Highway 1 Fraser Valley Phase 3: 264th to Hwy 11 | Proposed

[waves]

Originally Posted by flipper316

Nice looking render . Wonder if there's any plans at all to 4 lane highway 13 from the border to highway 1. It'd be nice to get that done as well as this project at the same time so they mesh together.

36km of Freeway total from i5 to Hwy 1 and only 11km from Hwy 1 to the border. I wonder how much such a project would cost? Seems like such a small distance.

[sweetnhappy]

Originally Posted by waves

36km of Freeway total from i5 to Hwy 1 and only 11km from Hwy 1 to the border. I wonder how much such a project would cost? Seems like such a small distance.

It's more like 9.7 km from the current southern intersection (56 Ave and Hwy 13) to the already 4 lane'd portion at the curve (where 264th Street splits – the 264th Street Diversion). Not cheap either way, I would imagine.

But I would think upgrading to 4 lanes would be a higher priority for Hwy 11 in Abbotsford because that is a much shorter distance (~2.2 km from the McConnell Road intersection to the road split at 2nd Ave) and the Huntingdon–Sumas border crossing is open 24/7.

Not sure why mention of I-5 is relevant – if you're referring to the WA-539, it's only 4 lanes south of the Birch Bay Lynden Road/Kok Road intersection in Lynden (at least according to Google satellite view). So Washington would still have to 4 lane ~7.3 km of their own highway.

[Jimbo604]

Vancouver Sun's Vaughn Palmer: NDP ditch election promise on Hwy. 1 widening
Opinion: Party promised widening of clogged artery by 2026, but lately isn't offering any timelines
Published Aug 15, 2023

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...hwy-1-widening

VICTORIA — The New Democrats have backed away from their election promise to widen heavily congested Highway 1 from Langley into Abbotsford by 2026.

The revised plan, posted earlier this month, broke up the project into smaller pieces and abandoned the target of 2026 for completion of any part of it.

NDP cabinet minister Dan Coulter then told a reporter that a significant stretch of the widening project won’t be completed “until 2034-35.”

The minister’s admission — soon disavowed by his own ministry — provoked a backlash, including in his own Fraser Valley constituency.
...

[giallo]

I can't believe what a boondoggle this stretch of Hwy 1 has become. It's bizarre how one of the most important roads in the entire province has become this political hot potato. It should be a bipartisan issue, and priority number one for the province. Like, an 'all hands on deck' situation. Saying that a significant portion won't be complete until 2035 is embarrassing.

It's SEVERELY under built, and has become an economic burden. The road is shared between Fraser Valley commuters, transport trucks and tourists ie. people that can't use/don't have access to any sort of alternative transportation. It's jammed all of the time, and has thousands of cars sitting idle, spewing exhaust into the air. It's also dangerous to have so many cars packed along two lanes for the majority of its length in the valley. God help you if there's been an accident. You'll be stuck for an hour or more.

That stretch of road between Chilliwack and Langley was expanded in 1965. Just think about how ridiculous that is. The population has quadrupled since then.

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by giallo

I can't believe what a boondoggle this stretch of Hwy 1 has become. It's bizarre how one of the most important roads in the entire province has become this political hot potato. It should be a bipartisan issue, and priority number one for the province. Like, an 'all hands on deck' situation. Saying that a significant portion won't be complete until 2035 is embarrassing.

It's SEVERELY under built, and has become an economic burden. The road is shared between Fraser Valley commuters, transport trucks and tourists ie. people that can't use/don't have access to any sort of alternative transportation. It's jammed all of the time, and has thousands of cars sitting idle, spewing exhaust into the air. It's also dangerous to have so many cars packed along two lanes for the majority of its length in the valley. God help you if there's been an accident. You'll be stuck for an hour or more.

That stretch of road between Chilliwack and Langley was expanded in 1965. Just think about how ridiculous that is. The population has quadrupled since then.

Every level of government has a hand in this project. The Liberals quietly deleted 10 km from the Port Mann project. So then you lose a few years while they try and find money. NDP start put then you have the rebuild cost of several un planned disasters related to flooding.

