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

Friday, July 10, 2026

Story Bridge and Clem Jones Tunnel vs the inadequat LGB

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_Bridge 3 lanes each way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clem_Jones_Tunnel (CJT) 2 lanes each way. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clem_Jones_Tunnel#Public_transport

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Story+Bridge 


The+Missing+Element in backwards BC.

In contrast, Vancouver is stuck with a 3 lane LGB, with no parallel bus, truck and train tunnels. If visiting Vancouver from Brisbane, or almost any Australian city or town, you will be shocked. While Australia is allowed to have 3 big port cities on the Pacific Rim (Mel Syd & Bris), Canada has taken a Half-A$$ED approach.


While the Port_of_Prince_Rupert has a lot of potential, most of it remains as a watered down front. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Prince_Rupert#Conversion_to_an_intermodal_terminal 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Harbour_(British_Columbia)#Facilities

https://gvha.ca/deep-water-terminal/terminal-information/ V-BC has potential, but its also so scaled back or watered down. 

Despite Victoria wanting to remain as a quaint provincial backwater, it should eventually become a proper port city like Wellingtonhttps://www.centreport.co.nz/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CentrePort_Wellington#Containers 


Port of Vancouver, BC.

The Gateway Bridges in Brisbane vs the SCB in Seattle

The Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges provide a 12 lane Gateway crossing. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges#Duplication

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Gateway_Bridge_aerial4.JPG No problem in Queensland. 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Gateway+Bridge Its tough enough just to get a 6 lane bridge built in BC, let alone a 12 lane crossing.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_Canal_Bridge (SCB) Its a 12 lane crossing.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Ship_canal_bridge_and_downtown_skyline%2C_2000.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/University_District_Seattle%2C_May_2024.jpg/960px-University_District_Seattle%2C_May_2024.jpg The SCB has 8 lanes on the upper deck and 4 lanes on the lower deck.

While Brisbane and Seattle are both on the Pacific Rim, backwards Vancouver, BC might as well be on another world. Brisbane and Seattle are allowed to function like proper big port cities, because they aren't hindered by anything like the VMV, or the Backwards BC Mentality. 

If such a 12 lane crossing was allowed in Greater Vancouver it would mean that there could be 2 BRT lanes, 2 HOV lanes, 2 truck lanes and at least 6 general traffic lanes. However, the backwards BC approach is to funnel everything into just 2 or 3 lanes each way.

6 lanes, plus 2 train tracks

https://www.google.com/maps/place/18B+Howard+Smith+Dr,+Port+Of+Brisbane 


Brisbane got it right and Vancouver got it wrong. Both are major Pacific port cities, but the Vancouver version is watered down.


https://www.google.com/maps/place/Iron+Workers+Memorial+Bridge 6 lanes, but should have been 8-10 lanes by now.  

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Thornton+Tunnel+North+Entrance Its only a single track tunnel and freight train bridge. Any major seaport region should have double track bridges and tunnels.



The New_Westminster (rail)_Bridge should have opened with 2 tracks and had enough future width for a 3rd track.




Wednesday, July 1, 2026

Why do some people think that Toronto is The Next New York?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eJcCpoXx50 

Its really more like becoming another Chicago. They are the 2 biggest cities on the Great Lakes.

No Canada Day Fireworks in Vancouver, yet again

"You’ll find Canada Day fireworks in Burnaby, Coquitlam, Delta, White Rock, Abbotsford, and Port Coquitlam." https://miss604.com/2026/06/canada-day-events-around-vancouver-2026 

Despite not having any Canada Day fireworks for itself, Vancouver can't stop other cities in BC or Canada from having fireworks on C Day.


