely makes it into the top 10 biggest cities in Canada, Greater Vancouver is still the 3rd largest urban region in Canada. However, so much of the urban scale and infrastructure is being heled back.

The biggest cities in Canada don't have anything like a VMV to thwart or impeded their scale. Thus, Toronto, Calgary, Montreal & Edmonton all have taller buildings than stunted Vancouver. Edmonton and Montreal, like Seattle and Perth, WA are allowed to have wider bridges. Most major cities around the world have longer trains than what's in provincial Vancouver.

Is there a Canadian Mind Virus (CMV)? Of course not officially. Fortunately, nothing like a CMV ever made it to Australia. Otherwise something absurd like provincial Trade Barriers could have really thwarted things down under.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/interprovincial-trade-barriers-9.7323970

https://www.mnp.ca/en/insights/directory/what-are-the-barriers-to-interprovincial-trade-in-canada

https://www.canada.ca/en/intergovernmental-affairs/services/internal-trade/federal-investments-internal-trade.html

Despite Canada being surrounded by water on 3 sides, there is no blue on the national flag. Fortunately, nothing like a CMV ever got Australia, NZ, the UK, France and even the US to remove blue from their flags.

Of course the flags of England, Switzerland and Japan have no blue in them, but blue is still a very nice color to behold.

Nothing on the scale of the 10 lane Narrows_Bridge_(Perth) is allowed in Vancouver, Victoria or Kelowna. Certainly, nothing like the Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges exists in Halifax. Even Boston and Montreal don't have a 12 lane crossing like the Gateway_Bridges.

Despite Australia having fewer people than Canada, its been able to exist on a larger scale in some ways. Its like there is still a plan to have a big country down under.

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

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

Saturday, August 29, 2026

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is Getting MASSIVE Upgrades

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQw18DQ4TlY MA$$IVE Upgrades? Compared to what, other provincial backwaters?

SkyTrain Front Window View - Canada Line to YVR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxTEBfxYH0g This is very sad & pathetic that the stations weren't designed to be long enough to accommodate a 5 car train. The stations can only accommodate a 2.5 car joke of a train. The real sad joke is that the line is still only running 2 car trains on what is supposed to be a major urban area on the Pacific Rim.

Unfortunately, even if Vancouver-Surrey & Abbottsford, Victoria & Nanaimo, Prince Rupert & Kitimat were all upgraded to proper big urban areas on par with Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane, or even Seattle & Calgary, BC just isn't as warm as Australia, or even NZ for half of of the year. Edmonton & Calgary, Seattle & Portland are able to have wider bridges & roads, and even longer trains than Vancouver to Richmond & Vancouver to Surrey-Langley.

Fortunately, the Pacific Rim part of Australia hasn't been trapped in a provincial backwater mentality like the Pacific Rim part of Canada. For too long there has been a keep BC small and backwards mindset. AKA, the BC Mind Virus (BCMV).

Running short & frequent trains could be seen as a cost saving measure initially, but unless there is a genuine to have proper long big city type trains, the BCMV still wins out. The fanatical approach to keep most of the bridges in BC so narrow has made it very difficult to have a proper regional express bus network, let alone BRT.

The 3 main seaport regions of BC, Greater Vancouver, Victoria-Nanaimo-Kitimat should become proper big city ports on the Pacific Rim. BC is 23 times the size of Switzerland, yet it doesn't even have the population of 1 CH. Canada in turn, has less than half of 1% of the worlds population.

Friday, August 28, 2026

Surrey, BC

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=2&status=15

https://skyscraperpage.com/b132164/surrey/centre-block 47 office stories?

As originally proposed, Surrey could have had an office tower that would even be noticeable if it were in Calgary or Seattle.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/10275-city-parkway-surrey-centre-block-office-towers

"Originally, the East Tower was to be 47 storeys while the West Tower was to be 19 storeys. City staff say the two towers are now planned to be 45 storeys and 17 storeys, although architectural plans indicate the East Tower will be 42 storeys." https://storeys.com/surrey-centre-block-office-tower

If this reduction does happen, Surrey still might be the first city in BC to have an office tower over 40 floors and Burnaby over 45 office stories. Never mind the first 50 story office tower in BC, its difficult enough just to get office floors above 39 storis in BC.

