George Massey Tunnel Replacement | Proposed

[Migrant_Coconut]

400k over thirty years sounds right, that's about 13k/year. 400k/year would mean Surrey becomes larger than New York by 2050.

Anyhoo, at their current growth rate Ladner/Tsawwassen should see 660new residents by 2050; all the growth is in North Delta, which is effectively Surrey. Surrey City Hall predicts ~70k more South Surrey residents in that time frame, but they're not likely to work in Richmond, and very likely to have a RapidBus to Newton by then.

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

Oh I agree. South Surrey, Newton-Panorama Ridge, Delta. The population continues to grow out there and transit ridership will never ever be there to meet the demands.

Yep, you really have to drive down there to see how much the area has changed and Google Maps is not even close to up-to-date. Every single household in these areas has at least 1 if not 2 cars, yet we have 4-lane residential roads feeding into a 4-lane joke-of-a-Highway 99.

Unfortunately, there are many "city greens" in Vancouver that only own a bicycle, so everything in their life and what they know happens within a 5-kilometre radius of their home. They have no clue how the suburbs have exploded and none of it is or ever will be supported by transit.

It's already too late to build more roads and even if we begin today, whatever we build will be congested when completed 5 years later, because the pace of construction is and will continue to be (with or without more highway) so staggering. This is exactly what happened with widening Highway 1!

I am also not sure how so many got hung up with the 400K number, which was clearly a typo of the 40K/year, which is a number that gets thrown around a lot as the average annual population growth for Lower Mainland.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

The Liberals promised a 2017 construction start as a part of a 2013 election campaign. A record setting punt more than 1 term in the future.

They deserve part of the blame for not getting it going in say, late 2015, where it would be a done deal no matter who won in 2017.

And I do agree with this. Part of that was time spent doing environmental reviews and community consultations, but it definitely could have started earlier. Even six months into major construction come election time would likely have been enough progress.

This is why seeing the Skytrain extension to Langley punted another two years down the road (seriously the current time frame given for that project is ridiculous given how long that corridor has been studied and how many years have already passed since 2016!) angers me now.

[Mininari]

https://www.timescolonist.com/local-...ghways-5002938

A highly anticipated flyover project here on Vancouver Island appears to be delayed, whether officially or unofficially.

Not sure if this is a canary in the coal mine for delays on other projects, due to the unbudgetted costs of rebuilding all the storm-damaged highways.

[Klazu]

With limited resources one has to prioritize and here the trade-off makes perfect sense. Rebuilding several highways is going to cost a lot and if that ends up delaying the tunnel past the next election, I am not unhappy about that. A decade wasted now is still a small price for hopefully having the best solution for a century to come.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Klazu

With limited resources one has to prioritize and here the trade-off makes perfect sense. Rebuilding several highways is going to cost a lot and if that ends up delaying the tunnel past the next election, I am not unhappy about that. A decade wasted now is still a small price for hopefully having the best solution for a century to come.

its funny how this would have opened this year... whats that saying about a butterfly causes a tsunami?

[casper]

Originally Posted by Klazu

With limited resources one has to prioritize and here the trade-off makes perfect sense. Rebuilding several highways is going to cost a lot and if that ends up delaying the tunnel past the next election, I am not unhappy about that. A decade wasted now is still a small price for hopefully having the best solution for a century to come.

The fly over in Victoria may in fact be a zero cost type project. If over its service life it removes costly ICBC payouts due to accidents not occuring.

[Mininari]

Originally Posted by casper

The fly over in Victoria may in fact be a zero cost type project. If over its service life it removes costly ICBC payouts due to accidents not occuring.

It is an accident prone location, and would actually close two dangerous left turns across oncoming traffic headed southbound on the Pat Bay Highway. This used to be my left turn to go to work, before I moved houses.

Yes, any further delays to the tunnel would be enable the Liberals to pledge to reboot the bridge project (again) in the next election. Of course, rebooting that original project in our inflationary environment is probably going to make it double in price, save the "community benefits" premium. It would go to the lowest bidder.

[stump]

New Tunnel updates

https://www.richmond-news.com/local-...l-work-5045704

Construction supposed to start in 2025 after an environmental review
Due for completion in 2030

When was the original bridge going to be completed again? I swear, building any type of infrastructure in BC must be the most painful process on earth.