Tuesday, June 30, 2026

The 15-30 minute city concept

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15-minute_city 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198222000641

Ideally, if most things are within 15 minutes, that's great.

https://unfccc.int/news/the-15-minute-city 

https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/industries/government-public/perspectives/urban-future-with-a-purpose/15-minute-city.html

Even in the case of urban sprawl, a lot of things can be built within 15-30 minute town centers.

https://policyoptions.irpp.org/2024/10/15-minute-cities-canada

https://www.oecd.org/en/blogs/2025/04/from-the-15-minute-city-to-the-30-minute-region-rethinking-how-we-live-and-connect.html 

No matter how big a city or urban region is, 15-30 minute town centers can be built, but it can require a lot of work.

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/07/117975-could-la-be-15-minute-city

https://laist.com/brief/news/climate-environment/how-15-minute-cities-could-save-time-reduce-emissions-and-build-community 

However, sometimes people still have to get across town for various reasons. 

https://medium.com/sybarite/escape-to-a-15-minute-city-ce3707baf145 While its not impossible, to even establish 30 minute urban focal points in Greater L.A. can be challenging. If a person living in L.A. is within 15 minutes of walking or biking, or a bus or train trip from the stores and other services, that's great. However, a lot of people are still a 30-60 minute drive away from work & other places to get to. Thus, a 1 hour+ city is still unavoidable in some cases.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Urbanism/comments/1gtlylo/what_city_is_californias_best_option_for_a/

Saturday, June 27, 2026

How much will Vancouver change by 2036?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJtotvMq2ls 

The Lion+Bridge will likely still not have an express bus and LRT tunnel near it. The+Iron+Bridge still might not have a proper BRT and LRT bridge next to it. The OSB and the KSB will likely not have a bus and bike bridge built beside them. There will still likely be no new Fraser Street Bridge for bikes and buses. No Boundary Road bridges to provide a direct link between the North Shore and Richmond for buses, trucks and bikes.

While the first 2 Skytrain lines will have 5 car trains, the stunted YVR-Canada Line will only have 2.5 car trains. Vancouver still might not permit any office tower to have a 40th floor, but might allow some residential towers to be on a Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane & Toronto scale. 

However, BIG city thinking and planning in Vancouver has always been so difficult. Boston, SF and the City of Paris are ridiculously small cities like Vancouver with all 3 having a land area of less than 50 sq. mi. or 129.5 sq. km. Yet, Boston, SF and especially the City of Paris, have all been able to fit so much more into the same general space. That's because they aren't bound by anything like the inept and extreme Vancouver type restrictions. 


Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing Collapse of 1958

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironworkers_Memorial_Second_Narrows_Crossing#Collapse 

After the collapse, there was a chance that the Iron_Bridge (IwB) could have been totally redesigned, but this is BC. Its very difficult in BC to design transportation infrastructure with significant future capacity. The Iron Bridge should have been built along the lines of the 12 lane Ship_Canal_Bridge (SCB) in Seattle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_Canal_Bridge 

Unlike Seattle and Washington State, so much in BC is built to a provincial backwater standard. Thus, nothing on the scale of the SCB has ever been allowed in BC. https://pauldorpat.com/2014/05/17/seattle-now-then-the-ship-canal-bridge Sunce an LRT line wasn't possible for the SCB, it runs sort of parallel in a tunnel to the UW. Of course LRT to UBC is still an incomplete BC pipe dream.

The IwB should have had at least 8 lanes on an upper deck and 4 lanes on a lower deck for extra bus and truck lanes. There should have also been a provision for 2 LRT tracks on a lower deck, but that would be properly planning for the future. 

Unfortunately, the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) ruined the Burrard-Bridge. The Burrard_Street Bridge (BSB) opened with 6 lanes and a lower level provision for a double track streetcar crossing.

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/5-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-burrard-bridge-7129420 

Foolishly, because the city didn't want to build a parallel bike bridge, 2 lanes were removed from the BSB. This has made it very unlikely that the BSB will be able to have 2 bus lanes. No lower level streetcar crossing was ever built. Yet, a streetcar line on both side of False Creek could have been a nice thing to have up and running. Ironically, Vancouver was one of the first cities to get rid of its streetcars and will likely be one of the last to bring them back. The VMV is such a horrible thing, yet it officially doesn't exist. 



