Words from Transport Minister Blair Lekstrom, in regard to the Port Mann Bridge:
Lekstrom said he’s also confident that the promised rapid bus service will be in place from day one. If TransLink’s $30 million funding shortfall isn’t covered by savings from an ongoing audit of the regional transit group, he said he’s committed to work with communities to find the money.
Translation: It doesn’t matter, mayors, what your priorities are, or TransLink’s short- and long-term fiscal situation, or past promises from the provincial government for new revenue sources that remain unfulfilled – we’re going to get the money out of you to run those buses over our bridge.
And it looks like the toll will be reduced to a toonie “by extending the debt repayment period.”
Translation: the overbuilt Port Mann will cost even more to pay off, sucking resources from the transportation system for a generation, limiting options for the future and locking South of Fraser even further into car dependence.
Motordom triumphant.
“Motordom triumphant.”
Or it could be a failure due to lower-than-predicted car traffic volumes (as has happened in other cities around the world, as noted on this blog) and it could prove to be the motordom project to end all motordom projects in the Vancouver area…
lets hope so!
The cynic in me suspects that Agustin is on the right track. Rather than face criticism when traffic doesn’t live up to projections, they’re lowering the toll in the hopes of boosting traffic. By doing it ahead of opening day it’s seen as largesse rather than backpedaling.
By the way, are the projections actually published anywhere? It would be nice to see them BEFORE opening day rather than waiting for them to be “re-imagined” based on actual actual traffic volumes.
Reports are here: http://www.pmh1project.com/about-the-project/resource-materials/Pages/Previous-Project-Reports.aspx
This looks to have the most forecast numbers (Table 2): http://www.pmh1project.com/Policy%20Planning%20%20Reports/COMM%20-%20rpt%20-%20SDG%20PMH1%20forecasts%20-%2020110912.pdf
There are 3 scenarios mentioned, measured in AADT = annual average daily traffic
SDG 2006 (S15) – 10 lanes
2013: 148,900
2021: 189,300
2031: 228,000
SDG 2007 (S52) – 8 lanes to 2021
2013: 144,600
2021: 177,500
2031: 210,600
SDG 2011 – 10 lanes
2013: 121,700
2021: 195,300
2031: 230,900
I expected one of the (relatively minor) positives of the new Port Mann for Translink would be to push more traffic onto the Golden Ears bridge, mainly people who were taking the free alternative. With a lower toll and more open lanes this may actually hurt Translink’s bottom line even more unless they follow suit and lower tolls.
Sad to say, you’ve captured it perfectly.
Original Cape Horn c. 1963 http://www.theprovince.com/news/6821307.bin?size=620x400s
Coquitlam Population 1961 29,000, 2001 113,000
Surrey Population 1961 71,000 2001 350,000
I give up trying to make a point of this… Sorry for the inconvenience..
Inconvenience doesn’t start to describe what happened to Cassiar Street. Hard to imagine, your house is on a major arterial in 1958, by 1964 it is the 401, a freeway connector. http://vintageairphotos.com/57-51/
“Original Cape Horn c. 1963”
Yes, you can see that the area around was undeveloped – before the warehouses and other light industrial uses fled Vancouver to the suburbs such as Port Coquitlam and Pacific Reach Business Park.
Much of the redesigned Cape Horn Interchange is designed to not only accommodate Hwy 1 and Lougheed Hwy traffic (as the original interchange did), but also United Boulevard (Pacific Reach Business Park) and Mary Hill Bypass (Port Coquitlam’s light industrial areas)).
Here’s Mary Hill Bypass and Broadway:
http://www.globalairphotos.com/large/BC/Port_Coquitlam/Central/2011/0142/2
Pacific Reach Business Park:
http://www.globalairphotos.com/large/BC/Coquitlam/South/2010/0024/2
I hate to say it, but it’s time for regime change. There’s simply no vision left amongst the BC Liberals.