Then you add in the fact the RR has a rightaway that is in the middle of it. The NDP should have did a better job of tendering this project. Part are issues related to the CBA but others are just the times we are in

[giallo]

^I agree. It's every level of government that failed this highway early on. It should have been twinned all the way to Abbotsford (at least) when they were rebuilding the Port Mann Bridge, but like so much in this province, it was scaled down, and now we're left with a really poor piece of infrastructure.

I just drove through the Hwy 1 gauntlet last Sunday, so I'm probably feeling a little extra testy after that predictably awful experience.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by giallo

I just drove through the Hwy 1 gauntlet last Sunday, so I'm probably feeling a little extra testy after that predictably awful experience.

We drove back from a holiday on Friday specifically to avoid the Sunday return circus, and it was still really bad. No accidents, just volume.

[Jimbo604]

Will poor performance on this issue be an election issue coming up in October 2024 for those valley ridings the NDP snapped up last time?

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

Will poor performance on this issue be an election issue coming up in October 2024 for those valley ridings the NDP snapped up last time?

one can only hope so.


The NDP excuse-making faltered when Coulter, Ma’s successor as minister of state for infrastructure, was asked about a completion date for widening Highway 1 out to Whatcom Road and then to the Sumas exit on the western border of Chilliwack.

“I believe the Sumas exit would be by 2034, ’35, something like that,” he told reporter Tyler Olsen of the Fraser Valley Current newsletter.

When Olsen pointed out how that would mean extending the deadline for the Whatcom Road portion by almost a decade, Coulter didn’t dispute it.

“Yes, it’s taking a bit longer, but part of the reason for that is the scope has increased a little bit,” said the minister, who represents Chilliwack in the legislature. “It’s not just about widening the highway.”

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...hwy-1-widening



Dan Coulter should be back pumping gas or collecting cans by the end of 2024 .... what a USELESS TOOL. people in his riding are going to be PISSED about this.

This would be like a person being from the SUNSHINE COAST being put in charge of BC FERRIES and not even knowing that only 1 ship sails the Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) - Sunshine Coast (Langdale) route ....... TOTAL USELESS TOOL. "well we have multiple ships on that route daily" ..... ummm no you don't. do you even know your own portfolio LET ALONE YOUR OWN BACKYARD?

[libtard]

As soon as the NDP took power we went from high gear to neutral in terms of infrastructure building. Say what you want about the liberals during Gordon Campbell and Christy Clarke, they got a lot of projects done

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by libtard

As soon as the NDP took power we went from high gear to neutral in terms of infrastructure building. Say what you want about the liberals during Gordon Campbell and Christy Clarke, they got a lot of projects done

Road projects, maybe - but they sure dragged their feet on transit.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

Road projects, maybe - but they sure dragged their feet on transit.

they got the evergeen extension done. got Broadway Subway started. the Canada Line built.

so far, more than the NDP has.

fact is, we have had more major transit projects than road projects since 2000

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

they got the evergeen extension done. got Broadway Subway started. the Canada Line built.

so far, more than the NDP has.

fact is, we have had more major transit projects than road projects since 2000

According to Infrastructure BC there have been 9 road projects that have cost over $100m since 2002, costing the Province a total of $6.41bn, and three transit projects costing the Province $2.85bn. That's projects built, or under construction.

The liberals spent more on major road projects than transit projects, and so have the NDP, (despite paying a much higher proportion of the Broadway extension costs)

[libtard]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

Road projects, maybe - but they sure dragged their feet on transit.

Yes I was talking about road projects, this is a thread about a highway extension. Are you able to keep your agendas to yourself without shitting up this thread?

[Migrant_Coconut]

Saying "highways" instead of "infrastructure" would've helped.

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

... got Broadway Subway started...

The Libs literally kicked the Broadway extension six years down the road, which is the opposite of "getting it started."

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Changing City

According to Infrastructure BC there have been 9 road projects that have cost over $100m since 2002, costing the Province a total of $6.41bn, and three transit projects costing the Province $2.85bn. That's projects built, or under construction.

The liberals spent more on major road projects than transit projects, and so have the NDP, (despite paying a much higher proportion of the Broadway extension costs)

that's for the entire province. so a bunch of those projects don't count. you have to look at the lower mainland only and then compare. literally every decade we have gotten a new SkyTrain line. 80s Expo, 90s Surrey extension, 90s/00s Millennium, 00s Canada, 10s Evergreen, 20s BSP & Langley.

where as for roads its been 80s H91, 00s/10s Gateway and some miscellaneous projects here and there. i cant think of any other large projects.

