Traffic on the North Shore ...... WTF ?

I find it's mostly avoidable if you design your life so that you don't have to depend on a car and if you do want to drive, can avoid when & where everyone else is going.

With so much development of higher density housing and the roads and bridges staying mostly the same, traffic will only get worse I'm afraid. More reason to avoid driving.

I'm pretty happy with how cycling infrastructure has been improving over the last years although it's still incredibly basic compared to what I grew up with in Holland.

At one point it was looking like there'd be a dedicated north/south connection from Seymour parkway to Lynn valley. That would have been awesome. 

There is.  Seymour pkwy bikepath by Superstore will very soon connect to Mtn Hwy just above the Mtn off ramp.  It parallels the offramp.  

The bikepath already climbs up the west side of the Hwy 1 to Lynn Valley Rd.   I ride home to Capilano U from Fromme on gravel path or trail the entire way using the westside (Sallop Trail on Trailforks)

You also have the choice of Lillooet Road to the gazebo in the LSCR.  (Lillooet Parallel Trail)

I cant picture any more direct routes that aren't already gravel or paved bike paths.

One fly in the ointment is the imminent replacement of the Cotton St/Main St bridge (adjacent to MEC).

So as soon as Hwy 1 traffic starts flowing nicely, 3rd & Low Level Rd/Cotton/Main are going to be jammed up again 🤨

I'm looking forward to the new Spirit Trail bridge over Lynn Crk between Bridgeman Park and Seylynn village...but I've no idea of the timetable for that. 

That bridge should make East-West travel a lot more pleasant and hopefully there'll be a better connection under Hwy 1 to Dollarton for bike traffic...

Posted by: heckler

At one point it was looking like there'd be a dedicated north/south connection from Seymour parkway to Lynn valley. That would have been awesome. 

There is.  Seymour pkwy bikepath by Superstore will very soon connect to Mtn Hwy just above the Mtn off ramp.  It parallels the offramp.  

The bikepath already climbs up the west side of the Hwy 1 to Lynn Valley Rd.   I ride home to Capilano U from Fromme on gravel path or trail the entire way using the westside (Sallop Trail on Trailforks)

You also have the choice of Lillooet Road to the gazebo in the LSCR.  (Lillooet Parallel Trail)

I cant picture any more direct routes that aren't already gravel or paved bike paths.

Talking about cars here.

Lol.

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

One fly in the ointment is the imminent replacement of the Cotton St/Main St bridge (adjacent to MEC).

So as soon as Hwy 1 traffic starts flowing nicely, 3rd & Low Level Rd/Cotton/Main are going to be jammed up again 🤨

I'm looking forward to the new Spirit Trail bridge over Lynn Crk between Bridgeman Park and Seylynn village...but I've no idea of the timetable for that. 

That bridge should make East-West travel a lot more pleasant and hopefully there'll be a better connection under Hwy 1 to Dollarton for bike traffic...

I hope the delays from that project cure the rat runners of their bad habits. The ones that ditch off the highway at Lonsdale trying to get around the Hwy 1 back up and get back on the Hwy ar 2nd Narrows.

Posted by: syncro

Posted by: heckler

Posted by: Bull_Dozer

I'd love to move to the North Shore but the traffic situation is what scares me as we'd need to commute to and from Vancouver daily. 

You become the problem if you drive solo.  That’s the part people just don't get.

I wonder if instead of spending money on the interchange if it was used to build a skytrain line to the shore if that would have a better effect on reducing NS traffic.

The SkyTrain line from Evergreen line to Phibbs seems to be gaining a bit of momentum.

What happened to the Phibbs upgrade? Seems to have died. Looked on TransLink and don't see anything.

In fairness to the whole Lower Lynn project the idea seems to have been to seperate local traffic from the highway which makes sense. It's been painfully slow to finish though. Westbound traffic from Seymour Parkway still has to go up to Mtn Hwy, sit at traffic lights and rejoin the highway. All because the sequencing seems to have been f'd up to complete the merge lane

Posted by: [email protected]

I find it's mostly avoidable if you design your life so that you don't have to depend on a car and if you do want to drive, can avoid when & where everyone else is going.

