Highway 99 Northbound HOV Lane | Completed

[Jared]

Backgrounder:

For Immediate Release

2008TRAN0028-000862

June 5, 2008
Ministry of Transportation

B.C. CHOOSES SNC-LAVALIN TO DESIGN HWY 99 BUS LANE

RICHMOND – A contract has been awarded to design a bus-only lane that will enable northbound buses on Highway 99 in Richmond to bypass traffic congestion, Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon announced today.

SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a $649,000 design and engineering contract for the northbound bus lane, which will extend from Westminster Highway to Bridgeport Road. Design of the lane is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2008.
“People using public transit should be able to avoid traffic jams whenever possible and should be rewarded for making an environmentally conscious decision,” Falcon said. “This bus lane will shorten commute times, making the bus a more attractive option.”

“I’m delighted to see we are building on our provincial transportation network, particularly in Richmond,” said Linda Reid, MLA for Richmond East. “This will foster economic growth in our region and promote green travel options.”

“This contract proves our government is forging ahead with its visionary $14-billion Transit Plan,” said Olga Ilich, MLA for Richmond Centre. “By adding a bus-only lane to this high-density route, we are increasing the efficiency of our bus service, and making public transit more attractive to commuters across metro Vancouver.”

“This project will help improve the speed of commuter bus services, which will encourage increased usage of public transit, which in turn will get more people out of their cars and benefit our environment,” said John Yap, MLA for Richmond-Steveston.

The new bus-only lane SNC-Lavalin is designing will be available first for current northbound bus service, and will eventually be used as part of the route for RapidBus BC. This new express transit line will offer frequent, reliable service and priority movement in traffic for much of the length of the route.

The Province is working with TransLink to improve service along Highway 99 in both directions between White Rock and the Canada Line’s Bridgeport Station in Richmond. Commuters will enjoy faster bus trips and an efficient connection with the new Canada Line, to be open in fall of 2009.

The improvements to Highway 99 and RapidBus BC are part of the Provincial Transit Plan, which aims to double transit ridership provincewide by 2020 by increasing choices for travellers. The $14-billion plan also focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars by 4.7 millions tonnes cumulatively by 2020.

-------------------------------------------------------

The design is now done, and ready to be bidded on.
Here is the link for the official bidding process:

http://www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca/open.dll/...search_by=Tend

No drawings (unless you register for interest, this may cost money, and you wouldnt be allowed to share them I imagine), but you take a look at a quantities chart, to get a sense of the scope of the project.

The area is question is here:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie=...,0.054932&z=14

[Gordon]

Is there currently a Southbound Bus HOV Lane on #99 in Richmond?

[fever]

There's an HOV lane from Westminster down to the tunnel. When I worked near Steveston highway and 99, it used to get clogged up with trucks in the morning.

I remember seeing some sketches of how that was going to be improved, but I didn't save them.

[clooless]

I think a lot of this work is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titantic. Until a new bridge or an expanded tunnel is built the choke point will always be the crossing over the Fraser River.

[Jared]

CONTRACTOR CHOSEN FOR HIGHWAY 99 SHOULDER BUS LANE

RICHMOND – A contractor has been chosen to build the Highway 99 shoulder bus lane that will lead to transit service improvements along that corridor, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Kevin Falcon announced today.

Jacob Bros. Construction Ltd. of Victoria has been awarded a $4.7-million contract to construct a four-metre wide shoulder for bus use only, northbound on Highway 99 from Westminster Highway to Bridgeport Road in Richmond. Other improvements include widening the Bridgeport Road off-ramp and the northbound CNR overhead as well as creating transit accommodation measures at Bridgeport Road and Sea Island Way. Construction is expected to begin in November.

“This dedicated bus lane will improve transit travel times and reduce CO2 emissions by allowing buses to bypass heavy traffic on Highway 99,” said Falcon. “It also creates the capacity needed for new bus services, and will be an important connection to the Canada Line.”

The new shoulder bus lane will be used by current northbound transit service. Warning signals at on-ramps along the approximately three-km route will be automatically activated to provide priority for bus transit. The bus-only lane will also be used by RapidBus BC service, once in operation, to link up with the Canada Line’s Bridgeport Station.