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

The Libs literally kicked the Broadway extension six years down the road, which is the opposite of "getting it started."

and it should have been done as phase 1 on the millennium line, but the section through Burnaby voted NDP vs the Broadway area that voted liberal. so it became a gold plated, overly fancy station designed train to nowhere, and still has relatively low ridership compared to the Canada & Expo lines. the liberals are the ones who made it more useful with the evergeen extension. they also gave us the canada line. and if you consider the liberals an extension of the Social Credit, they also gave us the expo line. seems like most of our SkyTrain was built under SoCreds/liberal. hmmmm.

[Migrant_Coconut]

BC apparently had its greatest GDP per capita growth... under the 90s NDP. Same thing: correlation =/= causation, especially since the Libs haven’t nominated a single pro-transit leader since Gordon Campbell got the axe.

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

and it should have been done as phase 1 on the millennium line, but the section through Burnaby voted NDP vs the Broadway area that voted liberal. so it became a gold plated, overly fancy station designed train to nowhere, and still has relatively low ridership compared to the Canada & Expo lines. the liberals are the ones who made it more useful with the evergeen extension...

And yet the NDP's Phase 1 was actually built and finished in their time in office. Christy Clark simply continued a line that was already greenlighted by her predecessor; when it came to new transit, she said no, let's study a bridge to Gibsons instead. Wilkinson (and so far) Falcon are of the exact same mold.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

that's for the entire province. so a bunch of those projects don't count. you have to look at the lower mainland only and then compare. literally every decade we have gotten a new SkyTrain line. 80s Expo, 90s Surrey extension, 90s/00s Millennium, 00s Canada, 10s Evergreen, 20s BSP & Langley.

where as for roads its been 80s H91, 00s/10s Gateway and some miscellaneous projects here and there. i cant think of any other large projects.

Yes, the Provincial Government spends money on roads in the entire province, and on transit in the higher population concentration of Metro Vancouver, where over half the provincial population live. They still spend more on roads than on transit projects, both overall, and in the Lower Mainland.

The Port Mann Bridge cost almost the same the Province put into the Canada, Evergreen and Broadway transit projects. All the money comes out of the same taxpayers pot. If ageing infrastructure has to be replaced, it means there's less money for transit, or widening elsewhere.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

Road projects, maybe - but they sure dragged their feet on transit.

Not just foot-dragging, but outright sabotage of Translink funding culminating in the transit referendum.

Regardless, the proposed improvements to Highway 1 are long-overdue. While it makes sense to break up the corridor into phases, there should be a reasonable end-date for the whole scope of work and genuine effort made to expedite completion (e.g. overlap between phases), and further integrate transit expansion and multi-use paths into the project.

Lastly, regardless of which party can claim what projects, I think the overall pace of rapid transit expansion, bridge/crossing replacement projects, and overall highway capacity upgrades has been too slow over the last 30 years. Moreover, the separate Translink-BC Transit jurisdictions are hindering truly regional transportation planning and investment.

At one time it was true that 'The Valley' was a truly separate region with minimal overlap with Metro Vancouver (then GVRD) for commuting patterns and commerce. When that stopped being true is up for debate, but we've undoubtedly been on the other side of that line for some time. I don't know how it would be fairly implemented, but I think the province should 'contract out' regional transportation planning and transit delivery in the Fraser Valley to Translink and enable it to finally plan and operate transit for the entire region. BC highways would remain the domain of the Ministry of Transportation, but it would be Translink planning and operating transit from Hope to Bowen Island. Hopefully, critically, it would also receive adequate financial resources and political support in Victoria to design and implement a truly region-scale transportation system, inclusive of new regional rail services, regional bus service, and effective local transit service to suit the rural-to-dense-urban continuum, including investment in new and more local-serving SkyTrain lines to better knit together the densest parts of the region.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by libtard

Yes I was talking about road projects, this is a thread about a highway extension. Are you able to keep your agendas to yourself without shitting up this thread?

Well, if you're going to praise the liberals and dump on the NDP for "infrastructure spending" then IMHO you're being a bit disingenuous and I think it needs to be pointed out that there are other priorities in the region than just road infrastructure. There's only so much money to go around, and you can't spend it all on one mode of transportation.