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

Friday, June 5, 2026

Ranking the 16 FIFA World Cup Host Cities

 https://www.si.com/soccer/ranking-16-fifa-world-cup-host-cities

2 out of 3 is bad, but 4 bridges?

 Apparently, 2 of the 3 Skytrain bridges were never designed to also accommodate bikes.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/North+Arm+Bridge/@49.2028331,-123.1189681,1005m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x548675f84f6c0721:0xbea3ccce242f45a8!2sMarpole+Bridge!8m2!3d49.1995219!4d-123.1268811!16zL20vMGZqMjYx!3m5!1s0x548675e222b072f3:0x1f4afd8a052e9fba!8m2!3d49.2030206!4d-123.1176091!16zL20vMGc1anZj?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDYwMy4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D 

Unfortunately, all 3 Skytrain bridges weren't designed to have any express bus lanes, never mind any for a proper rapid bus network.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Middle+Arm+Bridge/@49.1956263,-123.1347899,597m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x548675e70cc6d0d1:0x203a51fa759dab7e!8m2!3d49.1957207!4d-123.1351442!16zL20vMGdna3px?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDYwMy4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D   

In the 1980s, once it was revealed that Skytrain wouldn't be providing a 24 hour service, there wasn't a serious effort to convince the public of the importance of having a 24 hour regional express bus network. Transportation redundancy is difficult to grasp in backwards BC.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Marpole+Bridge/@49.2048651,-122.8949547,729m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m7!3m6!1s0x548675f84f6c0721:0xbea3ccce242f45a8!4b1!8m2!3d49.1995219!4d-123.1268811!16zL20vMGZqMjYx?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDYwMy4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D 

All 3 of there's transportation bridges should have had enough future space for at least a 3rd track. Upon opening, each bridge should have had 2 bus lanes that also could be for emergency vehicles. Each bridge should have had 2 bike lanes and 2 sidewalks. 



https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Marpole+Bridge/@49.1996678,-123.1276435,848m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x548675f84f6c0721:0xbea3ccce242f45a8!8m2!3d49.1995219!4d-123.1268811!16zL20vMGZqMjYx?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDYwMy4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D This was allowed to fall apart and eventually catch fire. It was never doubletracked and the interurban trams were phased out by the 1950s. Yet, most of the highways and general road system in SW BC cities are just 2 lanes each way. It was as if there was no need to have a 3rd lane for trucks and a 4th or 5th lane for buses & HOVs. 

https://stevestonheritage.ca/2024/06/21/marpole-cp-rail-bridge

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

The transportation infrastructure was set up for congestion, right from the start. Having a short Skytrain & small stations might have made economic sense in its initial phase. However, there was a failure to not design it to eventually become a proper big-city size train with much longer stations.



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

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Racism is a risk when Vancouver and Toronto hosts the World Cup

https://www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/world-cup-2026-raises-human-rights-concerns-in-canadian-host-cities 

https://football.dhgate.com/lifestyle/world-cup-guide-reporting-racism-at-games-what-you-need-to-know-and-do/

 https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/national-sports/racism-is-a-risk-when-vancouver-hosts-world-cup-but-measures-exist-bc-ag-sharma-12361474 So, this is basically the same article repeated. 

https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Rivalry_with_other_European_empires

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/06/01/racism-risk-vancouver-hosts-world-cup-measures-exist-ag-sharma/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Expansion_and_colonial_conflict_(1707%E2%80%931783)

Despite its overall area, Canada has less than 1% of the worlds population. A global population that is mostly nonwhite. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Consolidation_and_global_dominance_(1783%E2%80%931815)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/world-cup/article/racism-is-a-risk-when-vancouver-hosts-world-cup-but-measures-exist-bc-ag-sharma/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Britain's_imperial_century_(1815%E2%80%931914)

For its first century, Canada was supposed to be primarily for people from Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Changing_status_of_the_white_colonies 

That was the British Colonial Agenda, but eventually the British_Empire had to acknowledge that most of the worlds population is nonwhite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Decolonisation_and_decline_(1945%E2%80%931997)

There are strong arguments that Canada should be able to gradually contain a little more of the worlds population. Since a lot of the worlds population is from warmer areas, a lot of people might not like the Canadian Winter season. SW BC just happens to be the most mild part of Canada during the winter. The Lower_Mainland of BC and SE Vancouver_Island have been very reluctant to think big and build on a grand scale. 