At the very least, Surrey still might have an office tower that might rival the tallest in Bellevue,_Washington.

Vancouver has heled back the urban scale of BC almost since the beginning. That's because for over a century, practically anything big in BC was in provincial Vancouver. But Vancouver or the VMV, can't stop Surrey, Burnaby and Coquitlam from rivaling some of the things in Vancouver, such as taller buildings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Bellevue,_Washington#Tallest_completed_buildings

Vancouver, BC

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=1&status=15

No 40 story office towers on the horizon within the city limits.

https://skyscraperpage.com/b106925/vancouver/the-stack

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/the-stack/35667 162.3 m / 533 ft Floors 38 https://www.skydb.net/building/134386807/the-stack/

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/harbour-centre/4144 , https://www.skydb.net/building/357382467/harbour-centre/

https://skyscraperpage.com/b63/vancouver/royal-centre

https://www.skydb.net/building/469710364/

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/id/4396 138 m / 453 ft Floors 35

In accordance with an unofficial provincial backwater mentality or VMV agenda, Vancouver was able to hold back the urban scale of BC for most of its history. However, Vancouver wasn't able to prevent Burnaby, Surrey and Coquitlam from constructing taller buildings.

Never mind Calgary and Seattle, strict Vancouver has only permitted 2 buildings to be taller than the 2 tallest in Bellevue,_Washington.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Bellevue,_Washington#Tallest_completed_buildings

Friday, August 21, 2026

Surrey BC's new $2.8 Billion Hospital

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

Even though Surrey might not be directly affected and thwarted by the VMV, the BC Mind Virus (BCMV) can still hold things back.

Surrey-Langley SkyTrain

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-langley-skytrain-community-signing-panels-construction-progress

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Surrey-Langley+SkyTrain

Monday, August 17, 2026

Hospital wait times are a rising issue in Surrey

https://surreynowleader.com/2026/08/17/letter-hospital-wait-times-are-a-rising-issue-in-surrey/

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Federal plan aims to expand Port of Vancouver's terminals, railways, and trade capacity

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/port-of-vancouver-gateway-strategy-roberts-bank-terminal-2-major-projects-office

https://vancouversun.com/news/ottawa-using-major-projects-office-to-speed-up-port-of-vancouver-expansions-heres-what-to-know

https://www.portvancouver.com/article/preferred-construction-partner-selected-roberts-bank-terminal-2-project

https://www.portvancouver.com/project/fraser-surrey-port-lands-transportation-improvements-project

Monday, July 13, 2026

Delta and Surrey road closures part of Metro water main project

https://www.delta-optimist.com/local-news/delta-surrey-road-closures-part-of-metro-water-main-project-12516337

The Delta, Roberts_Bank_Superport has the potential to be so much bigger than the inner Port of Vancouver Harbor. Unfortunately, there still seems to be no official plan to have an LRT link between YVR and the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal.

Surrey is set to become the biggest city in BC and needs proper big city infrastructure.

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

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

Saturday, July 11, 2026

SkyBridge between NW and Surrey, BC

Unfortunately, due to inept regional transportation planning, the SkyBridge (1990) wasn't built with any extra width for bus lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks. Everything was just expected to be crammed onto the inadequate, 4 lane Pattullo_Bridge, which only had 1 narrow sidewalk. Back in the day, there was no concept of allowing additional future space for 2 wide truck lanes, 2 car lanes and 2 bus lanes on the Pattullo_Bridge_in_1937.

It was as if someone really didn't want to ever have any bus lanes on the Patullo Bridge and the SkyTrain Bridge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyBridge_(TransLink)#Details

Then, it was as if someone still didn't want to have any bus lanes on the Stalewasem_Bridge as well. Since the train isnt running 24hrs, a BRT crossing is important.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalewasen_Bridge This new bridge should have opened with at least 3 lanes each way, plus a bus lane each way. However, an 8 lane bridge with 2 wide emergency lanes and 2 wide shoulders would look too much like big city infrastructure. Big city scale infrastructure is difficult to establish in backwards BC.