We had an idea the new Massey Bridge and associated Motordom infrastructure was going to impose a significant footprint on Delta and Richmond, but the release of preliminary design concepts for the corridor seemed to have even caught Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie off guard. Brodie describes his shock when viewing images for the new interchange at Steveston Highway…
“When I saw the highway and the interchange I was literally breathless,”
Its easy to justify his reaction when taking in the Los Angeles-style stacked interchange, but perhaps not so easy to understand why municipal officials are either kept in the dark up until this point or just haven’t engaged in the initial phases of the design process. Here are more of Brodie’s comments in a segment with CTV Vancouver:
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/richmond-mayor-literally-breathless-over-plans-for-interchange-1.3112857
“Literally breathless”. Cripes. Get that man a paper bag. Amusing to see the price tag has casually and now-officially gone from $2B to $3.5B. And that’s just to build the first time. This thing is going to need its own system of retention lakes – and pumps running 24/7 to convey runoff away from an area barely above sea level. On the bright side, NASA will have another contingent landing strip for the space shuttle. What did ANYONE expect?
This thing will probably top $4 billion. Unbelievably immature design. Financially reckless. High school locker room engineering. Braggadocio and hubris over sound planning. Bullying the locals is the new reality show.
And dangerous. The Ministry hacks and BC Libs will never acknowledge that massive freeways cause massive multiple vehicle crashes. Not to mention increased levels of childhood asthma, ground level ozone and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur. This freeway will impact the healthcare system and families measurably on top of the provincial debt.
WOW . Just wow. And not in a good way. Who comes up with this crap? This is like using a garden hose for heart surgery. Sure, the throughput will be spectacular but where’s all that traffic going to end up?
As explained here, if you want a dedicated transit lanes and dedicated HOV/electric-vehicle lanes then you need more than the four little lanes you have now. Let’s also remember the pedestrian and cycling lanes.
It’s quite an achievement that in order to respect the environment, by stacking vertically the smooth connections the footprint of the interchange will be less that the present mess which includes stop/start traffic lights. Well done! I was breathless at the brilliant engineering ingenuity. Great design.
I can’t imagine anyone wanting to cycle or walk anywhere near that monstrosity.
Are you f*cking kidding, Eric? That thing is equivalent to 25 lanes in width. There is zero, nil and zip justification for this adolescent, testosterone-overdosed design.
“Let’s also remember the pedestrian and cycle lanes”.
OK. Just to help people remember them, they are highlighted here in red. That’s it. The rest is not pedestrian and cycle lanes. The two segments of multiuse path shown are part of the east/west connection, which winds underneath the various ramps, and jogs out towards the river to get around the bridge abutment. Not very direct, which is not surprising given the complexity of the interchange. There is no north/south bicycle path connectivity at this interchange at this time.
http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q367/jcleigh/Steveston%20Interchange_zpsmwnz6hek.jpg
Now tell us again how all the traffic volume carried by this interchange westward is going to be absorbed by the existing two lane Steveston Hwy at #5 Road, and not cause any increased congestion there.
Eric, how old are you? I thought this kind of stuff was cool when I was 10. Then I grew up. Not there yet?
1950 all over again!
If you think that is crazy read this:
http://www.straight.com/news/804861/fixed-link-report-coming
All this makes me ask, What are they doing to our beloved British Columbia? Between asphalt, LNG plants and mounting hidden debt, we won’t recognize it in a few years.
These stupid and childish ideas need some stinging rebuttal by prominent people on the government side of the political divide, not the opposition side. Sound fiscal mangers my ass. The massive freeway projects have already taxed the grandchildren of the grandchildren of today’s children. The fixed link to the Island promoted by BC Liberal supporters in the Straight will cost as much as the US Apollo program — and that’s only a slight exaggeration. The really galling thing is that there are so many viable and much more affordable alternatives.
Hey, progress is not free. Jobs growth requires investment. Not everyone buys into the low carbon small-is-beautiful density-everywhere socialist poverty vision. Density makes sense in Vancouver and inner cities of some cities. Some folks actually want expansion, space AND JOBS !
