Highway One Improvements: North Vancouver / Ironworkers Memorial Approach | Completed

[Pinion]

The previous article posted has been expanded with more quotes etc.


http://prod-admin1.glacier.atex.cniw...nge%202017.pdf

Express lanes coming to the Cut
Lower Lynn corridor project to ease east-west congestion

Plans to alleviate traffic on the Cut and Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing got a big boost Friday with the announcement of two new two-lane bridges over Lynn Creek shouldering the existing orange Highway 1 bridge.

The $60-million project announced Friday expands on the already-in-progress Mountain Highway interchange redesign. Costs of the project will be shared equally by federal, provincial and District of North Vancouver taxpayers.

When the project is complete, which is targeted for 2021, the Cut will be divided into express and collector lanes, similar to what’s used at the Port Mann Bridge now, with local east- and westbound traffic crossing the new bridges.

The design is meant to physically separate east-west traffic trying to get across the North Shore from traffic bound for the Ironworkers. It will also mean less weaving and merging of vehicles at multiple entry points on the highway, which creates inefficiencies.

The total cost of the project is now nearly $200 million.

North Vancouver Seymour MLA Jane Thornthwaite described the project Friday as “one of the most complicated infrastructure projects in the province today” and one that’s critical to the North Shore. “Since 2009, this has been the number one issue I’ve been working on,” she said.

“We’ve been stuck in this forever and we’re finally going to fix it.”

Thornthwaite said the lower Lynn corridor is currently a choke point for the entire region – both for people driving from Horseshoe Bay to Burnaby and those going from shopping to soccer practice within North Vancouver.

“I live here and I know how busy Highway 1 can get,” she said “I’ve been stuck in traffic for hours.”

North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson described the project announcement as “very good news for all of us.”

He added he’d raised the issue of the significant bottleneck in the area and promised a Liberal government would fix it during the 2015 federal election.

North Vancouver Lonsdale MLA Naomi Yamamoto said the full project will create 600 jobs over a four-year period.

The new express/collector distribution system will be an adjustment at first, with a few people likely getting caught in the express lanes and missing their desired exit, said Gavin Joyce, the District of North Vancouver’s general manager of engineering.

“You have to make that decision early,” he said. “You’ll get used to it pretty quickly if you live on the North Shore.”

According to traffic studies, about 20 per cent of the drivers on the Cut during the evening rush hour are exiting before the bridge.

Part of the $20 million going towards the project from District of North Vancouver taxes will go towards the purchase or expropriation of private land on the north side of the existing bridge, and more trees will have to be removed from Bridgman Park to accommodate the new bridges.

There had been talk of replacing the orange 1960 Highway 1 bridge over Lynn Creek, but the structure has at least another 15 years of life left in it.

Compared to previous iterations, the concept unveiled Friday adds the ability for Mountain Highway drivers to get on Highway 1 eastbound, though it does not offer a way for drivers exiting the Cut at the new interchange to turn north onto Mountain Highway.

Eventually, the province will also look to totally revamp the Main Street/Dollarton Highway interchange as well, although what that might look like hasn’t even been put on paper yet.

According to a provincial traffic study, the Ironworkers Bridge itself is almost at capacity now. In theory, the bridge can handle 1,800 vehicles per lane, per hour heading eastbound. But the bridge already accommodates more than 5,000 vehicles per hour in its three eastbound lanes during peak periods.

Seymour North Burnaby MP Terry Beech acknowledged Friday’s announcement won’t eliminate traffic congestion on the North Shore. “It’s not the only solution to solving our traffic problems,” he said, adding housing affordability and transit also play key roles. “All of these issues affect traffic and they affect each other,” he said.

District of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton said while “the future isn’t just in building roads and highways … you have to invest in your infrastructure.”

Walton said the project will make a difference to traffic congestion on the North Shore.

“You’re always going to have to spend some money on roads,” he said. “There’s a huge amount of lost productivity with people sitting in traffic.”

