The more an urban region becomes car dependent, the more it rationalizes spending on infrastructure that makes it more car dependent.
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In my lifetime, I can think of four bridges built, with two under construction now (Golden Ears – Car and RAV Line – Transit/Passerelle):
New Airport Bridge – Really this one was needed, as waiting for the swing bridge was really quite something else
Arthur Laing – Again, I think the airport had outgrown the old approach via Oak Street
Alex Fraser…
SkyBridge – This one has really come in handy I think
Looking at that list, only one of those is a true “commuter” bridge, with Golden Ears joining it, and I think the fact that we do not have more bridges has been a factor in (ever so slightly) controlling sprawl and encouraging people to at least live on the same side of the river as their employer.
So I say, well done GVRD. Too bad you couldn’t stop the Gateway Port Mann project.
Daniel wrote later on our site (citycaucus.com) that maybe we should keep the Pattullo closed. Cheeky thought, but he says his neighbourhood has never been more serene in all the years he’s lived in New West. I remember a similar occasion when Fraser Street (where I live) was closed for most of a morning due to an accident. Silence. Peace.
For silence – you could live in the countryside – but then you’d have to commute into work…
Repairs will be completed within 2 weeks.
http://www.translink.bc.ca/About_TransLink/News_Releases/news01210902.asp
I couldn’t disagree more, Chris. The GVRD simply doesn’t want to be in the business of building roads or any other transportation infrastructure because local politicians don’t want to add to property taxes. They rationalize their “no-build” stance in various supposedly philosophical ways, but it really all boils down to doing it on the cheap, or else passing the responsibility for funding upstairs to Victoria and Ottawa to the maximum extent possible.
I also find the GVRD’s “congestion is good” mantra, which you allude to, to be a tipoff to a more sinister bit of politics than just refusing to provide needed public goods. The driving force behind sprawl is prices, and the remedy is radically lower prices in the core through more realistic zoning. Vancouver refuses to do that, then complains where their own city workers choose to live in Surrey. When they drive to work for midnite shifts, the Heather Deals say they don’t want a block long HOV lane added to Grandview because she “doesn’t care how many people [from Surrey] are in those cars”. Great attitude.
Basically, the GVRD’s policy, as expressed in Transport 2021 and the LRSP, is one that favours the interests of landowners and employers over those of workers and housing consumers.