And a severely degraded planet for their offspring…
You can’t eat grass. People want to live now and have a future without politicians telling them how they should live smaller lives ! The green jobs will not materialize: http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/kevin-libin-there-will-be-no-green-job-bonanza-from-the-liberal-carbon-tax and everyone will be poorer while Ottawa or province collect more in taxes. Not everyone buys into this “big government is better” or “more taxes is better” vision .. $30B in debt this year alone .. wow .. not so sunny ways as projected even a year ago http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/liberals-to-run-18-billion-deficit-plus-billions-in-new-spending/article28833722/
People want FREEDOM TO MOVE .. some by foot, some by bike, some by bus, some by subway and some, oh no, BY CAR or no, MINI-VAN or no, PICK UP TRUCK!
Who said you can eat grass? Why do you always add nonsensical comments?
Some people don’t buy into this “big government spending on massive money losing bridges is better”. How much debt is the Port Mann and Golden Ears piling on the taxpayer? When will you and Christy learn?
Those people who want to move in cars can’t afford it and the rest of us shouldn’t have to pay for it.
The return on this investment will materialize in more childhood asthma, trauma centres full of accident victims, and long-term debt. And there will be a massive build up to 500% more congestion.
But hey, it’ll create jobs for unionized nurses, wealthy road builders and government auditors.
By back-of-napkin calculation, the investment in the Expo Line has generated 50,000 jobs and accounting, $15 billion in development and counting, and saved thousands of lives over 30 years by offering a far safer mode of transport than by car, all at a tiny fraction of the per-capita cost (both capital and operating), energy and pollution by autos.
There are “investments” that actually generate a net loss, like freeways, and then there are real investments with a return far exceeding their cost.
Oh, now you’re just trolling, Thomas. Surely you can’t be THAT bored. Just because ‘people’ want something doesn’t mean they’re entitled to it. This ‘give the people whatever they want right now’ mentality is what got us into our current mess. My 3-year old knows that already. The good people of rural BC – who choose to live out in the veld – do not need a $3B highway to live happy, productive lives. Just ask them.
The interest paid on the debt of the two bridge projects will be at least half the value of the principle. That’s the low side. Try finding an amortization table that calculates interest on billions over 35 years.
With at minimum $7 billion in capital construction cost and debt, your total interest paid over 35 years combined with the principle will be 10 billion bucks. Tolls do not offset a project’s cost. They merely transfer them to the user and add the private sector profit margin.
As noted several times in other posts, the operating costs on roads / bridges / freeways are never recovered.
What amortization ? Public debt will never be repaid. It just grows. It is used to finance future income ie toll income or tax income. Debt matters little. What matters is the relative asset size that is acquired with it that produces income. Debt to asset or debt to income ratios matter, but not debt in isolation ! The toll income from the bridge will by far exceed the debt interest payment plus the GDP growth from jobs and new industries will be far far higher too.
We should debate why they are not drilling the Broadway tunnel yet as that would also spin off similar new jobs, construction, housing & tax revenues from a variety of sources !
The net value, dollars to dollars, of transit-oriented development and infrastructure is far higher than auto-oriented development and infrastructure. The commercial trucking and port industries do not need two 10-lane bridges and almost 30 cumulative lanes of freeway between two projects in the Metro. That is just plain excessive and purely political.
There is lots of literature and research out there comparing net value if you care to look it up. Here is one link with excerpts by transportation planner Todd Litman:
Smart Growth involves various policies that result in more compact, multimodal development. Credible research indicates that Smart Growth community residents consume less land, own fewer vehicles, drive less, rely more on alternative modes, spend less on transport, have lower traffic crash casualty rates, consume less energy and produce less pollution than they would in more sprawled, automobile-dependent areas. These savings filter through the economy, increasing economic productivity and development. […]
Smart Growth often provides substantial benefits, including net economic savings that total thousands of dollars annually per households, plus significant health benefits, improved mobility options for non-drivers, and external benefits including reduced traffic congestion, accident risk and pollution imposed on others. Since physically, economically and socially disadvantaged people tend to rely on affordable housing and transport options, Smart Growth tends to provide social equity benefits.