- See more at: http://www.nsnews.com/news/express-l....0SRLf2Ti.dpuf

[jollyburger]

They should stick a ban on trucks that can't maintain 50km/h on the bridges during rush hour.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Pinion

The previous article posted has been expanded with more quotes etc.


http://prod-admin1.glacier.atex.cniw...nge%202017.pdf

They want to expand 2nd Memorial?


Get in Line.

[Pinion]

We've been in line longer than anyone These are the first substantial north shore road infrastructure upgrades since the 60s, and it's probably not enough even for 2021 traffic let alone the future.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by fredinno

They want to expand 2nd Memorial?


Get in Line.

Just the interchange on the north end. It screws up the rest of the bridge traffic currently.

[jollyburger]

Minor update on the contract status:

The construction contract for Mountain Highway will go out in early February and will be awarded in March 2017.

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/tr...ments/projects

[Pinion]

New PDF from the upcoming info sessions with lots of new stuff: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/dri...170220-web.pdf

[osirisboy]

What's up with the east bound on ramp. It's not there in the renderings but the top picture shows it planned?

[VancouverMark]

Too little too late as far as I am concerned. I am so glad I got off the North Shore three years ago. By the time construction is complete for this entire project, development and growth will have outpaced capacity. The various interchanges at the north end of the bridge have long been the choke points, but the bridge will finally become the new choke point.

The PMH1 project certainly helped for a while, but things are already getting back to as busy as they were prior to construction in some areas. Heading off the North Shore eastbound, the Hastings/Bridgeway exits, the Cassiar tunnel, and the on ramp at First Avenue already cause traffic to back up on to the Bridge Deck at times.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

What's up with the east bound on ramp. It's not there in the renderings but the top picture shows it planned?

It's part of phase 4.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

With the lack of available width in most places to widen the highway, you'd think talks about rapid transit would be constant.

Government/Translink has been promising a 3rd seabus/10 minute sailings for the 11 years I've lived here and we still don't have it. Getting anything else is a pipe dream.

Originally Posted by VancouverMark

By the time construction is complete for this entire project, development and growth will have outpaced capacity. The various interchanges at the north end of the bridge have long been the choke points, but the bridge will finally become the new choke point. Bridge Deck at times.

Growth is near zero on the north shore due to West Van shrinking in population. But I agree it should've been more ambitious/future proof, and a third crossing needs to be part of the solution.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

With the lack of available width in most places to widen the highway, you'd think talks about rapid transit would be constant.

IMO there is no point in doing so until a third crossing is being seriously considered. Given how major any bridge structure would be, it would make sense to combine a rapid transit line and new road crossing into a single project.

If you want that to happen, well, you got a few road blocks to go through first, especially the city of Vancouver and the province

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by VancouverMark

Too little too late as far as I am concerned. I am so glad I got off the North Shore three years ago. By the time construction is complete for this entire project, development and growth will have outpaced capacity. The various interchanges at the north end of the bridge have long been the choke points, but the bridge will finally become the new choke point.

The PMH1 project certainly helped for a while, but things are already getting back to as busy as they were prior to construction in some areas. Heading off the North Shore eastbound, the Hastings/Bridgeway exits, the Cassiar tunnel, and the on ramp at First Avenue already cause traffic to back up on to the Bridge Deck at times.

We could toll the 1st and 2nd Narrows, and add commuter Rail service to the North Shore.

Originally Posted by Pinion

Government/Translink has been promising a 3rd seabus/10 minute sailings for the 11 years I've lived here and we still don't have it. Getting anything else is a pipe dream.




Growth is near zero on the north shore due to West Van shrinking in population. But I agree it should've been more ambitious/future proof, and a third crossing needs to be part of the solution.

The reason West Van is declining in population is because not even the rich can afford its properties. Once house prices fix at lower values, expect North Shore to grow with a vengeance.

