Showing posts sorted by relevance for query The Quebec Bridge. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query The Quebec Bridge. Sort by date Show all posts

Monday, August 12, 2024

Several Vancouver narrow bridge issues

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-bridge-cyclist-wire-allegations

Someone might have been very angry with bike people and not with car, bus & truck people. The real problem is that so much of the older BC infrastructure just wasn't designed to be more of a multi-modal crossing. The+Lion+Bridge+and+The+Iron+Bridge have no rail rapid transit crossings to help them.

The Ironworkers-Bridge is so narrow for a highway bridge in that location & wasn't designed for substantial future capacity. When it was initially designed in the 1950s, there was no concept to have 2 bus lanes, 2 HOV lanes, 2 truck lanes & 2 emergency lanes for a port city. Plus, at least 2 general traffic lanes each way & a provision for 2 train tracks. Thus, the 6 lane bridge is so overwhelmed, because it just can't do the job of an 8-10 lane wide bridge. While the Iron Bridge has 2 improved bike+lanes, they are part of the sidewalks.  

The former 8 lane Granville+Street will have 6 lanes, while the  & Oak+Street only has 4 lanes. The inadequate Oak+Street+Bridge (OSB) should have opened with at least 8 lanes, instead of only 4. Plus, 2 wide emergency lanes & 2 wide sidewalks. There still should be a new southbound OS Bridge, but the city would be against it. A narrow 4 lane bridge just doesn't have the space & capacity for 2 express bus lanes, 2 HOV & 2 truck lanes. Apparently, it's better to just funnel everything into only 2 lanes each way.  

The OSB should be twinned or replace with something like the Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge in Montreal. The largest city in Quebec is allowed to have a nice wide bridge & long metro trains, because Quebec isn't bound by anything like the backwards BC mentality. 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-montreals-new-44-billion-champlain-bridge-opens-to-traffic-for Fortunatly, the Vancouver mentality wasn't able to ever reach back to Montreal & prevent such a nice modern bridge from being built there. https://www.flatironcorp.com/project/champlain-bridge If you are from Montreal & have visited Vancouver, you will be surprise to see how much shorter an underground Vancouver train station is than what is allowed underground in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Seattle, SF & LA...

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/granville-bridge-connector.aspx A bike & foot bridge should have been built next to it decades ago. Then the Granville Bridge could have 3 general lanes each way, plus a bus & HOV lane each way. Instead, if 2 bus & HOV lanes are designated, there will only be 2 general lanes each way in the downtown core.

The Burrard Bridge should have had a bike & foot bride next to it. Instead, it was reduced from a 6 lane crossing to a 4 lane bridge.

The very narrow Oak+Street+Bridge & the Knight Street Bridge, should have had bus+and+bike+bridges built next to them decades ago. 

Most bridges in Vancouver & the metropolitan region just weren't designed with that much future capacity in mind, especially for buses & HOV lanes. Thus, it's a travesty that by now, almost every crossing should have had bus & bike bridges built next to them. 

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/walk-bike-and-transit.aspx Unfortunatly, provisions for bus & bike lanes just weren't the thing to do several decades ago in BC.  

A truck lane is just as important as a bus & HOV lane. That's because freight should be efficiently & easily be transported in any major urban region.

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/trucks-commercial-and-oversize-vehicles.aspx

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

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

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

Friday, November 1, 2024

Vancouver's narrow bridges over the Fraser River

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-knight-street-video-concern

The Knight_Street_Bridge (KSB) was deliberately designed to not have a couple of emergency lanes. No truck lanes and especially no bus and HOV lanes. No proper bike lanes, just 2 narrow sidewalks. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Street_Bridge#Infrastructure

Thus, the Knight_Street_Bridge is one of the best examples of BC bottleneck planning.

https://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwaycam/pub/html/www/695.html

The Knight_Street_Bridge is so narrow and inept, that a new HOV, bus and bike bridge should be built right next to it. The Knight+Street+Bridge is only 4 lanes wide in the middle, so a parallel 4 lane bridge would greatly improve things. One lane on and one lane off between the twin bridge crossing and Marine-Drive. Then the main 3 lanes each way onto the 6 lanes of Knight+Street up to Kingsway. 