Many current policies tend to favor sprawl over compact development and automobile travel over alternative modes. Smart Growth reforms help correct these distortions, resulting in more diverse housing and transportation options which better respond to consumer demands, more efficient pricing, and more neutral planning. These reforms provide multiple and synergistic benefits; for example, reducing parking requirements not only reduced parking facility costs, it also allows more compact development which improves accessibility and reduces vehicle ownership and use, which in turn reduce total traffic congestion, accident and pollution costs. […]
http://www.vtpi.org/sg_save.pdf
***
“Debt doesn’t matter.”
Well then, why do you constantly begrudge it in your unceasing critiques of “socialist” governments?
Debt does matter. Too much of it and the public sector loses its preferred AAA credit ratings, something not available to the private sector. That’s why P3s always cost more. What should always be considered in all public debt is the net value inherent in the long-term return. Again, transit and compact, walkable communities will always win the bang-for-your-buck contest, as well as any comparison with environmental and healthcare externalities.
Before you instantly dismiss Litman’s work, Thomas, I have to point out that his references fill up 11 pages.
Litman certainly has a very impressive resumé and he moved to Canada and now lives in Victoria. What’s not to like?
Funny though that he was a major go-to guy for the transit referendum spinners, even producing a whopping 12 points as to why yes list and making appearances on our very own CBC. The people balked. It was rejected. There’s gotta be a lesson in here somewhere. Will they learn?
With all the money the province will lose on white elephant road projects they’re not going to be able to afford bridges to the Sunshine Coast. I wouldn’t worry about that happening.
I have to agree with Eric that this is an amazing piece of engineering. Note also that there will be bus interchanges in the middle of the intersection as well as in the 17A intersection. However:
– Though footprint of interchange is smaller, this is totally swamped by the the extra lanes on the highway. Note that the freeway is 20 lanes wide just north of the interchange.
– Though cycling is promised on bridge and across interchanges, there is huge resistance to adding a cycling highway in the corridor or even to adding a few bits which would greatly enhance the cycling networks in Richmond and Delta. If not addressed soon, this will be a big missed opportunity to enhance both the regional and local cycling networks.
– Mayor Brodie is right in wondering where all the induced traffic will end up. How can Todd Stone promise that this extra traffic does not end up in Richmond, Vancouver and other municipalities? Unless he is planning a tunnel under Vancouver to the North Shore? I predict huge backups at the approach to the Oak Bridge and to the Knight St Bridge. Also increased traffic congestion throughout Richmond and Vancouver. Also more injuries and deaths among vulnerable road users. And we are paying how much to make this happen?
This project can be summed up in one word:
Insanity.
Here’s the word they will use in 2046 for the 25 year anniversary of the 2021 opening: Visionary. Maybe they rename the bridge the Christy Clark bridge, or will they reserve that for the new Sunshine Coast Connector or the bridge to Vancouver Island ?
Sorry Thomas. Wrong future. The real one you haven’t begun to grasp yet.
What single “project” do citizens of Metro Vancouver consistently call “visionary”?
Hint: It’s not a building, bridge, tunnel or roadway.
A more likely future will be Christy will be a grinning laughing stock in mid-century history classes because her vision for the future of the province will have turned out so completely wrong.
Arno, there is a universe of difference between a 3D computer rendering and “engineering”. Any cross-eyed, humping bonobo can draw a picture. An engineer actually makes your drawing work. The current rendering has not yet been engineered. It has been drawn. It could just as easily be shown floating above the heliosphere (‘oooh. amazing!’). And simply adding more lanes for every conceivable purpose is hardly rocket science. It’s both easy and simple if you have all the money in the province to play with.
Actually, the conceptual design has been rendered into a scale model. Ditto for the bridge and the 17A intersection. You can see these in the project office which is located on Steveston Hwy. Our tax dollars at work!
Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the final design will look anything like this since it is a P3 project.
