Can we get real and improve the Lion's Gate crossing already?

That's right, me, Mr. Sustainability, is sick of being stuck in traffic crossing the Lion's Gate bridge and is advocating more roads. It really makes no sense right now. The direction that has two lanes open to them is always fine, only a minor slowdown at most. But the other direction, particularly heading south during afternoon rush hour is a nightmare. It's not unusual to creep slowly along for 30 minutes or more, spewing emissions all the while.

Here's the way I look at it, and it seems obvious that something should be done. From West Vancouver to Georgia at Denman takes about 5 minutes when everything is flowing. I find it hard to believe that 5 minutes of driving creates more emissions than 30 minutes of idling...even 20 minutes. So why hasn't the government done anything here? What's frustrating is that when you look at how everything flows, one more lane would have solved the problem - that's all!

Normally I'm against widening and adding roads - study after study shows that when road capacity is increased, the amount of traffic eventually increases MORE than the capacity that was added. In the end the situation is worse than it was. The situation here is very different. West Vancouver is not about to stop growing and any environmentalist that thinks that limiting the amount of traffic will slow that growth is mistaken. The city is too beautiful and too well-off. And really, there is no alternative to driving for anyone that has a schedule to keep. Buses just won't work. Besides which, as I said, this is a major highway to the north. We can't keep looking at this as a local commuter issue alone. This is Highway 99 - the primary link between the airport and the sea-to-sky corridor and one of only 2 crossings to the north shore. The sea-to-sky corridor is growing rapidly and will continue to do so - the population is expected to nearly double in the next 25 years. Much of the corridor is closer to Vancouver than outlying cities like Langley and Abbotsford (and I'd argue is much more beautiful), making it very attractive.

So enough going on about the why...what about the how? There's no doubt that we'll keep the existing and beautiful Lion's Gate bridge. Adding a single lane to the bridge (which I'm certain would solve the problem) is an unlikely option and building a new single lane crossing makes no sense, so those ideas I'm throwing away. Here are my suggestions:

• Build a new 3-lane bridge adjacent the existing. Two lanes for traffic and one dedicated to transit, possibly for Sky Train, and include wide bicycle lanes. The existing bridge would also become 2 regular lanes plus a transit lane and maintain the existing pedestrian walkways. A big challenge here would be the design of the new bridge - it has to take into account the existing bridge so they look great together.
• Tunnel it. There are countless options here, but one I like would be to build a 4-lane underground tunnel from Georgia/Denman right up to Highway 1, avoiding the jog through West Van. The existing bridge would be for transit, bikes and pedestrians only. This would remove a ton of traffic from Stanley Park.

Any combination or variation on the above could work, and in all cases should coincide with a significant improvement in transit through the sea-to-sky corridor. There is a rail line there, let's use it - much like the West Coast Express, give people a viable option and they'll use it. The right rail system would do that here as well and would be huge for tourists as well, particularly if they could go from YVR to Whistler direct by train.

Colin Szasz

PS - I also agree that the Port Mann bridge needs to be expanded (have you ever tried to drive westbound across it any time during the day?) But, 10 lanes and over $3 billion? I think that's far more than is needed and really will just cause the traffic to get worse in the long run. Those against it because they think that means Vancouver's streets will also get that much busier need to relax - the streets in this city are already at capacity at rush hour, so how can it get any worse? :)