The incredibly narrow Fraser_Street_Bridge (FSB) was torn down and should have been rebuilt or replaced by the 1970s, especially by the 1990s. The city and the Provincial_government didn't seem to understand that a new bridge there would be great as a HOV, bus and bike bridge. A couple of wide emergency lanes would have made it a lot easier for emergency vehicles to go between Vancouver & Richmond.


Despite Oak Street being 6 lanes wide, the BC bottleneck mentality wanted to force everything into a 4 lane Oak_Street_Bridge (OSB). Even if there was no concept to have bus lanes in the late 1950s, the OSB should have had 6 lanes, plus 2 wide emergency lanes and 2 wide sidewalks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Street_Bridge#Infrastructure

By now, there should have been a HOV, bus & bike bridge built next to the narrow & inept Oak_Street_Bridge


The Arthur-Laing-Bridge (ALB) is only 2 lanes each way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Laing_Bridge


The multigenerational inept Vancouver & BC planning agenda is all about creating more congestion. 

Fortunately, the 8 lane Champlain+Bridge also has 2 passenger train tracks. This was possible, because Montreal and Quebec don't have anything like the Vancouver & BC mentality to hinder them.

Why have a provision for 10 car SkyTrains, when a 2-4 car joke of a train can enable more congestion? That's the backward BC way.

It's amazing that the Montreal+Metro was designed to have 9 car trains, even back in the 1960s. Montreal and Quebec in general, just don't have anything like a backwater BC mentally to contend with. Quebec isn't just able to do more because it has more people than BC, Quebec has been able to accomplish more because it isn't BC.

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/bridges-and-structures.aspx

Despite being a newer crossing, the Arthur+Laing+Bridge was only designed to have 4 lanes, just like the older Oak+Street+Bridge. Both bridges should have been built with very wide shoulders, so that they eventually could have provided 6 lanes. Plus, both bridges should have had very wide sidewalks. However, that goes against the chokepoint planning mentality.

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Five of Ontario's top 10 worst roads are located in the Greater Toronto Area

 https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/five-of-ontario-s-top-10-worst-roads-are-located-in-the-toronto-area-1.6903196 Of course its a good idea to make sure that the roads & streets are as smooth as possible.

The Greater_Toronto_Area is gradually becoming a vast urban region like the Chicago_metropolitan_area. So many more modes of transit must be provided for the GTA. IE, trains, HOV, bus & bike lanes. 

https://www.insauga.com/one-of-ontarios-worst-roads-is-among-the-busiest-streets-in-mississauga

Being from the BC Lower_Mainland, it's hard to believe that Canada's GTA is on its way to becoming like another Chicagoland. But then I always remember that Ontario, like Quebec & Alberta aren't under anything like the BC mentality & all of its restrictions.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/worst-roads-ontario-2024-1.7215979 

In effect, the Burlington_Bay_James_N._Allan_Skyway went from a BC like 4 lane bridge to an 8 lane Ontario crossing in the mid 1980s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington_Bay_James_N._Allan_Skyway#1985_twin_bridge

https://511on.ca/map/Cctv/loc06--3
https://511on.ca/map/Cctv/loc06--3 Both bridges are safer than cramming everything into one crossing structure. 

https://burlingtontraffic.ca/qew-burlington-bay-james-n-allan-skyway The 4th lane each way could eventually become a bus & HOV_lane.

The 4 lane Burlington_Canal_Lift_Bridge is more like a narrow Vancouver bridge. Just 2 lanes each way with no space for an emergency lane or bus & HOV lane. That's why the Burlington_Bay_James_N._Allan_Skyway crossing is still better than any bridge within the Vancouver city limits. The skyway crossing combined with the lift bridge, provides 12 lanes, because the emergency lanes usually aren't counted. Just imagine if all that was funneled into a 4 lane Vancouver bridge. Fortunately, the backward BC bottleneck mentality has never taken over Ontario. 