Here’s a better pic from Skyscraperpage.com.
The elevator to a bridge to the overpass station and elevator down to the HOV median bus station is circled in red.
It is accessible from the on-bridge multi-use path as well as from a path from The Gardens side of Steveston Highway.
It looks like the HOV median bus station access from the east is via a ramp.
Bus transfers would be on the overpass directly above the HOV median station.
http://i.imgur.com/YRlZsqp.jpg
Also note the ramp marked “Rice Mill Road”. There are ramps to and from Rice Mill Road which will take semi-tractor trailers from adjacent light industrial areas off of Steveston Highway.
Those ramps were late additions to the design. When they were added, the bike and pedestrian paths that had been designed were all grade-separated for safety, but that isn’t true for these ramps, unless the design has changed again. Will the semis will slow down for the people crossing?
People crossing?
The pedestrian access to the bus station would be grade-separated (as seen on the model).
To spell it out – pedestrian path snakes down to elevator at-grade beside highway, passenger takes elevator up to pedestrian overpass bridge. Passenger walks across bridge over traffic lanes to bus station on overpass. Passenger takes elevator or escalators down to HOV median bus station.
That’s similar to LRT station access routes for median stations.
After the lanes were added to Rice Mill road there were pedestrian crossings needed, and designed at grade, shown on the drawings and the model. Not to do with the transit stop, but for people walking or riding bikes through the interchange, ie east/west on Steveston Hwy or accessing the bridge MUPs.
Yes, the Rice Mill Road ramps also service the main BC Ferries maintenance docks far more conveniently than now.
There will probably be less traffic on the roadway once this is in service, as long as Translink supplies the appropriate rapid transit to the dedicated lanes that will then run between Bridgeport Station all the way south and the ferry terminal.
Since, in a related story this week, we learn that Translink is earning nearly $500 million from the sale of their Oakridge property, Translink will have plenty of cash to buy the proper transit vehicles.
The Canada Line is going to be pressured with even more passengers once the transit is up and running on the bridge. Expansion of the Canada Line stations and larger trains are obviously in the planning stage now.
We will look back and try and tell our grandchildren that we used go under the river in a little narrow dark tunnel and the traffic was backed up for ages every morning and all afternoons as one vehicle at a time squeezed through on alternating sides and cyclists had to wait for a little truck with a special rack just for bikes.
Like trying to explain a typewriter, they won’t believe it.
The poor children will wonder why there’s a mostly empty 10 lane bridge and no room to squeeze onto substandard transit. They’ll ask what you did to reduce dependence on fossil fuels when you had the chance? Will you be able to face them?
If the transit is substandard then those people they keep firing at Translink could be the reason. By then most of us will have a Tesla, or equivalent. The Model 3 is supposed to coming in for 35Gs with a 0-100 in under 6 seconds. Seats 5, plenty of room for the kids. The only question will be how fast can Tesla crank them out.
MV traffic into downtown Vancouver has been in decline for twenty years.
That trend has started to show up city wide.
Development trends show an urbanization of the suburbs.
Walkable neighbourhoods are all the rage.
Urban areas are calming MV traffic.
Even the suburbs are not expanding roads along with population growth.
Vehicle mile traveled is declining in most advanced countries.
Most new transit projects are exceeding ridership expectations.
Car sharing is exploding.
Cycling is growing quickly.
Ferry walk-ons are growing quickly and buses to the ferries are routinely packed.
What makes you think electric cars will change those trends?
Yeah, these trends of modal shift have nothing to do with ecological considerations. Someone with an electric car is still subject to the same things that a gas powered car is. It’s still sometimes not the best choice for a certain trip. That won’t change.
The way I see it is that if there had been no redesigning of our world in the 20th century to favour the auto industry and give people only one travel choice we would be seeing multiple choices at once. People have been waking up to the fact that a car is not the ideal choice for some trips. They want a multi-modal world.
