The Vancouver Sun reports today on what the premier called "the worst bottleneck in western Canada":
QuotePremier Christy Clark announced Friday her government will replace the congested George Massey Tunnel on Highway 99 with a bridge.
... Construction will start in 2017.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Premier+announces+Massey+Tunnel+replaced+bridge/8939036/story.html
BC has been pretty aggressive with Infrastructure Renewal in the past few years. Hopefully this bridge will lack the ice bombs that plague the New Port Mann.
Here's a video posted on YouTube.
No cables over the lanes, so hopefully won't be icebombed. Four lanes to 10 is pretty impressive, hopefully they can do something about the Oak Street Bridge and maybe even a better way through Vancouver.
Until 99 and the TCH have a freeway to freeway connection, congestion will still be a problem.
Rick
I think even if Hwy 1 and 99 get a freeway to freeway connection, there will still be lots of congestion in BC.
I am guessing the closest thing between a link from 99 to Hwy 1 will be the South Fraser Perimeter Highway.
Albeit an expressway, South Fraser Perimeter Road is intended to provide a link between BC-99 and TCH-1.
Precisely, it will link the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal with BC-7, following a route parallel to River Road and crossing the Fraser via the brand new Golden Ears bridge. Considering that in Canada, no "urban renewal freeway" disrupting the core of a city has seen the light in years, considering Vancouver's topography and its delta-ish location, considering that this road serves industrial/port areas where truck trafic is somewhat intense, this road is pretty much the closest thing to a freeway you will see built in/near Vancouver.
BC-10 also links directly 99 and 1, and is far enough from downtown to suffer from congestion on both 99 and 1.
If anything, I don't thing that through north-south movements in Van require that much of a freeway connection.
EDIT : OOOPS. I intended to originally post before AsphaltPlanet.
Yeah, the lack of a north south freeway through Van isn't as big of a problem as there is also a lack of a freeway leading north from Van.
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on September 24, 2013, 05:56:01 PM
Yeah, the lack of a north south freeway through Van isn't as big of a problem as there is also a lack of a freeway leading north from Van.
Although it is nothing near «Interstate standards», BC-99 has no at-grade intersection for 32 kilometres north of BC-1, except for some small, low-to-nonexistent-trafic roads that do not cross the median. I do not want to start a debate to know whether it is a freeway or not; I want to bring up the fact that it is quite a free-flow, interurban route.
Quote from: webfil on September 24, 2013, 05:52:35 PM
Albeit an expressway, South Fraser Perimeter Road is intended to provide a link between BC-99 and TCH-1.
Precisely, it will link the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal with BC-7, following a route parallel to River Road and crossing the Fraser via the brand new Golden Ears bridge. Considering that in Canada, no "urban renewal freeway" disrupting the core of a city has seen the light in years, considering Vancouver's topography and its delta-ish location, considering that this road serves industrial/port areas where truck trafic is somewhat intense, this road is pretty much the closest thing to a freeway you will see built in/near Vancouver.
BC-10 also links directly 99 and 1, and is far enough from downtown to suffer from congestion on both 99 and 1.
If anything, I don't thing that through north-south movements in Van require that much of a freeway connection.
EDIT : OOOPS. I intended to originally post before AsphaltPlanet.
The one issue with the SFPR (BC 17) is it's not a very direct route connecting TCH 1 and BC 99. It follows the Fraser River so it meanders northwest from TCH 1 before eventually connecting with BC 99 located to the southeast. Personally I wish that BC 10 would be expanded to an east-west freeway. A combination BC 10 freeway and Golden Ears Bridge could have been a semi ring road for the region but was not to be.
Quote from: webfil on September 24, 2013, 06:06:42 PM
Although it is nothing near «Interstate standards», BC-99 has no at-grade intersection for 32 kilometres north of BC-1, except for some small, low-to-nonexistent-trafic roads that do not cross the median. I do not want to start a debate to know whether it is a freeway or not; I want to bring up the fact that it is quite a free-flow, interurban route.
That might be different if BC 99 was upgraded between Whistler and BC 97. If the Caribou Connector (upgrades of BC 97 between Cache Creek and Prince George) was extended south to Vancouver, BC 99 would be more of an intra-provincial highway. As it stands, BC 99 is the Vancouver-Whistler connection while most northern BC traffic would go through Hope and Cache Creek.
A third crossing across the Burrard Inlet to the North Shore would probably also be needed. However we're talking about a freeway through the middle of a very anti-road/freeway city.
It's interesting that Vancouver is becoming the Bizarro version of Seattle, as the Emerald City has plans to replace its double-decker freeway with a tunnel (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=27.0).
TOLLROADSnews: Vancouver BC to replace Massey tunnel with toll bridge on H99 at lower Fraser River + big-mouth bragging (http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/6758)
Quote2013-09-26: Following alternatives analysis and public consultation the premier of British Columbia Christy Clark has announced they'll be replacing the Massey Tunnel on Highway 99 (H99) with a wider bridge. She called the tunnel which is the furthest westerly crossing of the Fraser River in the Vancouver metro area "the worst bottleneck" to traffic in the region.
QuoteThe 2x2 lane tunnel which opened in 1959 is heavily overloaded for much of the day carrying an average daily traffic of around 80,000 vehicles. They run 3 lanes northbound / one southbound in the mornings weekdays and three lanes southbound/one lane northbound in the evening peak hours with a system for reversing the the inner lane of the two-lane tubes.
QuotePublic consultation looked at renovation of the tunnel, addition of tubes and bridges. A new bridge was heavily favored over the other alternatives. It will probably be 2x4 lanes. A twin tower cable stayed bridge is shown in renderings.