The road to Vancouver...

Well like the they say… if you build it, they will come. It seems in Vancouver with respect to road infrastructure, it’s almost happened in reverse. Despite the swelling population sprawling east toward the fraser valley, and the growing population to the north, the city has done little to nothing to address the ongoing traffic issues which now plague this relatively small city. Vancouver is small city, and while geographically we may be challenged by the many waterways and mountains that surround us, we shouldn’t have traffic problems as big as we do. I’ve lived in Sydney, (a city with between 4-5 million people) more than twice the size of Vancouver, and yet we have as bad if not worse congestion in major thru ways. So what’s the problem?

Incredibly poor planning and management by city councils, who have essentially ignored the issue to this day, in combination with over zealous activists who protest any rock you move, are largely to blame for the poor state of Vancouver’s urban road system. Vancouver’s residents are extremely willing to protest or raise up a stink about just about anything, roads, bridges and buildings. And the city has been slow to push vital developments through the bureaucratical processes and hurdles, ensuring the new suburban developments and the 10’s of thousands of new residents they bring have access to roads and highways. Particularly to those areas east of the city, creating a huge bottleneck on Highway 1 at the Portman bridge and north to the Lions Gate bridge, a major thru way connecting the city with North Vancouver, West Vancouver and beyond to Whistler.

Despite the infrastructure being completely inadequate by any standard, the activists have so far stifled any plans to expand the bridge (often claiming it will encourage people to over populate these areas).

Many of these issues should have been addressed in the late sixties, and seventies when most governments in north America were busy planning intricate freeways, bypasses and tunnels to divert traffic and provide adequate passageways for commuters traveling into and out of cities. But Vancouver missed this vital window in the mid 70’s and has done little to address the issues since.

The current infrastructure is barely coping, yet the population continues to expand, so the obvious question is what about public transport? You would assume if you were going to ignore the roadway requirements of a population, that you would do it in favor of developing public transport infrastructure, well Vancouver hasn’t really even done that. The city is pretty much void of a rail transit system, save for a almost ‘toy like’ monorail system which is little more than a hub to hub link for people living within very specific areas of Burnaby, Vancouver and soon to be Richmond. The bus system is a joke as you go east, and getting to your destination can often mean a series of complicated changes and lengthy rides.

In addition to the lack of public transit options, lack of roads, bridges and tunnels the problem compounds when the roads that are in place have been left to decay to a state where you actually damage your vehicle by driving through the city. It’s true, the pot holes alone are enough to drive all urban dwellers to SUV’s. The city seems incapable of making any plans or scheduling work, as one day they will lay a new road down and the next, some developer will dig it up to lay a pipe, then patch it again, then dig it up again, and patch it again. These points at which the road is patched are often the worst, as the people responsible for filling holes and repaving roads seem incapable of making a transition between two surfaces which when driven over does not result in your being ejected through your vehicles roof.

Now the problem is of course that the cost of addressing these issues, is monumental, as real estate and construction costs have surged, the city can almost not afford to address the problem, but can they afford to leave it any longer? One thing is for certain, people will continue to come to Vancouver, but the question is how will they get around once they get here?