Well, if Vancouver would like to close down the airport, close down the cruise ship terminal, shutter the convention centre, abandon the art gallery and all the other cultural institutions, then lock the doors to Rogers Arena and BC Place, move UBC out to Burnaby with SFU and close some of those bars and restaurants too, then perhaps the need for anyone to travel into Vancouver would go down even more.
Eric, your arguments are getting more absurd with every post.
Let me elaborate if you don’t get it yet Eric.
We have all those things in operation and they seem to be doing fine, thank you very much,
And we have a four lane tunnel.
Why do you propose we need to shut everything down?
Sounds a lot like the illogical argument that we all need to move to caves if we don’t build new fossil fuel infrastructure.
Rapid transit of any kind does not require 20+ lanes. Two will do. And those two have the capacity to remove drivers who would otherwise fill up at least 12, bumper to bumper for many kilometres.
There are 20 lanes indicated. If you add the width of medians, shoulders and unused adjacent ramp space, the paved environment exceeds the equivalent of 25 lanes.
This thing emanates from the Trump School of Community and Regional Planning.
This would so much more civilized.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ab/04/f2/ab04f28782ad1acd12419af52db2cf8e.jpg
Eric can only counter good arguments with absurdity.
We have to tax the methane gas emitting droppings, of course ! Will it come in an automated mode too, the AHV (Autonomous Horse Vehicle) ?
Thomas too.
Yer a funny fellow, Eric.
I much prefer this.
http://www.ville-montmorency.fr/images/transilien_ligneh_def.jpg
Yes that would work for dense areas, for people. Europe too has many highways, many tolled for cars AND TRUCKS. As I have said here before – many times – we need BOTH !
Any transportation corridor costs money, lots of it and takes time. If Europe hadn’t built train tracks 100+ years ago before environmental assessment was invented, they too would have far fewer today as any new project takes years, decades often, to approve due to our overly rigid and often far too excessive regulatory approvals to appease native bands, green radicals and overpaid civil servant apparatus sucking on the tax payers teets for maximum intake !
As such trains make sense where a corridor exists and where there is sufficient volume. is there here ? With AVs upon us the roads will be used by AVs with 0 – 20 people as “public” transit will morph into “public-private” systems, using existing roads. Using existing roads is far cheaper than a tunnel or an overhead train like a SkyTrain.
For Ladner & Tsawwassen I doubt the population would get dense enough to support rail-based transit.
For White Rock & South Surrey, farther to the east and separated from Delta by a big swath of ALR, the preferred route is not via the Massey crossing, but south from Surrey via King George Blvd/Hwy.
@Guest: This is true, the preferred route for transit serving South Surrey & White Rock is from Surrey Central. This means that substantial traffic will continue to cross the river at the Deas Slough, from those areas and from all the other areas in North and South Delta, etc.
Where are you getting 20 lanes? Are you counting the shoulders and ramps? That’s not how you count lanes. Stop embarrassing yourself with the over-the-top nonsense that you keep posting.
Counting off and on ramps, I think there’s about 20 lanes at that point. Yikes!
They may as well put in a paramedic station while they are at it. It looks like it will be a killing ground, with high speed motorists making crazy lane changes there will be countless accidents.
You think counter-flow two lane traffic in the dark narrow tunnel is safer!
Did I say that Eric? No. What’s safer is trained drivers moving large amounts of people in mass transit vehicles. The statistics bear this out.
How about the commercial vehicles and the trucks?
Let’s not lump in those trained drivers with regular motorists. Why are you denigrating their skills and abilities?
How can you ignore one of the areas that employ the most people, the trades. These drivers are everyone from a glass installer to a cleaner and a plumber, etc. They all need and drive vehicles.
The idea that the roads are covered with buses, big multi-wheeled trucks and single-occupancy vehicles frequently occurs and it leaves out a whole host of trades. The doctors, the surveyors, the technology technicians, etc., etc. Many of these trades travel to different locations daily and need a vehicle for their equipment and tools.
Take away all the MVs that are not serving the jobs you mention and put those on transit. Pooof! Traffic gone.