With so much development of higher density housing and the roads and bridges staying mostly the same, traffic will only get worse I'm afraid. More reason to avoid driving.

I'm pretty happy with how cycling infrastructure has been improving over the last years although it's still incredibly basic compared to what I grew up with in Holland.

The infrastructure has improved a lot in the last 10 years. A good bit more to do for commuting routes. Most of what's done is nice pootling stuff. 

The amount of seniors on ebikes cruising around the Shore is really exploding and great to see. That can only increase pressure for more infrastructure. Lynn Valley road east of Mtn Hwy is about to get an upgrade

https://www.dnv.org/streets-transportation/lynn-valley-rd-active-transportation-improvement-project

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

Posted by: syncro

I wonder if instead of spending money on the interchange if it was used to build a skytrain line to the shore if that would have a better effect on reducing NS traffic.

I'm not sure $200 million would even cover the cost of buying out the homeowners whose land/homes would be demolished for such a project...

( $200 million is from the NS News article about the cost of the highway improvements but I've no idea whether it's correct...)

Was thinking mostly about a connection from Canada Place to the Quay. You're right that it would be more than 200mil, I was just thinking out loud.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/north-shore-vancouver-rapid-transit-study-route-options

Is there no appetite from the District  for connecting the quality separated lanes of Boulevard Crescent and Lynn Valley Rd?  That short section under the Trans Canada Highway. It’s a messy spot for cyclists with two narrow lanes and an off loop from the highway. Every time I ride that way I laugh at the sign telling cyclist to share the narrow sidewalk. 😂

Posted by: syncro

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

Posted by: syncro

I wonder if instead of spending money on the interchange if it was used to build a skytrain line to the shore if that would have a better effect on reducing NS traffic.

I'm not sure $200 million would even cover the cost of buying out the homeowners whose land/homes would be demolished for such a project...

( $200 million is from the NS News article about the cost of the highway improvements but I've no idea whether it's correct...)

Was thinking mostly about a connection from Canada Place to the Quay. You're right that it would be more than 200mil, I was just thinking out loud.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/north-shore-vancouver-rapid-transit-study-route-options

All the recent planning from Translink looks like route 4 is the future option. Not the fastest for the north shore, but would serve the largest amount of potential future development instead of mostly underwater or a park. Skytrain up Hastings, across Second Narrows, and then down to the Quay.

Posted by: [email protected]

I find it's mostly avoidable if you design your life so that you don't have to depend on a car and if you do want to drive, can avoid when & where everyone else is going.

Uh yah ... that's just the easiest thing to do, because nobody has circumstances that make such changes virtually impossible.

Posted by: vantanclub

All the recent planning from Translink looks like route 4 is the future option. Not the fastest for the north shore, but would serve the largest amount of potential future development instead of mostly underwater or a park. Skytrain up Hastings, across Second Narrows, and then down to the Quay.

Option 4 seems pretty useless to me, unless there's likely to be a huge shift in housing density on either side of Second Narrows.

Who would choose to work in Downtown and live in Lonsdale if their commute involved going via Second Narrows??

I think I did read a while back that the NS highway problems are mostly caused by locals (i.e. me!) doing local east-west travel (on and off within a couple of junctions) rather than thru traffic from/to Burnaby or Sea-to-Sky - and this is why the separate "local traffic only" bridge over Lynn Creek was added.

If this is still correct, surely the solution is to provide better east-west connectors across the Shore...

(But I'm not an urban planner!)

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

Who would choose to work in Downtown and live in Lonsdale if their commute involved going via Second Narrows??

This is currently well serviced by bus and seabus. The bus up and down Lonsdale runs consistent and on time from my experience, same for the Seabus.