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

Thursday, May 7, 2026

West Vancouver councillors comments

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/north-shore-politician-visitors-hordes 

A multicultural metropolitan region is supposed to be open to people of all colors and cultures.

https://www.nsnews.com/local-news/west-vancouver-councillor-faces-criticism-over-hordes-comments-12247401 

Perhaps there are some who would like to see all nonwhite visitors to WV be required to have an access permit.

https://www.northshoredailypost.com/cassidy-responds-resignation-petition-ambleside/ 

Of course that would be so absurd, because the days of WV being a Whiteman's paradise ended decades ago. The KEEP+THEM+OUT mentality and agenda has taken on various forms since the early days of BC.



https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=West+Vancouver+councillors+comments

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=West+Vancouver

Sunday, May 3, 2026

The Cambie Bridge used to have 6 lanes when is opened in the 1980s.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2m4n1tUYVM This is heading northbound and shows the proper wide sidewalk that's on the east side of the bridge.

For some reason the sidewalk on the west side of the bridge was made too narrow. Had the sidewalk been as wide as the one on the east side of the bridge, the Vancouver planning department wouldn't have likely reduced a lane. Of course if the city would ever build a proper bike bridge beside the Cambie Bridge, then perhaps the 6th lane might be reactivated. 

A 6 lane Cambie bridge is better than a 5 lane version, or a former 6 lane Burrard Bridge reduced to 4. If both bridges had bike bridges next to them, then 2 lanes of each original 6 lane bridge could have been for busses. However, that goes against the congestive planning agenda that is backwards Vancouver. 

The late 1950s, 6 lane Iron Bridge should have had 2 wide emergency lanes and 2 wide shoulders. Then, the Iron Bridge could have been gradually modified to have 4 lanes each way, plus a bus lane each way. However, having a 10 lane bridge is what a big city would do. Unfortunately, Vancouver city planning has become so engrossed with perpetuating a small city agenda over the decades. 

When most of the regional bridges were built, there was no concept or interest in having them wide enough for bus lanes and wide emergency lanes and wide shoulders. Congestive transportation planning or stunted infrastructure, is one of the best ways in demonstrating a local reluctance to properly build big for the future. Who knows where all the money went over the decades, because it doesn't look like enough of it went towards building wider bridges and having longer trains and stations. 

Friday, May 1, 2026

West Vancouver Councilors comments on Ambleside visitors spark backlash

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/west-vancouver-councillor-ambleside-beach 

Sometimes its as if there is a harking back to a British Colonial dream to have BC as a Whiteman's paradise. Fortunately, over the decades, nonwhite people have gradually been allowed to live in WV and even buy property. Unfortunately, the KEEP+THEM+OUT mentality occasionally resurfaces.

Any dynamic city or cosmopolitan metropolis will have people from all over the world. However, for those who remember a time when WV was predominantly White, it can be upsetting for some to see a bunch of multicultural visitors to WV. That's odd, because the days of WV being some type of a Whiteman's playground are suppose to be long gone.

Curiously, there is still no highway tunnel to West Vancouver from Downtown Vancouver. No train from downtown to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, either. If a wall can't be built around WV, perhaps the next best thing was to symbolically not build proper big city infrastructure between downtown and WV. 

Mercer_Island,_Washington is a well to do enclave like WV. Yet, MI has a good highway and train link to Seattle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_Island,_Washington#Transportation 

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



https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=West+Vancouver+councillors+comments

Friday, January 30, 2026

Tree-inspired office tower concept proposed for revived Waterfront Station project

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/601-west-cordova-street-vancouver-waterfront-station-tower-cadillac-fairview-james-cheng 

Singapore, Perth, Sydney, Seattle, SF and Miami are allowed to have tall buildings right near the water, because they are allowed to be big and tall cities.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/555-west-cordova-street-vancouver-the-crystal-office-tower-opposition 

Vancouver has several restrictions which prevent it from becoming a proper big city.

Friday, December 12, 2025

Sound Transit has extended the 1 Line of Link Light Rail with a 7+ mile extension to Federal Way

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


Greater Vancouver really needs to have a proper regional bus and bike bridge system, because most of the bridges in backwards BC are too narrow to have dedecated bus lanes. 