While Oak Street in Vancouver has 6 lanes, the Oak_Street_Bridge was only designed to have 4 lanes. Thus, it's a fine example of the BC mentality and the multigenerational Vancouverization agenda. Vancouverization is all about watering things down & creating bottlenecks or chokepoints.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Oak_Street_Bridge.jpg
https://wikimedia.org/Oak_Street_Bridge.jpg

The narrow 4 lane bridge should have been designed with a provision to eventually be at least 8 lanes wide. 3 lanes each way, plus a bus & HOV lane each way, but that would conflict with the narrow mindedness of Vancouver. It's sad that at least a bus & bike bridge wasn't built next to it, but that would conflict with the BC bottleneck planning approach to things.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Oak_Street_Bridge_and_Fraser_River%2C_Vancouver_-_panoramio.jpg
https://wikimedia.org/Oak_Street_Bridge_and_Fraser_River.jpg

https://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwaycam/pub/html/www/70.html A 6 lane street funneled into a 4 lane bridge. WTH?

The Oak_Street_Bridge really should have been opened as a 10 lane bridge. Yet, Oak_Street has only 6 lanes. A 10 lane OSB could have not only allowed for 3 lanes each way, but a bus & HOV_lane each way. Then the 5th lane each way could have been an emergency lane

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/driving-and-cycling/traveller-information/routes-and-driving-conditions/hov-lanes

At the very least, a HOV, bus & bike bridge should be built next to the OSB. However, the multi generational backward BC mentality just doesn't care.

The 4 lane joke that is the George_Massey_Tunnel, should have had a HOV, bus & bike bridge built next to it several decades ago. But that would have actually created better mobility & less congestion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Massey_Tunnel#Replacement Of course just like with the old tunnel, the new tunnel won't have a provision for LRT & emergency lanes. Thus, a LRT bridge would eventually have to be built next to it. Apparently, having a train from the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal to the airport still doesn't make sense. That's just the backward BC way.

If you are from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, the Pacific NW, Australia or just about anywhere, the watered down BC infrastructure will surprise you.


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

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=bus+and+bike+bridges

Friday, April 19, 2024

The 4 Lane Bridge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_Bridge_(Seattle) WA 

https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/bridges-stairs-and-other-structures/bridges/university-bridge-planning-study

https://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2023/08/04/north-u-bridge-project-is-a-huge-opportunity-for-a-safer-and-better-connected-u-district-survey/

https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/100-years-University-Bridge-UW-Seattle-ship-canal-14067372.php

https://www.historylink.org/File/20389

The 2 level, 12 lane Ship_Canal_Bridge is right next to it.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Ship_canal_bridge_and_downtown_skyline%2C_2000.jpg




The north end of the Montlake_Bridge is close to the University_of_Washington_station. The 380-foot-long (120 m) station_layout is almost as long as any underground LRT station in Edmonton. In contrast, the first 2 lines of the Vancouver Skytrain only have only 80 m stations. The 3rd line is a joke that is the Canada Line. It was only designed to have 50 m stations. The Montreal Metro & TTC Subway were designed to have 152 m. Unlike Seattle & Edmonton & especially Montreal & Toronto, building for longer trains isn't a problem. That's because they don't have anything like a backward BC mentality or a water it down, because its Vancouver, approach to things. Being from Vancouver, it's always amazing to see what other cities are able to do, simply because they don't take a backwater BC approach to things.

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

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


MONTREAL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Bizard_Bridge Even a backwater part of Montreal will get an upgrade from a 3 lane joke to a 4 lane bridge with wider sidewalks. https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/bridge-construction-causing-travel-nightmare-for-ile-bizard-residents-1.6564161

https://www.westislandtoday.com/post/the-construction-of-l-%C3%AEle-bizard-s-bridge-is-well-underway

  • Expanding to 4 traffic lanes, 1 more than the existing bridge   
  • Building a wider two-way bike path and sidewalk   
  • Complete redevelopment of the road, water and sewer mains and street lighting system   
  • Refurbishing electrical networks and wiring 

https://montreal.ca/en/articles/building-new-bridge-pont-jacques-bizard-26379 Fortunatly, no one from Metro Vancouver was able to stop this Greater Montreal improvement. The backward BC mentality is terrible. It would be devastating if Quebec had ever started to emulate the BC approach to things.

https://globalnews.ca/news/10180724/new-jacques-bizard-bridge-west-island-traffic Unfortunatly, the new bridge won't have a couple of bus-lanes. https://www.ebcinc.com/en/2022/04/05/new-jacques-bizard-bridge A 6 lane bridge would have allowed for that. Perhaps a parallel bus-bridge might eventually be built there, someday. That's what Calgary eventually did with the the+Cushing+Bridge upgrade.