The Lions+Gate+Bridge and the Johnson+Street+Bridge are both classic 3 lane BC bottleneck-chokepoints. They are both fine examples of not wanting to build for a growing population on a world that is composed mostly of nonwhite people.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/02/news/racism-risk-when-vancouver-hosts-world-cup-measures-exist-says-bc-ag-sharma 

Toronto and Southern Ontario just never had the same level of small scale thinking as in SW BC. In fact, it the backwards BC approach to things just never caught on in Toronto, Melbourne and SF. They never got rid of their streetcars and trams like Vancouver and Victoria did.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/lzvgg7/the_british_empire_at_its_territorial_peak_oc/ 

As Canada started to become more multicultural in the 1960s and 70s, predominantly White city councils in BC kept imposing a small-scale approach to things. 

Will some people start to say that by keeping most of the world out of Canada is good for the environment? There are already some people that would like to use nonwhites as being too much of a carbon footprint and that Canada should never have 1% of the worlds population. This would be a very clever and sinister way to perpetuate the KEEP THEM OUT agenda. 

The days of Canada being officially under a British Colonial, White authority management power structure are long gone. As of 2026, Canada has yet to have half of 1% of the worlds population. 

History of Anti-immigration rallies in major cities across Australia

 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-26/march-for-australia-anti-immigration-rally/106269414 

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

https://racismnoway.com.au/about-racism/timeline/timeline-2020-2029 

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

https://theconversation.com/neo-nazis-and-racist-rallies-why-its-important-the-australian-media-call-them-for-what-they-are-264329 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_for_Australia#Links_between_organisers_and_far-right_extremism

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

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/06/in-australia-racist-violence-is-nothing-new-but-emboldened-neo-nazis-form-frightening-new-spectre

https://humanrights.gov.au/about-us/media-centre/media-releases/race/listening-to-first-peoples-stories-is-key-to-ending-racism-in-australia 

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

https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/white-australia-policy 

https://antar.org.au/issues/racism/racism-in-australia/

Monday, June 1, 2026

AI uncertainty hangs over Vancouver office market

Some experts say shifting job needs are making future demand for office space harder to predict https://www.biv.com/news/technology/ai-uncertainty-hangs-over-vancouver-office-market-12348582 

Was Vancouver somehow generations ahead of AI in not allowing tall office towers. In many cities a 30 story office tower is like a stump. Even a 40 story office tower would just be average, at best.

Given the strict height limitations of Vancouver, the 30 story TD_Tower wasn't completed until 1972. 

That means that during its construction, Vancouver had its first office tower rising over 29 floors in 1971.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TD_Tower_(Vancouver) 



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

https://www.canadianarchitect.com/the-stack-zero-carbon-office-tower-officially-opens/ 37 story

https://www.mmoser.com/projects/the-stack-rooftop-vancouver 37 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amieA9XHAVQ

https://macleans.ca/culture/building-vancouver-stack-work-life-balance/ 37

https://www.oxfordproperties.com/lease/office/31191 36

https://www.adamson-associates.com/project/the-stack-1133-melville/ 36 

https://www.ledcor.com/our-projects/project-gallery/project-gallery-building/commercial/the-stack-office-tower 36 levels 

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/comments/1k7dt3j/the_stack_vancouver_bc/

https://www.urbanyvr.com/oxford-properties-announces-major-tenants-of-the-stack-at-1133-melville/