 Melbourne's brand-new Veloway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU3b2h_2GxA 

https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/use-west-gate-tunnel/for-cyclists/veloway 

https://bicyclenetwork.com.au/newsroom/2025/12/08/melbournes-revolutionary-veloway-open-to-riders/ 

https://www.reddit.com/r/melbournecycling/comments/1pkorwm/my_impression_of_the_veloway_the_good_and_bad/ 

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=16S-faloxDySd0qacgOe4usf99cY&ll=-37.80970653627167%2C144.94901540791687&z=11

History of the Port Mann Bridge in BC

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4aYxObfjJ8 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Mann_Bridge#Original_bridge The original PMB had only 2 lanes each way with no emergency lanes or wide shoulders. It was designed to be a classic BC bottleneck-chokepoint right from the start. Eventually, a 5th lane was squeezed in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Mann_Bridge#Opposition_to_twinning_plan While bridge duplication isn't that big of a problem in Australia or the US, it is in the BC part of Canada. Australia is allowed to have 3 proper big cities on the Pacific. Thus, the urban scale of infrastructure in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are much larger than what's allowed in the Greater Vancouver Region. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Mann_Bridge#New_bridge Given that this is supposed to be part of the main East-West highway in Canada, a significantly wider bridge was eventually approved. While it was designed with a provision for a potential future rail line, there should have also been a provision for a lower deck. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crossings_of_the_Fraser_River#Main_Watercourse_(New_Westminster_to_Yellowhead_Pass)

Thursday, October 30, 2025

World Cup lodging shortfall predicted in Vancouver

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/airbnb-wants-str-rules-relaxed-for-upcoming-2026-fifa-world-cup-in-vancouver-1.7649128  

The proposed 27-storey hotel tower at the edge of Stanley Park is drawing pushback from West End residents over its scale https://vancouversun.com/news/proposed-west-end-tower-that-aims-to-fill-vancouvers-hotel-shortage Parking lots and almost delapadeted buildings should be selected first. This building still seems to be in reasonable shape. 

https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/vancouver-needs-10k-more-hotel-rooms-says-report-10508458

https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouver-major-hotel-policy-overhaul-room-shortage

https://www.destinationvancouver.com/media/media-releases/BC-hotel-association-provides-recommendations-to-spur-new-hotel-development 

Lots of people in some parts of the West_End end are still accustomed to stumpy buildings, despite the very high land costs. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Vancouver-stanley-park.jpg/960px-Vancouver-stanley-park.jpg Many other cities aren't afraid to build tall close to the water or parks.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Vancouver_west_end.jpg/960px-Vancouver_west_end.jpg People shouldn't be displace just becaus of a new development. An agreement should be reached so that they can still remain in the new structure. However, it's the height issue that usually keeps popping up. A lot of people that still remember Vancouver as a provincial backwater of a city want it to remain that way for as long as possible.

https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/2030-2038-barclay-st , https://stop2030barclay.ca 

https://henriquezpartners.com/projects/2030-barclay The height proposal is at lest a dozen floors too short, it should be about 20 stories taller.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2030-barclay-street-vancouver-stanley-park-hotel-tower

https://storeys.com/marcon-barclay-street-vancouver-hotel The issue here is that a lot of people don't want a stump replaced with an atempt of a taller building. The people that live there should have the option to live in the new building. If the city and the developer could reach an agreement to allow the current residents to move into the lower floors of the tower. Then remain there at a reasonable rental rate for as long as they want. Then eventually after all the former residents have moved on or passed on, the lower floors could be repurposed into hotel rooms. If a developer in such a situation could agree to that, then the city should allow them to build 15-20 floors higher than 27 stories.

That gets back to the height restriction issue in Vancouver. Other cities have allowed tall buildings right up to the edge of a park. It seems that no one from Vancouver was able to ever stop Sydney. Rather, the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) never made it there to thwart big, bustling Sydney.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Sydney_CBD_on_a_sunny_day.jpg/960px-Sydney_CBD_on_a_sunny_day.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Global_Citizen_Festival_Central_Park_New_York_City Anything like the VMV would have thwartted NYC so badly. 

Of course it would have been great if there was future space south of the Hotel+Vancouver (with only 507 rooms) to build a 55-65 story tower. A VPL and Hotel+Vancouver tower could have been started there in the mid 1950s, but Vancouver was still too much of a provincial backwater then. The Fairmont_Royal_York is nice and wide with 1,363 rooms


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westin_St._Francis "...the St. Francis one of the largest hotels in the city, with more than 1,254 rooms and suites." 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_San_Francisco_Union_Square "Renovated in 2017, it is the largest hotel on the West Coast,[8] with 1,921 rooms."

Fortunately, Sydney, Melbourne, SF and Toronto were never under anything like a Vancouverization agenda. Somehow that backwards mentality was never adopted in most real cities.

https://bcbusiness.ca/industries/real-estate/land-values-how-the-hotel-shortage-in-vancouver-is-coinciding-with-a-boom-in-tourism The BC Mind Virus is so firmly entrenched that its still very difficult to properly upgrade things.