Thursday, September 25, 2025

The New 4 lane Pattullo Bridge is expected to open by Christmas

 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/

Monday, October 13, 2025

Majority polled in Calgary and Edmonton are unhappy with the pace of population growth

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/too-much-too-fast-majority-polled-in-calgary-edmonton-unhappy-with-pace-of-population-growth-9.6935121 

If you are visiting Vancouver or Victoria from Calgary or Edmonton, you will be shocked as to how narrow most of the bridges are in Greater Vancouver and Victoria. Edmonton was wise in the 1970s to have 125 m long underground LRT stations. Foolish Vancouver opted to only have 80 m stations on its first 2 lines and an absurd 50 m for the 3rd line. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Line_(Calgary) , https://www.calgary.ca/green-line.html 

https://www.calgarytransit.com/plans---projects/lrt/green-line.html

https://engage.calgary.ca/greenline/UndergroundStations Fortunatly, any underground stations in Calgary will be closer in length to that of the Edmonton LRT and not backwards Vancouver.

https://www.railjournal.com/regions/north-america/tunnel-preferred-for-calgary-lrt-green-line/

https://www.tunnelsandtunnelling.com/news/calgary-city-council-approves-green-line-lrt-construction/?cf-view

https://www.calgary.ca/green-line/stations.html

https://www.tunnelsandtunnelling.com/news/calgary-city-council-approves-green-line-lrt-construction/?cf-view 

The main roads and bridges in urban parts of Alberta are allowed to be wider than their counterparts in backwards BC. So while people in the urban parts of Alberta are concerned or even angry about rapid growth, at least Alberta can easily build more urban infrastructure. That's because Albertal isn't affect by the (unofficial) BC Mind Virus (BCMV). 

A timely example is a new bridge between Surrey & NW. Despite Surrey being expected to become the largest city in BC, the new bridge will only open with 4 lanes. No 3rd or 4th lane each way for busses, HOVs and trucks. Thus, all the road traffic at either end is funneled into just 2 lanes each way. Plus, there are no breakdown or emergency lane, just like the old bridge.   

While this new bridge can eventually be widened to 6 lanes, there is no provision for a lower deck for LRT, busses and trucks. Despite SW BC being a seaport area, trucks are funneled onto mostly narrow bridges. There has been a lack of interest to build bus bridges next to almost all of the bridges in Greater Vancouver. Yet, there is a Half-A$$ED attempt to have a better regional express bus network. This regional Rapid Bus attempt will always be a joke, unless a series of bus bridges are built. The Half-A$$ED approach is to try to have bus lanes on 4 to 6 lane bridges. Designating 2 bus lanes would reduce the narrow bridges to only 1 or 2 lanes each way for general traffic in what is suppose to be a major seaport and urban area.   

Most of the worlds population is non-white and for a big part of the history of BC, there has been a refusal to build up bigtime infrastructure for everyone. While some Albertains might wish that there was a wall built around their province or a force-field like out of Star Trek, BC is almost pretending like there is. Thus, the keep things small and backwards mentality. 

Several decades ago, BC implemented a symbolic slow-growth approach. Despite BC not having any control over immigration, or trying to establish an internal passport & checkpoint system, to KEEP PEOPLE OUT, it opted for the next best thing. Stunt or scale back the urban infrastructure to project a strong symbolic reluctance to growth and thinking big. 

When you realize how much larger things are allowed to be in Alberta, Washington State and even Western Australia & compare them to watered down BC, you see quite a difference. Despite BC & Canada in general, being multicultural, BCs cities keep finding ways to water the scale of things down. Canada has yet to have even 1% of the world's population, despite its size.  