It’s not working Eric. You can deflect, deny, and obfuscate to your heart’s desire, but it’s pretty clear to everyone paying attention. Nothing would be more advantageous to tradespeople who rely on their vehicles than effective, attractive transit options for those who don’t. The reality is that the real offenders when it comes to throwing auto-dependent workers under the wheels of the SOV users are those who promote these mega-roads and the congestion they create.
Eric, one gets the impression you operate a commercial vehicle. If correct, then here’s a compromise to consider and possibly lobby for.
Commercial vehicle operators get a discount on any bridge tolls. I’d peg it at half, enough to pay for at least a part of the high maintenance trucks impose on infrastructure, but still reasonably affordable to operators and their clients. Possibly a third for light commercial vehicles.
In return, we knock four lanes off that bloated puppy, and two of the remaining six are reserved for the train pictured above charging reasonable fares. The remaining four lanes are tolled at a double rate which will immediately be portrayed as a form of punishment by opponents. In actual fact, that’s a more accurate representation of the external costs imposed by SOVs on society, a cost that currently covered by taxpayers.
I would much prefer a two-lane transit-only bridge with a reinforced tunnel, so the above is a big compromise to me. Hopefully, you can see the value of compromise here too.
@MB: did we ever hear why a third tunnel was rejected as it would have been far cheaper to modernize the existing 2 tunnels and add a third, so we could still have counter-flow lanes in morning and afternoon rush hours ?
Is it true that we need the Fraser River deeper for larger vessels for new port facilities in Richmond, Delta, Surrey or New West ?
I personally would have preferred a $1B additional tunnel here and a new subway under Broadway to Jericho lands, UEL and UBC with in total likely far higher societal benefits for the same $3B invested.
MB; Yes, rail along this corridor is inevitable, whether all that Delta land stays wilderness or not. The french train in the photo you posted is impressive. How is it nobody at Translink or at Metro Vancouver ever mentions rail along this corridor?
We hear of rail under Broadway being a priority and rail down the Fraser Highway to Langley. The Canada Line stops up in the air in the middle of Richmond but I never hear any talk of extending it down to any of the five, or so, municipalities south.
One lane for all the traffic through the old tunnel cannot make sense.
I don’t think rail in this corridor is inevitable at all. The bridge or tunnel costs for a heavy rail bridge are higher than than of a car bridge because the approaches would have to be massive. Commuter rail trains generally only manage a 1.5% or 2% grade. To make a high level bridge comparable to GMT, would be a 3-4km viaduct on either side. A tunnel would be maybe 2.5km long, which is still a fair bit larger than the existing GMT.
This combined with the fact that rail connections to Richmond don’t go anywhere wouldn’t make for very good passenger service. Why would you bother with a train which only dropped you off at Bridgeport Stn? Alternatively, digging a real rail line to downtown would be a another pile of money.
The most likely scenarios for heavy rail SoF are through New West, or for light rail trains which can tackle a steeper bridge like the new GMT. Why bother when you can have a double decker bus every 30 seconds with BRT?
Did you have a straight face when you made that post? That is a well-designed safe interchange. It will result in way less accidents not more. Stop believing the bullshit propaganda you’re being fed by the anti-car lobby. Not only is it wrong, it’s dangerous to our economic well-being.
Hypocrisy thy name is Richmond. Hey Malcolm, this will provide much easier access to the Riverport Entertainment complex that your city plunked down in farmland far away from any residences and poorly served by transit. Of course all the development in your burg has been pretty much against what Metro Vancouver wanted, building on a flood plain prone to liquefaction, not so smart. Hell hath no fury like a petty municipal politician scorned.
Yup – Richmond breached the Livable Region Strategic Plan when it approved residential use over at Riverport.
It would also be nice if Richmond focussed its office space in downtown Richmond.