Also, we could technically have 3 active Seabuses at once (we have 3 active Seabuses- 2 active, one backup (and one for spare parts)- apparently, it's not essential enough to bother right now.

Originally Posted by Metro-One

IMO there is no point in doing so until a third crossing is being seriously considered. Given how major any bridge structure would be, it would make sense to combine a rapid transit line and new road crossing into a single project.

If you want that to happen, well, you got a few road blocks to go through first, especially the city of Vancouver and the province

The Only 3rd crossing that might happen is a third crossing at Burnaby Mountain- a horrible place for a transit Line.



We can increase the speed of the Seabuses to 45km/hr with new fast Seabuses, and bring in a commuter Rail from Horseshoe Bay to Waterfront, the only new development required being a wye, and maybe a higher bridge or tunnel across 2nd Narrows (as to no longer be a drawbridge).

[jollyburger]

Commuter rail would be the stupidest idea. Who would want to ride a slow train that gets blocked by freight traffic to go from where Horseshoe Bay/Ambleside/Lonsdale to go all the way to the Second Narrows and back along the waterfront along a line which is already overloaded? If anything they need express buses using the highway to shuttle people from the edges of the municipalities (connected to local bus lines) and down to an expanded SeaBus network.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Commuter rail would be the stupidest idea. Who would want to ride a slow train that gets blocked by freight traffic to go from where Horseshoe Bay/Ambleside/Lonsdale to go all the way to the Second Narrows and back along the waterfront along a line which is already overloaded? If anything they need express buses using the highway to shuttle people from the edges of the municipalities (connected to local bus lines) and down to an expanded SeaBus network.

It doesn't travel on the WCE line, it travels on the Pacific Connector (a lot less congested) to Pacific Central, then on the Stratcona Interurban Spur to Waterfront.

I don't know how congested the Horseshoe Bay- North Van rail section is, but I wouldn't expect that much.

And Commuter Rail is pretty fast, faster than even Skytrain. Unlike ExpressBus, it actually hits the North Shore city Centers at First Narrows and Lonsdale, and takes a load off the Seabus.

[Pinion]

North shore rail lines are so congested that PMV just spent a boatload of money cutting away the cliff at Moodyville just to add a couple more tracks. Suggesting commuter rail on the north shore shows a complete lack of knowledge of the area.

Increasing seabus speed is not an option either. Tolling both bridges would help traffic - by killing the region's economy. Please, stop with this ill-informed fantasy nonsense.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Pinion

North shore rail lines are so congested that PMV just spent a boatload of money cutting away the cliff at Moodyville just to add a couple more tracks. Suggesting commuter rail on the north shore shows a complete lack of knowledge of the area.

Increasing seabus speed is not an option either. Please, stop with this fantasy nonsense.

+1

our rail lines in the lower mainland are very very busy because our port is very very busy, on both sides of the shore.

[Marshal]

Add another vote for "I'm tired of substantial/meaningful discussion being disrupted by goofy overstated fantasy talk."

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Pinion

North shore rail lines are so congested that PMV just spent a boatload of money cutting away the cliff at Moodyville just to add a couple more tracks. Suggesting commuter rail on the north shore shows a complete lack of knowledge of the area.

Increasing seabus speed is not an option either. Tolling both bridges would help traffic - by killing the region's economy. Please, stop with this ill-informed fantasy nonsense.

We can increase Seabus speed without high wakes with Catamarans over the more conventional Seabus hulls without as much of a wake- and thus, be faster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catamaran#Resistance

And replacing the 2nd Narrows Rail bridge would reduce congestion.

Also, WCE also uses congested Rail lines.


Tolling the 1st Narrows is probably something that should be done regardless, considering its relative congestion, and the benefits of moving traffic away from Stanley Park and Downtown streets.


And if the 2nd Narrows bridge is expanded, you're going to get it tolled.

Your economy is going to be 'destroyed' by tolls no matter what.

You can't fund a road bridge these days without tolling it.