While there are good arguments to occasionally slowdown immigration, that can eventually become problematic, just like too much immigration. Even in the 2020s, some people in the former White colonial parts of the world still wish that Canada & Australia, etc., could be a White Man's paradise. However, that seems so impractical on a planet that mostly has a non white population. 

https://humanrights.ca/story/chinese-head-tax-and-chinese-exclusion-act

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-head-tax-in-canada 

https://royalalbertamuseum.ca/blog/chinese-head-tax-george-yees-story 

https://www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/blog/chinese-exclusion-act/

https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/evenement-event/exclusion-chinois-chinese

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/asian-heritage-month/important-events.html

https://stanleyparkvan.com/stanley-park-van-monument-komagata-maru.html

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/10/05/vancouver-komagata-maru-memorial

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/01/30/vancouver-komagata-maru-memorial-vandalism/

Even if Alberta were to eventually become its own country, it would be extremely unlikely that it could ever impose a White Man's Paradise Agenda. The same could be stated for backwards BC. However, something very peculiar has been happening in BC for several generations. 

Several BC cities and municipalities play off each other with various slow-growth agendas. Vancouver being one of the most restrictive & backwards on the the planet. Somehow the legitimate anti freeway fears of the 1960s & 70s didn't get the city & region to still build a series of bus & HOV bridges. Plus, a long-term, high capacity urban rail system.

While Montreal planned for 152.4 m stations to accomodate 9 car trains, backwards Vancouver only built 80 m Skytrain stations for the first 2 lines. Then to top that, was a plan to build a line to Richmond with only enough level clearance for 50 m stations. The 1st line only started to run 5 car trains in 2025. Eventually, the 2nd line will also have 5 car trains. However, the line to the airport was deliberately designed not to have 5 car trains. Just a Half-A$$ED 2.5 car train, someday. WTH?

For Greater Vancouver to mostly have narrow bridges, one would think the all the stations could ultimately be at least as long as a Montreal Metro train station. Indeed, Greater Vancouver should have built for 10 car trains, but will only have 5 car trains on the 1st  two lines & a 2.5 car joke of a train on the 3rd line. As of 2025, the 2nd & 3rd lines are still only running 2 car trains. Such a great way to symbolically show the resistance to eventually link YVR to both of the main BC ferry terminals. 

The inadequate 3 lane Lion Bridge still has no bus & HOV tunnels near it. Urban parts of Australia never seemed to have a similar reluctance to build tunnels as does backwards Vancouver. Tunnels for Montreal & Seattle aren't a problem either. At least BC is slated to have a new and improved tunnel by 2030, that's only a couple of generations late.   

Oh, if only people would stop moving to BC, especially Vancouver & Victoria. Well, that's not the case, its just that various BC cities want to only build urban infrastructure that is inadequate. Despite the frustrations that some people have in Alberta, at lest wider bridges, longer trains & taller buildings are allowed there. This watering things down in BC approach is symbolically indicative to refuse to properly build for a growing population. 

Surrey should have already had at least 1 hospital the size of VGH. At least Surrey like Burnaby, can build up taller in what is still mostly a mountain wilderness province. 

BC is a long way from New England & Southern Quebec. The restrictive urban planning measures in Greater Vancouver keep preventing it from becoming a proper big metropolitan area like Greater Boston and Montreal. 

Calgary and Edmonton each should have hand an airport+line by now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Line_(MBTA) Calgary will have its own version of a Green Line, eventually. https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Calgary+Green+Line

Thursday, November 21, 2024

How the City of Vancouver will pay for its 2026 FIFA World Cup costs

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/fifa-world-cup-vancouver-hotel-tax-costs

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/bus-network-improvements.aspx With so many narrow streets, its difficult to have a proper network of bus-lanes, especially on the bridges.

https://visionzerovancouver.ca/2024/07/10/take-action-add-bus-lanes-to-translinks-priority-routes Unfortunatly, most of the bridges in the Greater Vancouver Region are just too narrow. There was no logic to have enough extra width for future bus-lanes and HOV lanes.

https://www.biv.com/news/transportation/vancouver-new-dedicated-bus-lanes-translink-2024-9267523

Unless there is a regional network of new bus-bridges, Greater Vancouver will remain in a bottleneck or chokepoint nightmare. Stuck with only a half-assed express or BRT attempt. I suppose that would be impressive to Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops (K-V-PG-K) standards. Unfortunatly, those aren't big league cities.

