Once again, where is Carmageddon?
Where are the stories about the congestion caused by the closure of Point Grey Road? It wouldn’t have taken much. Any significant back-ups and the media would have descended like vultures.
So what happened? And if it didn’t happen, isn’t that news too?
UPDATE: According to sources, the traffic is flowing – possibly better than anticipated. The City had already made some changes on MacDonald and 4th to handle increased turning volumes; traffic managers and signal crews were prepared to modify timings and volumes. So far, not much has been needed.
But a first day is not an indicator of how drivers will respond over time as they test various routes and options. Let’s see how things shake down in a week or so.
Nonetheless, Bruce Allen must be deeply disappointed.
It’s not news because it isn’t negative. Well sort of — it is negative if you highlight the failed media predictions and bogus political pontificating. But these topics get very little attention.
Would they normally report on a stretch of road that didn’t have a traffic jam or angry drivers?
It is frustrating that none of the news outlets have provided an update (ending) to the story.
Agreed. And the other big story not being told is that all those Single Occupant Vehicles have just gone somewhere else. I have a hunch this is where we’ll wind up. And if our metro develops to be as ‘fine’ as theirs, it might even work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XfSpBOLpro
Actually the Province did – see my blog for a link and an explanation of why carmageddon is a mostly imaginary issue
Excellent report. Thanks.
Ultimately, Point Grey Road is a small road in the first place – only one lane each way and wasn’t very busy except a narrow rush hour window or on busy summer weekends with beachgoers heading westwards.
You’re not going to get Carmaggedon with that volume of cars being shifted around.
It’s all politics and special interest groups a, being “vocal”, leveraging social media and creating hype. Note that the ones being “inconvenienced” are also the “privileged” who live on the West Side, easily get a nose out of joint and are accustomed to getting their way (and likely to complain, sue, raise a stink, etc.) – the older group of the “entitled” (as opposed to the Main St. crowd where you have the younger “entiled”.
Much ado about nothing — situation normal. Thanks to the City for making the road a local street, as it was intended. The transformation to the neighbourhood is long overdue and benefits everyone in the city who cares to visit the area, rather than just commute at high speeds through it.
Deja vu with ‘Gregor’s Gridlock’ – the oft-mocked prediction of mayhem on the Burrard Bridge, quickly redacted after weeks of ‘Carmageddon’ hype stories, that completely failed to materialize after bike lanes opened. Cities are always in flux, people adjust.