Urban Tech Links: UTL

https://medium.com/@ejasp2/metropolis-v-s-blade-runner-1982

Monday, March 18, 2024

Futuristic skylines and totalitarian control stories

http://www.visionsofthecity.com/alphaville.htm

There are certain Sci-Fi and noir_films that really provide interesting and concerning scenarios.

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Futuristic+skylines+and+totalitarian+control+areas

Vancouver neighbourhoods are divided between, High-density housing vs. better amenities

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/real-estate-news/vancouver-neighbourhood-divided-high-density-housing-vs-better-amenities-8453134

The keep Vancouver small & backwards mentality has been firmly entrenched for most of its existence. Calgary & Seattle both have permitted residential floors higher than what is allowed in Vancouver.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/the-aster-349-east-6th-avenue-vancouver-social-housing-brightside

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=High-density+housing

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Vancouver

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Top 20 Biggest Megaprojects Completing in 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Eg6L_yeYU

Saturday, March 16, 2024

BC Highway 1 - Colquitz River Bridges Widening

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation-projects/other-transportation-projects/colquitz-river-bridges

Finally, some bus lanes.

Bus Rapid Transit, Cushing Bridge, Calgary

Vancouver needs bus-bridges as much as Calgary, but of course Vancouver is slow to the party, once again. The 4 lane bottleneck, AKA the Cushing+Bridge in Calgary could have gotten the Vancouver Chokepoint Award. There aren't any HOV lanes or even emergency lanes, just 2 lanes each way. However, what transformed this BC type bottleneck in Calgary into a semi-decent crossing, was the simple addition of a bus & bike bridge. The Greater Vancouver Area should have had bus & bike bridges built next to all of the regional crossings decades ago. However, that would go against the congestive planning approach, which is so intertwined within backwards BC, but not in Alberta & Washington State.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/city-says-theyll-try-to-minimize-deerfoot-disruption-during-brt-bridge-work

The Pattullo Bridge replacement shouldn't require a bus & train bridge to be built next to it, but it might eventually. If only it could have been properly designed in the first place to not just have 2 lanes each way, but 2 bus & 2 HOV lanes as well. Plus, built high & strong enough with a provision to allow for LRT and trucks on a lower deck.

Unfortunately, no one seriously planned to have an express bus and an LRT line between NW & Surrey, because the Skytrain isn't a 24hr system. Overnight buses can't go on the Skybridge, because no one allowed for a provision to have a couple of bus lanes on it. Thus, the Pattullo Bridge replacement wont have any bus or emergency lanes. Even if someday the Pattullo Bridge replacement is widened from 4 to 6 lanes, there still won't be any emergency lanes and probably no bus and HOV lanes.

Light_rail_in_Sydney, NSW. Once again, BC falls so far behind. BC was so quick to get rid of its streetcars before the 1960s. Where as NSW has been gradually reinstating a modern version of their old tram lines.

New Tramways_in_Paris have been gradually added, but not in backwater BC.

Unlike NW & Surrey, Portland_has_Streetcars & the MAX train which cross the river. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JvGTx4ufFo

https://www.travelportland.com/plan/portland-streetcar

MAX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpfRKqy96_E

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1065-pacific-street-vancouver-rental-housing-wall-financial-corporation

There is just something backwards in the way that BC does things.

32-storey West End rental housing tower approved by Vancouver City Council

So many rental towers could be much taller, but the, keep Vancouver short & small mentality remains so firmly entrenched. A mixed income tower approach can offer more floors & suites for various income levels. However, curtailed buildings will simply just be more limited as to what they can offer.

BC is mostly mountainous, yet Vancouver is continually held back, due to the extreme building height restrictions.

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Vancouver

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Port Moody is now a transit-oriented development city

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/port-moody-is-now-a-transit-oriented-development-city

Port_Moody is very small, 25.85 km² (9.98 sq mi) and isn't much larger in area than NW.

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

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

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Jacque Fresco

https://www.forbes.com/2007/10/13/jacque-fresco-prediction-tech-future07-cx_1015fresco.html?sh=4107813c607f

First Nations to get new City of Vancouver exemptions for affordable housing building fees

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/first-nations-vancouver-dcl-social-housing-exemptions?