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

Monday, October 27, 2025

Honolulu’s Skyline Rail Expands to West Honolulu, and to a New Airport Station

 https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/honolulus-skyline-rail-expands-to-west-honolulu-bringing-faster-more-sustainable-public-transit-to-oahu-with-a-new-airport-station 

Even if the widest parts of the H-1 could be 10 or 12 lanes, it would still get plugged up. Nevertheless, being from Vancouver, it's quite impressive to see such a wide H-1 by the airport. If you visit Vancouver from Hawaii, you might think that Vancouver is a big city like Sydney, SF or Seattle. Then you discover that the roads & bridges are much narrower than what's in those cities. The real big surprise is that Vancouver not only has shorter trains than Sydney, SF & Seattle, but even Edmonton. Fortunately, the Skyline to the airport isn't a 2 car joke of a train like Vancouver's airport line is.

https://honolulutransit.org/about/route-map , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Route

https://www.honolulu.gov/dts/skyline


The Airport Segment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Segment_2:_Airport 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelepaua_station If only Vancouver's line to the airport could have opened with 4 car trains, then with Selective_door_operation, eventually 6 car trains. Unfortunatly, backwards Vancouver has been stuck with a 2 car YVR train since 2009, but it has the potential to become a 2.5 car joke of a train, someday.  


Downtown Honolulu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Segment_3:_City_Center 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Ala_Moana_extension 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Rolling_stock "The line uses 256 ft (78 m) four-car train sets, each with the capacity to carry nearly 800 passengers..."  "Each car is 64 ft (20 m) long, weighs 72,000 lb (33,000 kg), and has 36 seats with a listed total capacity of 195 people, and sits on standard-gauge (1,435 mm) rails." 

While the Skyline cars are similar in length to the YVR-Canada-Line cars, they are of a heavier construction. Plus, the trains are twice as long as any on the embarrassingly short Canada+Line trains.

While it took a long time to get the Skyline to the airport, at least the stations were all initially built to accommodate 4 car trains. Unfortunatly, the joke that is the SkyTrain-Canada+Line is still only running 2 car trains and wasn't designed to eventually have 5 car trains. Its difficult to understand why the joke-line stations are only designed to accommodate a 2.5 car train, someday.

Honolulu like Brisbane, are very far away from the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) and much warmer. Thus, they are able to have longer trains to the airport, because they can build on a proper big city scale.  


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Brisbane+Airport+Railway+Line 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=the+airport+train

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Granville Bridge, Vancouver, etc.

 https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/granville-bridge.aspx 

Even after 3 tries, Vancouver still couldn't quite get the Granville_Street_Bridge correct. Of course the 3rd bridge wasn't designed to have a lower deck for streetcars or tram-trains. Even though it was generally designed to be a car, truck and bus bridge, the sidewalks should have been double width and have an inner railing. If the city couldn't wait until late March, it should have had the official dedication in early March, not in crappy February 1954.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Street_Bridge#Third_bridge_(1954) "On February 4, 1954, the current Granville Street Bridge opened to traffic after five years of planning and construction; its dedication ceremony was attended by 5,000 spectators after it had been delayed a week due to heavy snow." 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Street_Bridge#21st_century Unfortunatly, new bike lanes and extra sidewalks couldn't be installed below the 8 lane deck. Thus, Vancouver went for strike 3 and removed 2 lanes from the bridge. The Burrard+Street+Bridge lost 2 lanes and the Cambie+Bridge lost 1 lane. A bike and foot bridge could have been built on the west side of the Burrard Bridge, then no lanes would have been removed. The Cambie Bridge already had a wide sidewalk on its east side. The west sidewalk should have been widened, then no lane would have been removed. 

The Granville+Bridge could have had 6 lanes and 2 bus lanes. Now, if there are ever 2 bus lanes, there will only be 2 general lanes each way.

Several cities around the world have bike & foot bridges and don't have to remove lanes from the existing bridges.

For such a congested city to have removed 5 lanes from 3 bridges, could there even be more of a reduction of lanes Well, there are some who would like to have the LGB just for bike and foot traffic.

https://globalnews.ca/news/1946543/government-says-lions-gate-bridge-will-not-close-to-cars-come-2030 

That would be OK if an 8 lane tunnel could be built near it. Such a First Narrows Tunnel could have 3 lanes each way, plus a bus lane each way. A parallel triple track commuter train tunnel should be built close to it as well.

The new & improved tunnel between Richmond and Delta won't be ready until 2030. Since things move so slow in constipated, backwards BC, perhaps a First_Narrows_Tunnel might not be completed until 2040, or even 2050.

Wednesday, September 24, 2025