Highway 99 Northbound HOV Lane | Completed

[DKaz]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

What do you suggest they do then? People here seem to get up in arms against any development so a government has to sneak it by them one km at a time The only hard part will be when it comes down to the tunnel, but yes look how under the radar the Pitt River bridge went through.

No kidding, they were driving piers down and shoring the land between the existing bridges and I still didn't even realize they were building a new bridge.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by raggedy13

^I doubt HWY 99 will be expanded anytime soon. It doesn't even need to be right now. I've spent months at a time commuting via the 99 from White Rock to Vancouver and traffic flow is fine until you hit the tunnel and the Oak Street Bridge. If they upgraded those choke points the 99 would be smooth sailing - at least until it reaches capacity in the future from further population growth. An upgrade to the tunnel and bridge would buy it at least another 10 years of comfortable flow - and more if the area were to get rail transit. Even improved bus capacity would keep it going longer.

Agreed. Although the Oak St. bridge is a bottleneck because of what is north of it more than the bridge itself. And that part will never change. Any money spent widening that area is a total waste.

The rapid bus line will get people on to the Canada Line and downtown a lot faster than drivers fighting through the city.

In my view the bus lanes are money well spent. High bang for the buck, and ready in 8 months, what's the problem here?

[surgical wit da puck]

Originally Posted by raggedy13

^I doubt HWY 99 will be expanded anytime soon. It doesn't even need to be right now. I've spent months at a time commuting via the 99 from White Rock to Vancouver and traffic flow is fine until you hit the tunnel and the Oak Street Bridge. If they upgraded those choke points the 99 would be smooth sailing - at least until it reaches capacity in the future from further population growth. An upgrade to the tunnel and bridge would buy it at least another 10 years of comfortable flow - and more if the area were to get rail transit. Even improved bus capacity would keep it going longer.

How do you expect them to "upgrade" the choke points of the Oak Street Bridge and the Massey Tunnel? They already accomodate 2 lanes going north/south bound. There is nothing more they can do to upgrade them. Widening HWY 99 would include adding more lanes to the tunnel and Oak Street Bridge and thats what they should do.

To the person that stated upgrading the Oak Street bridge would be a waste because of what is north of it, I say thats false. Adding 2 lanes (1 in each direction) and redeveloping the Richmond and Marine Drive on-ramps would help alliviate traffic. Oak Street is 6 lanes north of the Oak Street bridge, yet the bridge itself and HWY 99 is only 4 lanes. Widening the HWY and Oak Street bridge to 6 lanes would link up smoothly to the 6 lanes of Oak Street.

[cc85]

omg, you just don't get it....man! CRAP! you want to inhibit car use during peak time and create a captive market for people to use rapid transit. no wonder all these idiots vote against transit initiatives cause they can't figure a damn thing out.

[raggedy13]

Originally Posted by surgical wit da puck

How do you expect them to "upgrade" the choke points of the Oak Street Bridge and the Massey Tunnel? Widening HWY 99 would include adding more lanes to the tunnel and Oak Street Bridge and thats what they should do.

I think you just answered your own question. They can always add lanes to those crossings without widening the whole highway. Improving the choke points allows for more efficient use of the rest of the highway infrastructure already in place. There's no need to fix the rest of the 99 if it ain't broken. But whatever, you're apparently banned now anyways...

I knew this guy was Northwest2k/Sconadian. His love of freeways, passion for hockey, and Richmond references are always a dead giveaway.

[ssiguy]

I think the bus-only route northbound on #99 is an excellent idea.
I think they should also build bus-only lanes getting on from both ends of the Alex Fraser, god knows there is enough room. It would also a true fast route from Delta/Surrey/Langley to Richmond/YVR.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I think the bus-only route northbound on #99 is an excellent idea.
I think they should also build bus-only lanes getting on from both ends of the Alex Fraser, god knows there is enough room. It would also a true fast route from Delta/Surrey/Langley to Richmond/YVR.

It's HOV, not bus-only.

Not enough transit running on Alex Fraser... but then I do want there to be HOV lanes on all major routes throughout Metro Vancouver.

[Jared]

Originally Posted by deasine

It's HOV, not bus-only.

Not enough transit running on Alex Fraser... but then I do want there to be HOV lanes on all major routes throughout Metro Vancouver.

No, its a bus only lane - the original press release in the first post of this thread clearly says bus lane. Also, I was involved in the design, so I'm pretty familar with all the signage that will be added. Trust me, its pretty clear that they only want buses to use it.

Since this thread has been resurrected, I thought I'd also mention that the recent bunch of infrastructure announcements also included money for more Richmond bus lanes. IIRC, it was $1.5 million to have a bus lane start at Steveston, and link up with this one at Westminster. This one is cheap, because the lane is already there, so they probably just need to make a few changes, and do a bit of paving right at Westminster offramp.

The other was a southbound bus lane from Sea Island Way to Westminster, expected to cost about $10 million. I think there's only two lanes southbound right now, so they'll need to add in an extra one. The higher cost is probably due to some property aquisition or structural work being needed.

[Mininari]

I'm not sure that this posting deserves its own thread, so I thought that it best fit here.

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - It will soon be easier to carpool on Highway 99 through Richmond. The provincial government is lowering the passenger requirement for the HOV lane between the Massey Tunnel and the Westminster Highway from three to two.

The pilot project takes effect tomorrow and lasts for six months.

[sacrifice333]

^about time.

It's confusing with HOV lanes being 2, 3, or 6 passengers... especially when on the 99 it goes from 3, 2 while off the highway at #17 and has no signage after the fact.

[crazyjoeda]

I noticed that those signs had been changed a while ago. What about the HOV lanes on the south side of the Fraser?

[Pennywise604]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I think the bus-only route northbound on #99 is an excellent idea.
I think they should also build bus-only lanes getting on from both ends of the Alex Fraser, god knows there is enough room. It would also a true fast route from Delta/Surrey/Langley to Richmond/YVR.

There is a bus only section onto NB AFB. On Nordel Way heading towards AFB from Surrey when it widens to 3 lanes down the hill, buses are allowed to jump in the left lane and avoid the mess that is usally backed up to 84th. They have priority to turn right onto the other on-ramp where cars coming from River Rd. can turn onto the last section of Nordel before it goes onto the AFB. It saves a good 5-10 minutes. SB AFB is a different story since they have to stop at Annacis Island. That's a mess!

Speaking of NB 99, what is that little off-ramp section right around the dump? It's an off ramp that goes to the dump or the cow tunnel, I am confused is it strictly for trucks? It's an off-ramp in the middle of nowhere.

[Zassk]

^ That's for SFPR construction I think.

[Pennywise604]

Originally Posted by Zassk

^ That's for SFPR construction I think.

I was finally able to see a detailed map of the SFPR @ 99 interchange. That's exactly what it's for, I just found it odd that the off-ramp is basically 100% completed when nothing else is.