“This will greatly improve transit options for Richmond residents,” said Richmond East MLA Linda Reid. “Many of us are looking for practical ways to reduce carbon emissions, and one of the best ways is to take transit. Improving infrastructure leads to more convenient and efficient transit service, making it easier for people to leave their cars at home.”

The Province is working with TransLink to improve service along Highway 99 in both directions between White Rock and the Canada Line’s Bridgeport Station in Richmond. Commuters will enjoy faster bus trips and an efficient connection with the new Canada Line, which opens in fall of 2009.


http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_rele...087-001671.htm

[Hong Kongese]

^^ that's a good news! I wish the Oak street bridge would be widen as well.

[Metro-One]

Not going to happen, i could be mistaken in this but doesn't Vancouver have an unrealistic "no more road lanes into the city proper" status? I am all for environmental movements but this type of policy is detrimental to so many aspects and is foolish at best.

[wrenegade]

I hate that rule. It's a nice idea, but doesn't work well in practice. What is their stance on more lanes leaving the city? It's only a matter of time (possibly a longish time, but still) before the Deas Island tunnel is either twinned or a bridge built, allowing for even greater traffic, but the huge choke point will remain at the Oak street bridge. Would it be worth it to add another 2-3 lanes exclusively southbound to take the pressure off Oak Street/Park Drive (and arguably the Arthur Lang to some degree), or does the cost of a new bridge and the relative benefit make this completely unrealistic?

[Bureaucromancer]

Originally Posted by clooless

I think a lot of this work is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titantic. Until a new bridge or an expanded tunnel is built the choke point will always be the crossing over the Fraser River.

Isn't that the point of the Canada Line connection?

[ssiguy]

A bus-only lane northbound from Westminster is a great idea.

[DKaz]

I hope there are enough parking stalls at Bridgeport.

[worldwide]

yeah, parking is dope

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by DKaz

I hope there are enough parking stalls at Bridgeport.

7-storey parkade/1,200 park & ride spaces

[Metro-One]

Actually worldwide, parking is good to have a train stations, you see that around the world.

[DKaz]

Park and Rides are necessary in the suburbs where "door to door" style transit systems are impossible because of the low density.

Should be enough. Some riders may prefer the comfort of their cars and drive all the way from White Rock or Ladner to Bridgeport until they figure out that the buses are actually faster and join those who already prefer to park their cars at the Ladner Exchange or South Surrey park and rides. If they can somehow bump up the bus frequency to 10 minutes during rush hour.

I think while they're at it, the right lane through the Massey Tunnel (except against the Counterflow direction, but the HOV queue jumper will still be there) should be HOV/buses only. And why can't the right lane from Steveston to Westminster be HOV as well?

[spitkicker08]

^^^ because traffic only backs up to westminster northbound usually. The southbound HOV lane only starts at westminster hwy until the tunnel.

[Metro-One]

Any major road artery needs at least 6 lanes (3 in each direction) to dedicate one as an HOV or transit only lane. Having only 1 multipurpose lane is a bad idea and will create huge amounts of congestion.

[crazyjoeda]

Originally Posted by clooless

I think a lot of this work is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titantic. Until a new bridge or an expanded tunnel is built the choke point will always be the crossing over the Fraser River.

The Massy Tunnel is not a problem for Buses and HOV lane already allows bus to efficiently avoid almost any delays near the tunnel.

And why can't the right lane from Steveston to Westminster be HOV as well?

That is an exit lane, it exits to Westminster, there is not much congestion along that part of 99 any ways, the traffic is always at the tunnel and oak street bridge.

[ssiguy]

I wish they would publish a diagram of how exactly they are going to do it and where. They have started a little late as even to start at Westminster they have to do major work on the Richmond Connector as it will not hold an extra lane as it is right now. They said it would be done by the time Canada Line begins and I hope it is but I doubt it. I guess it will depend on how/where they do it.

[crazyjoeda]

I noticed today that the government put up one of their yellow improvement signs announcing the construction of this new bus lane.


It's a really good idea because the traffic always backs up after Westminster HWY with people trying to get over the Oak street bridge, so this will really improve travel times between White Rock/Delta/Surrey and YVR/Richmond/Downtown. I could see this saving transit users about 10-15min during rush hour and even more during exceptionally bad traffic. It will make the express busses even faster vs car.