Of course the 3rd line, or the YVR-Canada-Line or the Canada (embarrassment) Line, still hasn't been expanded up to a 2.5 car train, let alone having 5 car trains. Right from the start, the trains should have consisted of at least three, 20m coaches, with a provision for 6 car trains. Apparently, because of budget cuts, the station platforms weren't built to be 60-100m long in the first phase, they are only a 50m joke. 

The stations could have been roughed out to initially accomodate 3-4 car trains and eventually, 8 car trains. 8 x 20m= 160m. The Montreal Metro stations were built to accommodate a 152.5m train. Fortunately, Quebec doesn't have anything like a backward BC planning mentality to hinder it.

The YVR-Canada (embarrassment) Line doesn't have to be stuck as a symbolic example to not properly plan & build for longer trains in BC. This 3rd Metro-Vancouver rapid transit line doesn't have to be stuck with a 2.5 car train buildout. The incredibly short stations should be extended to 60m, which could accomodate a proper 3 car, walkthrough train. Then, with Selective_Door_Operation Technology, a 3 car train can become a 5 car train of 100m. Then, only the middle 3 cars would directly have access to the YVR-Canada-Line station platforms. 

Unfortunatly, due to the shortsighted planning mentality that is Vancouver & BC, the underground stations don't have enough level clearance to be lengthened to 152.5m or 500 feet, like the Montreal Metro stations, which can accomodate nine, 55 foot cars. At least a 5 car, 100m or 328 foot train is still possible in short-minded Vancouver.

For some strange reason, the YVR Canada+Line wasn't designed to eventually provide a link beyond the Vancouver_International_Airport to Waterfront_station. Indeed, a 2nd phase of the inadequate line should have connected Waterfront_station with the Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre and the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal. Then the 3rd phase to connect the YVR-Airport_station with the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal

Like the Catheter Line, the George_Messey_Tunnel was designed to be inadequate, right from the start.

The George_Massey_Tunnel should have had at least 2 wide emergency lanes for future truck or HOV lanes. Plus, there should have been another tunnel section to accommodate a future express or rapid bus corridor & 2 tracks for a light rail train. Instead, cars, busses & trucks were all funneled into a 4 lane chokepoint. Ironically, over the past few decades, a bus & train tunnel or bridge should have been built, at least.

Express Bus lanes or Rapid Bus lanes vs. HOV & Truck lanes. Any bus lane has the potential to move many more people than any HOV lane. Any major port city & metropolitan area should have a truck lane as well as a bus lane. Thus any HOV lane would be more efficient in bussing people & trucking payloads.

Of course the new George_Massey_Tunnel still won't have a provision for a train section. No emergency lanes, but 2 bus lanes in addition to only 3 general lanes each way. Once again, backward BC gets its wrong. Greater Vancouver is suppose to be a major seaport. Unfortunatly, the new tunnel will only have 4 lanes each way & no HOV or emergency lanes, of course.  

Even if there are only 3 general lanes each way, there should have been a provision for a truck lane in addition to a bus lane each way. That would be at least 5 lanes each way, but no emergency lanes & still no provision for 2 train tracks either. 

Thus, the new tunnel will eventually have to have a bus & train bridge or tunnel next to it. That would allow the tunnel to have 3 general lanes each way & 1 HOV lane each way. A rapid bus & rail corridor would ensure 24 hour high capacity transit, even when the YVR-Canada-Line is shutdown overnight. 

Unfortunatly, none of the 80m & 50m SkyTrain stations were designed to have 4 tracks. That would have allowed for a proper express & local train system. The BC mentality seems to be about keeping the trains as well as the roads inadequate to meet future high transportation demands.

The LG Bridge in Vancouver should have had bus, HOV & train tunnels near it decades ago. Surrey_and_Richmond also should have had proper bus, HOV & train tunnels, decades ago.

Why have 3 sets of tracks like the O'Hare_station in Chicago? Or, have at least have 2 tracks like at the SeaTac/Airport_station. The small-scale YVR-Airport_station just has a single track to make congestion more likely. The Vancouver_International_Airport should have had at least 4 long runways by now.