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Surrey, BC

https://vancouversun.com/news/metro-vancouver-projected-to-hit-three-million-residents-this-year

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

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-population-growth-immigration-2024-report

https://www.surreynowleader.com/local-news/surreys-population-1054376-by-2046-7312331

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-suburb-in-the-Metro-Vancouver-area-the-City-of-Surrey-is-one-of-the-fastest-growing_fig1_350529878

https://www.straight.com/news/future-lives-here-surrey-population-growth-rate-outstrips-vancouver-by-almost-double

https://www.surreynowleader.com/news/surreys-population-grows-to-568000-with-certain-communities-seeing-10-growth-2985167

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-population-forecast

https://www.westerninvestor.com/where-to-invest/surrey-fastest-growing-bc-city-to-become-future-core-of-the-lower-mainland-3829729

https://www.biv.com/news/economy-law-politics/swift-growth-surrey-drives-citys-economic-engine-8265448

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220209/mc-a002-eng.htm

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

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/real-estate/bcs-city-planner-shortage-could-slow-housing-progress-8435105

B.C.'s city planner shortage could slow housing progress

Almost 2 dozen Switzerland areas can fit into BC. Yet, BC hasn't reached the population of one Switzerland.

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

https://hollywoodnorthbuzz.com/2024/03/vancouvers-bentall-5-tower-as-encom-for-tron-ares-saturday.html

Monday, March 11, 2024

The Bentall 5 Tower in Vancouver as the ENCOM tower for TRON: ARES

The Vancouver Cruise Ship Season

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Vancouver+Cruise+Ship+Season

Seattle is always able to do more, simply because its not under any Vancouver type restriction or limitations.

https://www.burnabynow.com/local-news/future-of-burnaby-forests-tree-urban-forest-management-strategy-8379402

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Future-plans of-Burnaby-forests-tree-urban-forest-management-strategy

Most of BC remains as a wilderness. Indeed, there are only a handful of major urban areas, so the wilderness isn't going away. Almost 2 dozen Switzerland's can fit inside of BC, yet BC has yet to reach the population of one CH.

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

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

150-West-Pender-Street-534-550-Cambie-Street-Vancouver-expanded-concept

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/150-west-pender-street-534-550-cambie-street-vancouver-expanded-concept-parkade

Monday, February 26, 2024

Vancouver's Arthur Erickson Place achieves zero-carbon building certification

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/arthur-erickson-place-vancouver-zero-carbon-building

This could have been the first office tower in Vancouver to have at least 40 stories, but it wasn't even permitted to have 30 floors, due to imposed height limits. Calgary & Seattle never have had to endure such restrictions.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

OpenAI's "World Simulator" SHOCKS The Entire Industry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH9FU7Gd6v8

https://openai.com/sora#capabilities

https://openai.com/research/video-generation-models-as-world-simulators

Sora AI’s Problems [And Solutions] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRmPlFidVkk

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Simulation+Theory

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

The Vancouver Auto Show is returning after a four-year hiatus

https://www.straight.com/just-announced/vancouver-auto-show-2024

Well, the cancel (car) culture hasn't been able to ban such vehicles from Vancouver & BC in general, so far.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Will Ottawa stop funding roads? Minister pressed after contentious comments

https://globalnews.ca/news/10293868/environment-minister-road-funding/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/guilbeault-no-new-roads-1.7114867

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Canada+vs.+Australia

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Coober Pedy, Australia

For some, Coober_Pedy just might be the epitome of underground_living.

https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/45520/20230821/humans-live-underground-escape-extreme-temperature-earthscrapers-potential-solution-climate.htm

https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/efficient-earth-sheltered-homes

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=living+underground

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Coober+Pedy

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Living in Australia

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13053349/Struggling-dad-eight-kids-Don-Parkes-earns-125K-year-cost-living-crisis.html

Living+in+Australia has so many perks and advantages. However, the cost of living isn't one of them.

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook47p/CostOfLiving

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Australia&country2=Canada

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

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Australia

Monday, January 29, 2024

The Greatest Bridges Ever Constructed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDuvDi7LYhY

The $1BN Race to Save The Golden Gate Bridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcV1btTEAVg

A Barrier_transfer_machine has made the bridge safer.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/08/the-road-zipper-eliminated-head-on-collisions-on-golden-gate-bridge.html

https://www.goldengate.org/bridge/bridge-operations/traffic-management/

https://mtc.ca.gov/whats-happening/news/special-features/golden-gate-bridge-moveable-median-barrier

https://www.kqed.org/news/11594879/the-mesmerizing-machine-that-makes-driving-across-the-golden-gate-bridge-less-terrifying

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_transfer_machine#Permanent_locations

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Wide streets

https://plazaperspective.com/wide-street-paradise

Wide+streets have a lot of multimodal potential, simply because of their extra width.