[Mininari]

We should have been driving over a 10-lane bridge for the better part of a month by now. There was a good satire piece on Daily Hive on January 13rd that guessed it would have opened around then. https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/geor...ge-opening-day

These contracts were announced today:
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022TRAN0012-000176

Owner's Engineering Service (Immersed Tube Tunnel):
COWI North America Ltd.
Value: $15,000,000

Owner's Engineering Service (Highway and Civil Works):
R.F. Binnie and Associates Ltd.
Value: $15,000,000

Archaeological Services:
Golder Associates
Value: $2,100,000

Environmental Services:
Golder Associates
Value: $14,771,000

Independent Environmental Monitor for the Corridor Improvement Projects:
Sartori Environmental Inc.
Value: $725,000

Marine Navigation Advisor:
TyPlan Consulting
Value: $322,000

Communication and Engagement Services (Highway 99 Tunnel Project/Steveston Interchange Project):
Lucent Quay Consulting Inc.
Value: $4,187,690

Hydrotechnical and River Hydraulics Services:
Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd.
Value $4,400,000

Marine Construction Advisor:
RAM Engineering Ltd.
Value: $202,000

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by stump

New Tunnel updates

https://www.richmond-news.com/local-...l-work-5045704

Construction supposed to start in 2025 after an environmental review
Due for completion in 2030

When was the original bridge going to be completed again? I swear, building any type of infrastructure in BC must be the most painful process on earth.

yeah it would have been opened by now, and cost about 1 billion less, and included 30km of freeway upgrades + 2 extra lanes.

[Metro-One]

You forgot the true median rapid bus system with dedicated grade separated ramps and in-situ bus stations.

Of course our alternative moving forward now has shoulder bus lanes (that are literally shoulders) that cut across all on and off ramps and the “direct ramp” to Bridgeport station is at grade and also cuts across the south bound on ramp…

Yeah! Seriously this is beyond value engineering.

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by stump

I swear, building any type of infrastructure in BC must be the most painful process on earth.

Seems like building anything in BC is really painful.

[madog222]

I'll just leave this here and

Kevin Falcon would scrap tunnel plans, pivot back to bridge

The reversal of direction is possible, says Falcon, because the New Democrats won’t have started construction before the next provincial election, scheduled for October 2024.

“They’re going to be stuck in the environmental assessment process (and) nothing will have gotten done,” Falcon told host Mike Smyth during an interview on CKNW last week.

If Falcon wins the election, he’s “going back to the bridge idea. We can dust off the old plans, update them, and get that thing built.”

From The Vancouver Sun https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...back-to-bridge

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by madog222

I'll just leave this here and

It didn't win them the last election...

[WarrenC12]

Is he going to bring back tolls too?

[Mininari]

Hey, the man drove the key component of the Gateway Program to completion -- replacing the Port Mann Bridge and a full system upgrade to Highway 1 (unfortunately not far enough east). If anyone has "I made a big bridge happen" on their CV, Kevin Falcon does!

Unfortunately, now that we will have been delayed for what, 10 years... inflation is going to make the original Liberal H-99 scope project very expensive to complete, even if the community (Unions) loses its "benefits." Back to lowest-bidder build.

Did all the preloading along the H99 corridor at least 'precondition' the soils for construction? I know it was all abandoned, but it all had an effect, no?

[Migrant_Coconut]

Unless Kevin Falcon can win back Richmond, Surrey/Langley and the Valley, this thread might have to get used to a tunnel - Delta's already a Lib riding.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Is he going to bring back tolls too?

I would actually welcome that.

Removing the tolls was a stupid idea.

Hopefully they also promise movement on the Okanagan Lake second crossing and the upgrade of highway 97 through Peachland.

Another wise maneuver would be promising immediate action on the SFU gondola and moving up the North Shore Burnaby Skytrain link in the pecking order for Skytrain expansion.

[Klazu]

Building the bridge will still be cheaper than fixing the dozens of bottlenecks the tunnel doesn't address in the decades to come. He can have my vote as NDP is drunk on power. I welcome the tolls back too.