The multigenerational backwater BC mentality is a combination of overlapping restrictions and a, keep it small or backwards agenda. Why plan and build like a big city, when Vancouver can mostly do things that are only impressive to smaller places like, Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-and-Kamloops?

Short trains, mostly stumpy buildings and mostly narrow bridges, provides powerful symbolism for the  antigrowth agenda. Building up proper size infrastructure is the opposite. 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Canada+Line

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=C+Line

Monday, June 19, 2023

Congestive urban planning in backwards BC

Most bridges in Greater Vancouver are so narrow, because there was no provision to have bus and HOV lanes. The+Lion+Bridge+and+The+Iron+Bridge are 2 classic examples of not constructing additional infrastructure to accommodate bus lanes, HOV lanes and especially, rail rapid transit. That's because such improvements would actually go against the congestive urban planning agenda. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacey_V._Murrow_Memorial_Bridge , https://www.historylink.org/file/21298 A narrow 4 lane BC type bridge was upgraded to an 8 lane crossing, plus 2 LRT tracks for WA. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrows_Bridge_(Perth) From a basic bridge to a nice 10 lane crossing with 2 train tracks for WA. https://structurae.net/en/structures/narrows-bridge Its great that the horrible backwards Vancouver mentality never made it to Perth. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-13/perth-narrows-bridge-60-years-since-construction/11697812 Unfortunately, Vancouver & BC have done their damndest to prevent a similar nice, wide crossing, which also includes 6_car_trains. While backwards Vancouver & BC didn't want to build wider infrastructure simply to accomodate more drivers, the funds didn't seem to go towards a regional rapid bus or at least an express bus & HOV network with its own set of bridges. The SkyTrain should have been designed with a provision to eventually have stations at least as long as those on the Montreal Metro, which can accomodate 9 car trains on a 500 ft platform or 152.5 m. https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Place:Constructing_Narrows_Bridges  

The old Champlain_Bridge_in Montreal just had 3 lanes each way & no provision for a train. Where as the new Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge provides 4 lanes each way & has 2 REM train tracks. https://www.samueldechamplainbridge.ca Fortunately, Montreal, like Seattle & Perth was able to have a nice wide bridge with 2 train tracks in the middle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge#Construction_method 

Montreal, Seattle & Perth are allowed to exist on a larger scale than backwards Vancouver, because they don't have the same imposed restrictions. Urban Quebec and urban WA are able to do so much more, because they aren't hindered by anything like the backwards BC mentality. 

Risk assessment model of bottlenecks for urban expressways using survival analysis approach https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235214651730474X 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bunbury+WA+6230,+Australia/@-33.3399232,115.6694676,430a,35y,44.83t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x2a39279b2423314b:0x500f638247a10a0!2sVancouver+Peninsula+WA+6330,+Australia!3b1!8m2!3d-35.0599149!4d117.9307564!16s%2Fg%2F11fmh3xt4l!3m5!1s0x2a2e1d48f5a47b23:0x500f638247a1470!8m2!3d-33.3270366!4d115.6408605!16zL20vMDEycTcx?entry=ttu


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Perth+and+Seattle

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

Thursday, December 5, 2024

The Pierre Laporte Bridge

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

https://structurae.net/en/structures/pierre-laporte-bridge

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Quebec_and_Pierre-Laporte_Bridges.jpg

Unfortunatly, the bridge doesn't have a lower deck. Perhaps some extensive upgrades or modifications could turn the Pont_pierre_laporte into a megacrossing. For now, there are no bus & HOV lanes.

The+Quebec+Bridge only has 3 lanes.


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

Friday, October 18, 2024

Metro Vancouver Housing Deficit Grows To Over 45,000 Homes

 https://storeys.com/metro-vancouver-housing-deficit-fall-2024/

For several decades, multi-unit 4-5 story houses just weren't permitted to be built in Vancouver. Even the shoebox like, Vancouver special should have been allowed to have at least 3-4 levels. Plus, there should have been several 6-10 story block size apartment buildings or flats like in Paris & London. There was quite an emphasis on Vancouver stumps, especially, no 65 to 85 floor buildings like in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane & Toronto.

Very narrow bridges, which make it almost impossible to have a proper & efficient express bus & HOV network for the region. Fortunately, the backward BC mentality was never able to make it over to Australia to prevent bridge expansion or duplication. 

