Thoughts on the new Port Mann Bridge
Tomorrow, December 1, the new Port Mann Bridge is set to open as the major crossing over the Fraser River on the Trans-Canada Highway in the Lower Mainland of BC. Since I moved up here in late 2003, and even before that, the existing bridge - which has five lanes; two west, three east - has always been a traffic bottleneck. Westbound there is a major on-ramp to the highway just before the bridge, so you essentially have close to 4 lanes merging into two. Eastbound the bridge has 3 lanes, one of which is HOV (carpool), but another major on-ramp from the busiest intersection in the lower mainland.
It's not uncommon to find it taking longer than some might expect to get over this bridge at any hour of the day.
The new bridge has 10 lanes, and according to the Guiness Book of World Records, is the largest long-span bridge in the world at 65 meters wide. It is just one piece of a massive highways infastructure project here in the Lower Mainland that include the approaches to the bridge from way out in Langley all the way to Vancouver.
There is no doubt that it will help traffic in the region flow smoother, but already there are plenty of critics that are questioning how much it will reduce congestion, and bemoaning the fact that there is no rapid transit option there, despite the bridge being built to support the addition of a rapid transit line under the car deck. There's also the grumbling about the toll plan that will be in use when crossing the bridge.
The reality of the situation is that Translink, the entity out here responsible for roadways and transit, is a mismanaged disaster - as most transit oragnizations these days tend to be. If such organizations had unlimited funding, then this might be a different story. But with Translink hemmoraghing money and local mayors resistent to increasing property taxes and being unable to come up with alternative ways of funding that us folks in the middle and lower classes have to worry about, there seems to be no solution in sight for these monetary woes.
I'm sure that Translink would love to be able to fund rapid transit lines all over the region. Finally, after years of negotiations and funding problems and NIMBYs, there is a new rapid transit line - the Evergreen Line - that is scheduled to be complete in 2016, linking Lougheed Town Centre with Coquitlam Centre. It won't help me too much where I live, but it is a start. There are also discussions to extend the exsiting Millenium Line SkyTrain out from the Vancouver Community College station, where it currently terminates, all the way out of the University of British Columbia - another highly congested transportation corridor.
Surrey and Langley would also like to be able to use some previous infastructure to build 3 light rail lines that connect within and to those cities, as the residents out there are fairly starved for mass transit options.
But it comes down to money and who will pay for it. The middle classes out here, like most places around the world, are squeezed for taxes until we're nearly dry; gax taxes, property taxes, increases in the cost of natural gas, electricity, food prices, transit fees. We desperately want these options, but we pretty much have little extra money now, let alone anything else to contribute to such mega projects.
Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) have emerged as an option of defraying some of the cost, but even then it still comes back to us to help pay. That's where things like tolls get introduced, as the private company that operates the new bit of infastructure has to get its money back somehow.
The basic passenger car bridge toll on the new Port Mann bridge is going to be $1.50 for the first three months. After that it will rise to $3.00. That is for each trip over the bridge. Though if you drive to work 5 days a week over the bridge, you would be better off getting a monthly unlimited pass for $75.. It's distinctly possible that tolls over this bridge will reduce congestion... at least around this bridge. What it will likely do is shift that congestion elsewhere. The likely candidate for that is the nearby Pattullo bridge, which is just 4 lanes and no center divider. In the evenings (from 10pm to 5am), they close the center lanes for safety and it becomes a two lane bridge. That bridge will be strained under the increased load.
But even that bridge may not be around much longer. It was built in 1937 and due to seismic concerns may have to be closed soon. There are plans for a replacement, but it's questionable as to whether that would be in place before the existing one is shut down at this point. That, also, would be a toll bridge once finished.
The next 'free' bridge over is the Alex Fraser bridge, which opened in 1986. However, to get to this bridge you have to go through a number of residential bottlenecks.
Further up the river is the Golden Ears bridge, which opened in 2009. The toll rates there are $2.90 for the cheapest crossing.
There is also the concern about urban sprawl that the bridges will lead to, and increased congestion because of that. Well, something these people don't seem to realize is that there is already sprawl out to places like Surrey and Langley, and it's nothing to do with bridges; it's cost of living. Living on that stretch of land where you find Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam is some of the most pricey places to live in the area. (Okay, so North and West Vancouver are more pricey.) Living outside of that area makes it affordable to buy your own place - it's what I did! The problem once you go out to these cheaper places is that you very often have to rely on your car because transit infastructure is not adequate, not frequent enough, or just non-existant.
Where I am, out in Maple Ridge, we do at least have a commuter rail service; the West Coast Express. This is a service that runs five trains into town every weekday morning. Those trains sit there all day and then run back in the afternoon. The latest train back from town is 6:20pm, after that there are a few rapid buses that only stop at the rail stations, the last of which leaves at 8pm. If you want to see a sports game downtown, or meet people for dinner downtown, or catch a show... then you're out of luck. You have to take regular buses and you're looking at a 2 hour travel time. If you're out in Langley, then there's nothing except buses and lots of connections.