Broadway (Los Angeles)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(Los_Angeles)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(San_Francisco)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway,_Sydney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(Manhattan)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(Seattle)

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

Monday, January 15, 2024

Fans at Steelers-Bills Games Might Be Sitting in Big Piles of Snow

https://www.si.com/nfl/2024/01/15/wild-photo-bills-steelers-fans-might-be-sitting-piles-snow

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Some Canadians are ditching their cars for bicycles – even in the winter

https://globalnews.ca/news/10222836/canadians-ditching-cars-bicycles-winter

Well, that might be a little easier in SW BC than in most of Canada.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Metro and Subway lines

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/2024/01/metro-and-subway-systems.html

https://moovitapp.com/index/p/en/public_transit-Rabbit_Hole-IzmirAyd%C4%B1n-site_257277548-1564

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

https://www.thethings.com/animals-cute-public-transit-bus-train/

https://www.sncf.com/en/group/behind-the-scenes/wildlife-on-tracks

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/bunny-living-at-toronto-subway-station-rescued-from-tracks-1.6311235

Rabbits and trains don't go that well together.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/police-return-emotional-support-rabbit-that-ran-loose-in-vancouver-skytrain-station-1.6550898

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/130424-animals-weird-cats-science-world-trains-buses

https://animalsontheunderground.com/

Friday, January 5, 2024

Building height restrictions in some cities

https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_dad=portal&_pageid=2762,3101387&_schema=PORTAL

1000_de_La_Gauchetiere has 51 floors. No other office building in Montreal has ever been permitted to reach 50 stories.

https://cultmtl.com/2021/05/in-defence-of-building-height-restrictions-in-montreal-mount-royal-urban-plan-denis-coderre/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Montreal#Tallest_buildings

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-politicians-debate-whether-to-allow-skyscrapers-higher-than-mount-royal-1.5401429

Montreal still has some taller buildings than Vancouver. However, both cities remain vertically stunted when compared to what's permitted in Melbourne, Toronto & Calgary.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-view-cone-impacts-broadway-plan-cambie-street

https://storeys.com/james-cheng-the-stack-vancouver No office building in Vancouver has ever been allowed to have a 40th floor. The tallest nonresidential towers are in the 35 to 37 storey range.

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

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/industry-news/property-report/article-vancouver-high-rise-canadas-first-new-commercial-build-to-achieve-net/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Montreal#Tallest_under_construction_or_proposed

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Building+Height+Restrictions

Sunday, December 31, 2023

No fireworks in Vancouver for New Year's Eve 2023

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/events-and-entertainment/no-fireworks-in-vancouver-for-new-years-eve-2023-8043481 Another fine example of the backward, watered down citie's mentality. Just because Vancouver gets a lot of rain, that shouldn't mean Vancouver has to water almost everything down, but it does. Throughout its existence, Vancouver has had a force or momentum to keep it as a provincial backwater. All through the decades & generations, Vancouver & BC keep adding red tape & so many regulations, which continue to stunt or truncate the place.

The City of Seattle unlike Vancouver, started to have a big city mindset in the early 1900s, especially by 1915. The Seattle_metropolitan_area is the largest in the Pacific_Northwest.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Seattle+space+needle+on+new+years+eve

While the Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District is the most populous in Western_Canada, the City of Calgary is still the largest in Western_Canada. Like Seattle, Calgary has a proper big city mentality. That mentality started to kick in during the 1960s.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Calgary+tower+on+new+years+eve

Unfortunatly, the No Fun Vancouver mind virus still occasionally reemerges.

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=New+Year's+Eve

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

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC , https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Canada

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Vancouver

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

The Tilikum Crossing in Portland vs. others

The Tilikum_Crossing is such a great bridge, that's why it's in Oregon and not in BC.

Portland's Tilikum Crossing: A Bridge for People, Not For Cars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIYPA7jyELs Its a fine example of a transit bridge that Portland, OR really needed, but might never be built in Vancouver, or anywhere else in BC.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Tilikum_Crossing_from_Ross_Island_Bridge_with_MAX.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/North_Arm_Bridge_shot_from_SkyTrain_3622.JPG

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Tilikum+Crossing+in+Portland

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Office vacancy in downtown Vancouver has increased to roughly 12 per cent

https://biv.com/article/2023/12/vancouver-offices-face-first-tenants-market-20-years

Vancouver has the shortest assortment of office towers when compared to Seattle, Calgary, Toronto & Montreal. It's been that way for several decades.

