Thanks to Sandy James
In the “I am living in the 1960’s” department-
We have heard about the new large mega mall that is being built on First Nations Land just north of Tsawwassen, supposedly needed to supply the demand for mall shopping by Metro Vancouver consumers. There is a 1.2 million square foot regional mall being developed, along with a more locally serving mall of 550,000 square feet.
Surprisingly there has been a dearth of information locally on the Mall’s progress and development, but the Chamber of Commerce in Point Roberts delighted at having a presentation on how they could benefit from the mall at their Annual Meeting reported in the All Point Bulletin. An excellent map of the site is included in the article.
Anyone going to the Tsawwassen Ferry has noticed the highway work being done on Highway 17 at 52nd Street, where new lanes are going in to expedite vehicular traffic to the mall.
I was confounded to see the extra lanes being placed on the highway to facilitate traffic, and to see that the Mayor of Delta is advocating for a “pedestrian overpass” over the highway to facilitate foot and/or bike traffic from Tsawwassen to the mall. I was curious why this was even being considered, instead of making the Highway smartly passable at grade for pedestrians, and creating stronger walking and cycling links for active transportation.
When I was chair of the international Walk21 Conference, many of the proposed papers from third world countries talked about how to create better pedestrian overpasses to facilitate active travel movement.
Are pedestrian overpasses needed in the lower mainland and in this context? Are we reinforcing motordom in the suburbs? What other options could we take? How does the tail of active transportation wag the highway elephant?
Pat Grubb’s article in the All Point Bulletin (Point Roberts, WA) is based on a recent presentation by Delta Chamber of Commerce ED Ian Tate. Let’s list the developments:
Tsawwassen Mills: 1,200,000 sq. ft. retail
Tsawwassen Commons: 550,000 sq. ft. retail
Industrial Park: 300 acres, 4,000,000 sq. ft.
Residential: 137 acres. Up to 2,290 units and a golf course
LNG export facility (early days)
I suggest we get organized and start lobbying for a Tesla Factory on that 4,000,000 square feet of Industrial Land. Cars are not going away anytime soon, but we can limit the environmental damage and develop a green economy at the same time.
Anyone who thinks that pedestrians are going to flock to a mega-mall located miles from any residential areas or frequent transit service is smoking something. This thing is going to be totally car-dependent, and frankly it’s so far out in a mostly disused corner of the region that I’d be surprised if it survives for a decade. It’ll be great for the folks who live in Ladner and Tsawwassen, but I’ve got serious doubts that that’s enough people to sustain it.
The conspiracy theorist in me says that the developers must know something that we don’t – like a huge chunk of land coming out of the ALR being developed for residential use for which the Massey Tunnel replacement will be necessary. I sure hope something like that isn’t in the cards.
Totally. Let’s be real here, no one is walking to that place. The best case we can hope for is it fizzles out and maybe it’ll turn into one of those creepy abandoned malls you see online.
As soon as you put a ‘pedestrian overpass’ over something, you’re dooming that area to motordom. Full stop.
Are we reinforcing motordom in the suburbs? The suburbs is motordom. I quite enjoy this blog, but the number of posts that look at people biking on the seawall, showing pretty photos and then in anyway assume or think that’s what’s happening anywhere other than downtown is just crazy. Look at the planning being done like this mall or some of the stuff in Grandview Heights–it’s straight out of the 1950’s with winding cul-de-sacs surrounded by arterial roads.
I could go on–until we get real about progressive regional planning, and that starts with the Province as they control the highways and transit, nothing will change. Every square inch of non-ALR land will be developed, and then the real pressure will start. I don’t doubt they’re already planning for it.
Amen brother!
There’s information available at the websites for the mall:
http://www.tsawwassenmills.ca/
https://twitter.com/TsawwassenMills
Although mall construction info doesn’t get updated often (and no list of stores has been released yet, other than Bass Pro outfitters), the Traffic Alerts are frequently updated for highway 17 traffic impacts.
When I drive along Hwy 1 through Surrey I see a very nicely designed pedestrian (and cyclist) bridge across the highway – apparently in the middle of nowhere.
Likewise, when I drive back up from Washington state on Hwy 99, I see a beautiful glittery pedestrian (and cyclist) bridge across the highway looking like a waterfall.
They must be there for a reason, though I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen a person one either of them.
Highways bisect communities and pedestrian overpasses are very important. I don’t live or travel in Surrey and can’t say where the nicely lit overpass connects to, but I doubt the province builds a pedestrian overpass for no reason. Some highway overpasses look like in the middle of nowhere (e.g. at the Upper Levels on the North Shore), but there are streets, homes and businesses on both sides of the highway, often hidden behind trees.
The new mall is located quite close to the Tsawwassen Town and yes, people in Delta do a lot of walking/biking and can cross the intersection at this point. I understand that people in the region will not be walking or biking to this mall, but crossing the highway at this intersection is done for folks biking and walking locally. It is a ten minute walk to Tsawwassen shops and services along 56th Street from this intersection. A pedestrian overpass will skew access for those on foot and on bikes.
Of course, one could look at the pedestrian overpass as another piece of infrastructure whose purpose is to speed car movements. Adding lanes to highway 17 would require an even longer pedestrian walk signal which would impede ferry traffic. By providing an overpass you eliminate the need for the cars to wait for any pedestrians.
That might be especially important with the increasing (and to me, very annoying) tendency for people to get out of their cars and hit the pedestrian walk button in order to get a green light for themselves.
Is this really an increasing tendency? I used to do that as a kid when we lived on a street with a pedestrian-signaled stop light all the time, and that was 20 years ago.
Increasing or not, the fact that it doesn’t just take pedestrians to activate a long walk signal cycle is more justification for putting in an overpass that eliminates that signal and expedites the flow of ferry traffic. In other words, it could be viewed as a benefit to cars that is disguised as a benefit to pedestrians.
An optimist would call it a “win-win”, but the cynic in me says it’s stealth motordom.
This mall is done, they did not anticipate McArthur Glen and they are a year late opening to compete against it. Besides we are entering into another Global recession, the signs are everywhere, including in Houston, once the fairytale dream city for jobs and the economy:
http://www.businessinsider.com/it-is-getting-worse-in-houston-2015-11