The Massey Tunnel has been under study for decades and in 2006 the Gordon Campbell Liberal Government announced that a decision had been made. Highways Minister Kevin Falcon announced that a two lane addition to the tunnel would be built. The BC Gateway Council endorsed the plan and said it would cost $500 million. Then the Campbell Government spent $22 million seismically upgrading the tunnel and $4.7 million preparing for a rapid bus system from Richmond to White Rock. The eventual plan was to add an LRT tube when bus ridership warranted the expansion. Richmond council was consulted and supported the tunnel and transit plans
The first opposition to keeping the tunnel came from the proponents of a jet fuel tank farm in Richmond east of the tunnel, then Fraser Surey Docks wanting to accomodate larger draft vessels to ship coal and finally proposals for shipping LNG requiring a high enough bridge for 310 metre Panamex tankers. Finally Port Vancouver demanded 2,700 acres of farmland for all of this port expansion and Stephen Harper gave the Port the right to over-rule local and regional zoning and the ALR.
At the Vancouver Board of Trade meeting a couple of weeks ago the Federal Minister of Agiculture stated that the Trudeau Government supports tPort Vancouver’s right to develop farmland.
The end result will be the industrialization of the Fraser River. The Port wants to dredge the river to 15.5 metres deep for 34 km from the river mouth to Fraser Surrey Docks. The tunnel has to be removed because it is 11.5 metres deep and the jet fuel tankers can only get over the top of the tunnel at high tide. Clearly the bridge is 10 lanes wide to accomodate industrial development on 2,700 acres of farmland in addition to the new Tsawwassen Mills Mall and another 318 aces at Tsawassen First Nation zoned fo industry and 150 acres of Musqueum land not developed yet. In the end we can expect another 20 lane interchange at Westminster Highway east to No 8 Road and a bridge through Richmonds’ cranberry fields to Boundary Road in Burnaby. Richmond council is opposed to the industrialization of our farmland.
Where the people will live that will work in the massive new port we haven’t been told. However 7,000 acres of Richmond farmland was converted to residential within 10 years of the opening of the Oak Street Bridge in 1957 and another 5,000 acres was zoned for development.
As for food, BC is quickly destroying the only farmland that can feed us. Only 1.1% of BC has the class 1 and 2 alluvial soils that grow vegetables and greens. Those lands are primarily here in the Fraser River Delta, threatened by Port and residential expansion and along the Peace River, threatened by the Site C Dam.
Do you have any ideas as to how to preserve any of the land you speak of?
Should consideration be given to move the airport? If so where?
Would you like to see a Hong Kong-like solution, where they levelled an island, bought in Norman Foster to design Chep Lap Kok Airport and Buckland and Taylor from North Vancouver to do some amazing bridges, put in a freeway and a fast train?
How about the Port? Move that too? To where? If the Dutch with their tiny land area can live with the massive port of Rotterdam then how come we struggle with our port?
What about immigration? If it remains at the levels anticipated then Metro Vancouver will keep on growing. Does anyone think we should stop immigration?
If the new arrivals are going to keep on coming then where should they be housed? Crammed into masses of high-rises in Vancouver and Burnaby, or should we be building larger residential centres into the valley? Isn’t the valley good farmland too?
That is what happens if you live in a land locked delta that is basically the only export and import terminal for the growing Pacific region for all of Canada.
Growth needs space and industrial facilities and infrastructure.
National interest trumps local interest and blueberry growers here. Bravo ! Plenty of land elsewhere in BC for blueberries and farmland but not for harbors. Commerce trumps ag food in this case.
Where is the debate about land creation east and south into Boundary Bay on this context, or expanding roads, pipelines and railways to Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands, Howe Sound or Sunshine Coast ?
Realpolitik is the term for all this.
Thomas, you keep mentioning reclaiming land and moving farming elsewhere but you do not consider two important things:
– Boundary bay is a major feeding ground for migratory birds. You destroy that and you destroy part of Earth’s life support services which we all rely on.
– Only about 1% of BC is class A farmland. You destroy it here and in the Peace and you have nothing left.
And please note that you cant grow commercial blueberries in Prince George!
Global Warming™ Arno. We’ll soon be growing oranges in Fort St. John. Only the deniers say we won’t.
You mean those 6 farms that will be flooded, that currently mostly produce hay?
What most people aren’t telling you is that the land being flooded is mostly the bottom of a canyon.