https://japantoday.com/category/business/storied-us-steel-to-be-acquired-for-more-than-14-billion-by-nippon-steel

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Nippon Steel-US Steel deal to boost Japan's growth potential

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231219_33 This is big.

https://investors.ussteel.com/news-events/news-releases/detail/659/nippon-steel-corporation-nsc-to-acquire-u-s-steel

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel-US+Steel+deal

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel+to+acquire+U.S.+Steel

The Tokyo Blade Runner Question

https://thegaijinghost.com/blog/omoide-yokocho-tokyo-blade-runner-question

Japanese Aesthetics in Blade Runner Movie - NOT in the Original Philip K. Dick Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUeo2X72kJc

https://japanposter.co.uk/products/blade-runner-original-release-japanese-movie-poster-1982-b3-size

https://filmschoolrejects.com/blade-runner-anxieties-today

https://slate.com/culture/2017/09/blade-runner-s-influence-on-neo-yokio-and-other-anime.html

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2017-10-06/blade-runner-unbelievable-influence-on-anime/.122391

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/02/blade-runner-the-final-cut-review

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2021/11/05/tv/blade-runner-black-lotus

https://cdsvinyljapan.com/products/4548967465433

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

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel-US+Steel+deal

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel+to+acquire+U.S.+Steel

Canada's passenger trains on shared tracks with freight trains

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-federal-bill-passenger-train-prioritization

By now, Canada should have had all of its major cities connected by new passenger lines so that there would be no conflict with freight trains. All the major urban areas should already have had transit+bridges wherever there was a reluctance to expand road or highway bridges.

Over 1,500 homes and a hotel in Surrey City Centre

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/13044-10392-king-george-boulevard-oviedo-towers-surrey

Since Surrey doesn't have the extreme control measures that Vancouver has, it will eventually become the largest city in BC.

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

Monday, December 18, 2023

Washington Avenue Bridge and the Tilikum Crossing vs...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Avenue_Bridge_(Minneapolis) 2 lanes & 2 tram-train tracks, bike & walkways.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_Crossing 2 tram train tracks & 2 for streetcars & buses. It's just so far beyond what's allowed in BC, especially in Greater Vancouver.

Both of these bridges should have been designed to have 2 bus & 2 bike lanes each, but that actually might help to relieve some of the congestion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skybridge_(TransLink) In spite of the regional congestion, no bus & bike lanes became part of the design. It's a fine example of inept planning in BC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Arm_Bridge No bus lanes & only 1 bike lane.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Tilikum+Crossing

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Portland

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=transit+bridges

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Bike+Lanes

Boston and SF

Boston is such a ridiculously small city with an area of 48.4 sq mi (125 km²) & less than 700,000 people.

"Boston is the second smallest major U.S. city in terms of land area after San Francisco that has 47 square miles." https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/86dd4b02-a7f3-499e-874e-53b7e8be4770#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20With%20a%20land%20area%20of,up%20the%20Commonwealth%20of%20Massachusetts.

However, the Greater_Boston Area has around 8.5 million people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area#Boundaries

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-12844541/Just-cup-tea-Boston-celebrates-250-years-taxes-brew-sparked-revolution-JANE-KNIGHT-seeks-citys-best-cuppa-digesting-nuggets-history-way.html

San_Francisco is slightly smaller than Boston in land area, but it has around 81% of a million people. However, the San_Francisco_Bay_Area has around 9 million people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area#Boundaries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tallest_buildings_in_San_Francisco , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tallest_buildings_in_Boston

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Transportation , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston#Transportation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco-Oakland_Bay_Bridge 10 lanes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_P._Zakim_Bunker_Hill_Memorial_Bridge 10 lanes

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Some urban parks by size

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Bay_(San_Diego)

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Park,_Houston

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Park_(New_Orleans)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balboa_Park_(San_Diego)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Harbor_Shoreline_Park Oakland, Cal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Park Chicago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Cortlandt_Park NYC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Long_Metropolitan_Park Austin, TX

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assiniboine_Park Winnipeg, Manitoba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushy_Park London, UK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Park SF, California

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Park,_Western_Australia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Park Vancouver, BC https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-park-board-abolition-reactions

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

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Transit Malls

The transit_mall is a great concept, but there is always the potential for improvement.

Nicollet_Avenue in Minneapolis, was never wide like Woodward_Ave_in_Detroit. https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/erry-2018/04/57da31c03d/woodward_avenue_detroit.html

Back in the day, there just wasn't any reason to have Nicollet_Avenue to be as wide as Canal_Street,_New_Orleans or Market_Street_(San_Francisco).