There are those in other countries - especially out in Europe (including the UK here) - that bemoan their transit systems. Compared to what we have out here in North America, they're far far better than what we have here.
I sometimes hope that one day we will see transportation systems like that out here... but I won't hold my breath.
It's not uncommon to find it taking longer than some might expect to get over this bridge at any hour of the day.
The new bridge has 10 lanes, and according to the Guiness Book of World Records, is the largest long-span bridge in the world at 65 meters wide. It is just one piece of a massive highways infastructure project here in the Lower Mainland that include the approaches to the bridge from way out in Langley all the way to Vancouver.
There is no doubt that it will help traffic in the region flow smoother, but already there are plenty of critics that are questioning how much it will reduce congestion, and bemoaning the fact that there is no rapid transit option there, despite the bridge being built to support the addition of a rapid transit line under the car deck. There's also the grumbling about the toll plan that will be in use when crossing the bridge.
The reality of the situation is that Translink, the entity out here responsible for roadways and transit, is a mismanaged disaster - as most transit oragnizations these days tend to be. If such organizations had unlimited funding, then this might be a different story. But with Translink hemmoraghing money and local mayors resistent to increasing property taxes and being unable to come up with alternative ways of funding that us folks in the middle and lower classes have to worry about, there seems to be no solution in sight for these monetary woes.
I'm sure that Translink would love to be able to fund rapid transit lines all over the region. Finally, after years of negotiations and funding problems and NIMBYs, there is a new rapid transit line - the Evergreen Line - that is scheduled to be complete in 2016, linking Lougheed Town Centre with Coquitlam Centre. It won't help me too much where I live, but it is a start. There are also discussions to extend the exsiting Millenium Line SkyTrain out from the Vancouver Community College station, where it currently terminates, all the way out of the University of British Columbia - another highly congested transportation corridor.
Surrey and Langley would also like to be able to use some previous infastructure to build 3 light rail lines that connect within and to those cities, as the residents out there are fairly starved for mass transit options.
But it comes down to money and who will pay for it. The middle classes out here, like most places around the world, are squeezed for taxes until we're nearly dry; gax taxes, property taxes, increases in the cost of natural gas, electricity, food prices, transit fees. We desperately want these options, but we pretty much have little extra money now, let alone anything else to contribute to such mega projects.
Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) have emerged as an option of defraying some of the cost, but even then it still comes back to us to help pay. That's where things like tolls get introduced, as the private company that operates the new bit of infastructure has to get its money back somehow.
The basic passenger car bridge toll on the new Port Mann bridge is going to be $1.50 for the first three months. After that it will rise to $3.00. That is for each trip over the bridge. Though if you drive to work 5 days a week over the bridge, you would be better off getting a monthly unlimited pass for $75.. It's distinctly possible that tolls over this bridge will reduce congestion... at least around this bridge. What it will likely do is shift that congestion elsewhere. The likely candidate for that is the nearby Pattullo bridge, which is just 4 lanes and no center divider. In the evenings (from 10pm to 5am), they close the center lanes for safety and it becomes a two lane bridge. That bridge will be strained under the increased load.
But even that bridge may not be around much longer. It was built in 1937 and due to seismic concerns may have to be closed soon. There are plans for a replacement, but it's questionable as to whether that would be in place before the existing one is shut down at this point. That, also, would be a toll bridge once finished.
The next 'free' bridge over is the Alex Fraser bridge, which opened in 1986. However, to get to this bridge you have to go through a number of residential bottlenecks.
Further up the river is the Golden Ears bridge, which opened in 2009. The toll rates there are $2.90 for the cheapest crossing.
There is also the concern about urban sprawl that the bridges will lead to, and increased congestion because of that. Well, something these people don't seem to realize is that there is already sprawl out to places like Surrey and Langley, and it's nothing to do with bridges; it's cost of living. Living on that stretch of land where you find Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam is some of the most pricey places to live in the area. (Okay, so North and West Vancouver are more pricey.) Living outside of that area makes it affordable to buy your own place - it's what I did! The problem once you go out to these cheaper places is that you very often have to rely on your car because transit infastructure is not adequate, not frequent enough, or just non-existant.
Where I am, out in Maple Ridge, we do at least have a commuter rail service; the West Coast Express. This is a service that runs five trains into town every weekday morning. Those trains sit there all day and then run back in the afternoon. The latest train back from town is 6:20pm, after that there are a few rapid buses that only stop at the rail stations, the last of which leaves at 8pm. If you want to see a sports game downtown, or meet people for dinner downtown, or catch a show... then you're out of luck. You have to take regular buses and you're looking at a 2 hour travel time. If you're out in Langley, then there's nothing except buses and lots of connections.
There are those in other countries - especially out in Europe (including the UK here) - that bemoan their transit systems. Compared to what we have out here in North America, they're far far better than what we have here.
I sometimes hope that one day we will see transportation systems like that out here... but I won't hold my breath.