Then even by late 2024, the first 2 SkyTrain lines only have 4 car trains of the newer coaches. The joke that is the Canada Line, still only runs 2 car trains. All 3 lines should have been designed to eventually have stations that could accommodate 8-10 car trains, but that would actually enable more people to efficiently travel around the region.

Fortunately again, this inept & horrible BC planning mentality was never able to infest & stop the Toronto Subway from having 6 car trains. However, by now, the TTC should have been running 8-10 car trains. It would have been chaos if the Montreal Metro was only running 3 car trains for the past several decades. Such an absurdity would be indicative of a, WHY EVEN BOTHER TO BUILD IT, mentality? Thats been the ongoing problem in BC since plumbing & electricity was first implemented.

Just to allow backwater BC to catch up to Alberta & Washington State would be challenging enough. Then to gradually think & plan on a scale of a Quebec & even an Ontario, might as well be just another Sci-Fi pipedream.


Tuesday, December 3, 2024

The Quebec Bridge (1919)

The Quebec_Bridge was quite an amazing structure for its time in Q-City. Unfortunatly, the bridge wasn't designed to eventually have 2 decks. That would have been so great, because there could have been 3 lanes & 1 set of train tracks on each level. It only has a total of three lanes & 1 track.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Bridge#Second_design_and_collapse_of_September_11,_1916

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Bridge#Aftermath_of_the_collapse


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

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

A Bus Rapid Transit route between Park Royal and Metrotown

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-ndp-bus-rapit-transit-route-west-vancouver

Either a new bus, HOV & train bridge has to be built, or a new much wider Iron Bridge is essential. 

However, there should also be a train between Horseshoe+Bay and the Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre with a link to downtown Vancouver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge A nice 8 lane bridge with 2 train tracks was possible in Montreal, because its far away from the stunted infrastructure agenda of Vancouver & the backwater BC mentality. Any new Iron Bridge should be at least as wide as the New_Champlain_Bridge_in_Montreal

Of course people from Vancouver are allowed to visit Montreal, but the backward BC mentality just isn't allowed to take over Quebec, Ontario or Alberta. 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Park+Royal

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Metro Vancouver Regional District delays review of North Shore wastewater treatment plant project until legal battle resolved

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/north-shore-wastewater-treatment-plant-project-review-delayed

So much money has been wasted that could have otherwise have gone towards a train & bus bridge or a tunnel across the inlet. 

The+Ironworkers-Bridge will still have to be upgraded or rebuilt and it should be on the scale of the New Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge. The New_Champlain_Bridge_in Montreal has 4 lanes each way, plus 2 train tracks. More things are possible in Montreal and Quebec, simply because they don't have anything like Vancouver's restrictions & the backwards BC B$ mentality to thwart them.

https://www.samueldechamplainbridge.ca/traffic-and-detours/

https://www.samueldechamplainbridge.ca/pedestrians-and-cyclists/

https://www.arup.com/projects/samuel-de-champlain-bridge-corridor/

Thursday, December 5, 2024

Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge–Tunnel

The Louis-Hippolyte_Lafontaine_Bridge-Tunnel should have had been designed to have 2 wide emergency lanes. Then by now, there could have easily been 4 lanes each way. Unlike backward Vancouver, which is on a peninsula, Montreal is on an island, so more bridges & tunnels are necessary. However, Greater Vancouver still doesn't have enough bridges for proper a proper network of express bus & HOV lanes.

https://www.parsons.com/project/louis-hippolyte-lafontaine-tunnel-quebec-canada/

There really should have been a bus & HOV bridge or tunnel there by now. Everything is still crammed into 3 lanes each way.

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/la-fontaine-tunnel-project-delayed-by-a-year-quebec-says-work-more-complex-than-expected-1.6918227

https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/pont-tunnel-louis-hippolyte-lafontaine_bridge/story/a-bridge-tunnel-the-perfect-mix/

https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/pont-tunnel-louis-hippolyte-lafontaine_bridge/story/the-underground-portion/

https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/pont-tunnel-louis-hippolyte-lafontaine_bridge/story/anticipating-the-future-of-transportation/


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