However, Nicollet_Mall should have had 2 passing lanes, instead of only two lanes. Whenever a bus breaks down or there is some emergency, half of the Nicollet_Mall can easily get blocked up.

Fortunately, Portland,_Oregon decided not to follow the Minneapolis and Vancouver, BC examples. MAX_and_bus_side-by-side_on_Portland_Mall, this is so much better than funneling everything into just 2 lanes. The Portland_Transit_Mall remains as one of the best transit corridor examples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Transit_Mall#Renovation_and_rebuilding

Granville_Street in downtown Vancouver used to be 6 lanes wide. While the initial concept of the Granville_Mall was a good idea, cramming everything into only 2 lanes became another quintessential Vancouver example of bottleneck & congestive planning. It's all part of the narrow-minded BC mentality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Mall,_Vancouver Of course right at some crucial blocks, the 2 lane segments provide great spots for congestion, all by design. Whenever a bus breaks down or there is some emergency, there isn't a passing lane. Thus, one side of the street remains blocked until the bus can be towed away. Of course it was considered to be a wise decision to have so many bus routes funneled through such a narrow corridor & then remain stubborn about improving the situation.

Reducing the downtown section of Granville_Street from 6 lanes to 4 would have allowed passing lanes for busses & the sidewalks could have still been widened. Plus, it would have been so much easier for emergency vehicles to get through as well. Unfortunately, Metro_Vancouver is all about creating congestion & inefficiency.

If one side of the street has a bus breakdown & the other side has some emergency requiring a bus to remain parked, there isn't an extra couple of lanes for emergency vehicles to pass on some blocks of Granville_Street. Again, it was deemed essential & appropriate to have such a bottleneck on what is suppose to be a high volume bus corridor.

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Transit+Mall

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Seattle Plans to Extend and Upgrade its Third Avenue Transit Mall

https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/06/19/seattle-plans-to-extend-and-upgrade-third-avenue-transit-mall-in-2024/

Should it become Vancouverized like the 2 lane Granville Mall bottleneck?

https://downtownseattle.org/advocacy-initiatives/third-avenue-vision/

If the 4 lanes are reduced to 3, the sidewalks can be widened & Seattle can still have a bus corridor that's wider than the one in Vancouver.

https://cdn.downtownseattle.org/files/advocacy/dsa-third-avenue-vision-booklet.pdf

https://downtownseattle.org/2019/01/third-avenue-vision-moves-forward/

https://downtownseattle.org/advocacy/transportation-access/

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

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Montreal bike lanes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM5NmJyXEeM

Montreal BRT vs. Vancouver

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie-IX_BRT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie-IX_BRT#Future_plans

https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-bus-projects/pie-ix-brt

An express bus route is already good, but BRT is even better.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/new-design-puts-rem-bus-rapid-transit-corridor-on-montreal-transit-map

https://www.mtlblog.com/montreal/montreals-new-pie-ix-rapid-transit-route-is-finally-opening-heres-where-you-can-go Slow to being implamented, but not as slow as Vancouver, BC.

https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/article/21286422/greater-montreals-pieix-brt-begins-operations

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pieix-rapid-bus-transit-inaugurated-1.6639291 Unlike Montreal, the Vancouver approach is quite a sad joke. Unless Vancouver improves its bridges or at least allows some bus bridges to be built, it will remain as the quintessential example of what not to do.

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

bus

https://globalnews.ca/news/10163545/construction-new-ile-aux-tourtes-bridge-ahead-of-schedule/

The new Île aux Tourtes Bridge in Montreal

"The new two-span bridge, with three lanes in each direction, a shoulder wide enough for buses and a multipurpose path for pedestrians and cyclists, will be built just to the north of the current bridge..." https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/construction-is-underway-on-the-new-ile-aux-tourtes-bridge

It's always nice to see when another city doesn't Vancouverize its bridges.

At least the old ...Tourtes_Bridge was designed to have 6 lanes, but the new bridge will be able to accomodate 8 lanes. Thus, the 4th lane each way will be for buses & potentially other HOV. Unlike in Vancouver, no 4th lane each way is allowed, even though that would allow for better efficiency with express bus & BRT. Apparently in Vancouver, its better to cram everything into inept & narrow bridges. Indeed, Vancouver is the epitome of bottleneck planning.

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/off-island-residents-fed-up-as-work-on-ile-aux-tourtes-continues-1.6681316

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

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=old+and+new+narrow+bridges

Shoreline, Washington

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoreline,_Washington , https://www.shorelinewa.gov

A lot of places are experiencing growing pains, because some regions are more popular than others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_County,_Washington

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Shoreline

tesla's-new-facility-in vancouver bc

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/tesla-vancouver-new-facility-950-raymur-avenue

translink-r6-scott-road-rapidbus-launch-date-2024

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-r6-scott-road-rapidbus-launch-date-2024

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/maple-ridge-bus-rapid-transit-brt-support

Friday, December 8, 2023

Maple Ridge-bus-rapid-transit

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/2023/12/urban-tech-portal.html

Monday, December 4, 2023

Urban Data intersection

UDi is a counterpart to UTP.

The BC part of Canada has so much potential, but there is all sorts of red tape, B$ & various restrictions. These restrictions & limitations haven't been adopted in Alberta, Ontario & Quebec. Thus, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto & Montreal are able to operate on a much larger scale than what is permitted in Vancouver & Victoria or BC in general.

SFU-Burnaby-gondola-pushback-from neighbourhood

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/12/04/sfu-burnaby-gondola-pushback-neighbourhood/

The Portland_Aerial_Tram goes over some houses, but no one from BC could stop it. Of course not, because Portland is part of Oregon, not BC.

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

It has left some people with a bad taste in their mouth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Aerial_Tram#Objections_from_underlying_neighborhoods

What if you are on the toilet when the_Tram passes over? So while Oregon has been able to do some things that BC wont allow, the urban gondola-tram remains as a point of contention.

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

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=SFU+gondola

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Portland

us-federal-government-vancouver-seattle-high-speed-rail-funding-proposal

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/us-federal-government-vancouver-seattle-high-speed-rail-funding-proposal

Sunday, December 3, 2023

BC transit-oriented-development-legislation-and Vancouver-view-cones

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-transit-oriented-development-legislation-vancouver-view-cones

There has been a multigenerational plan to hold BC back in almost every way possible. Some just don't want more people moving into BC, so the infrastructure is symbolically kept small when compared to what's allowed in Alberta, Ontario & Québec.

There is also a general half-assed slow approach in BC, which hasn't caught on with Alberta, Ontario & Québec.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/us-federal-government-vancouver-seattle-high-speed-rail-funding-proposal

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-langley-skytrain-expo-line-station-names

surrey-langley-skytrain-station-names

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

expanding-highway-1-to-cut-gridlock-through-fraser-valley-enters-next-phase

https://www.abbynews.com/local-news/expanding-highway-1-to-cut-gridlock-through-fraser-valley-enters-next-phase-7115872

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/highway-1-216th-264th-widening-langley-construction

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Things That Are Surprisingly Bigger, Or Smaller

https://za.investing.com/magazine/things-that-are-surprisingly-bigger-or-smaller-than-you-thought/

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Rainbow Bridge (Niagara Falls)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_(Niagara_Falls)

Saturday, November 18, 2023

The LGB is a crossing so narrow that it should have only been a foot & bike bridge by now.

The inept Lions+Gate+Bridge should have had an 8 lane tunnel under it several decades ago.

Georgia_Street through most of the downtown is 6 lanes wide, but as you get closer to Stanley Park, its 7 lanes wide. Thus, an 8 lane First_Narrows tunnel could have easily been constructed.

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/west-georgia-complete-street.aspx

While the likelihood of Georgia_Street feeding into the Georgia_Viaduct & then connecting East Vancouver & Burnaby with a freeway is not possible, Georgia_Street could still feed into a Stanley Park tunnel.

There would be no need for a freeway through the downtown, as a tunnel would simply provide a high capacity crossing. 3 lanes each way, plus a bus & HOV lane each way & even a provision for rapid rail transit. Essentially, an extension of the Canada (embassament) Line.

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

The stubborn city & region chooses to continually do nothing with the First Narrows LION crossing. However, at least some serious planning has started for the Second_Narrows IRON Bridge upgrade or replacement.

The Lion & the Iron bridges have been quintessential BC bottlenecks for generations. There really should have been bus & train tunnels and bridges built next to them several decades ago. Despite the region having 2 ferry terminals, there seems to be a reluctance with having the Canada (embarrassment) Line linking both of the ferry terminals. To do so would actually help to reduce congestion, bus backwater BC seems to be against relieving urban transportation congestion.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Lion+Bridge+and+The+Iron+Bridge

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Lions+Gate+Bridge

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