7149 replies to this topic

[Cassidy]

It's 7:33pm, and traffic all around McKenzie, Interurban, Wilkinson, Grange, Carey etc is pretty much bumper to bumper, and at a complete standstill.

 

Both directions, going and coming from the Westshore.

[rjag]

It's 7:33pm, and traffic all around McKenzie, Interurban, Wilkinson, Grange, Carey etc is pretty much bumper to bumper, and at a complete standstill.

 

Both directions, going and coming from the Westshore.

 

Yup, but lets keep reducing lanes and not build anymore roads

[Mike K.]

Must be wonderful to live in View Royal today. Totally gridlocked streets and you can’t even hop over to the grocery store without being dragged through congestion in every direction.

We need to build my bridge.

[rjag]

Must be wonderful to live in View Royal today. Totally gridlocked streets and you can’t even hop over to the grocery store without being dragged through congestion in every direction.

We need to build my bridge.

 

But Mayor Screech will say that the gridlock is not caused by his citizens so theres no need for alternate routes

[AllseeingEye]

Must be wonderful to live in View Royal today. Totally gridlocked streets and you can’t even hop over to the grocery store without being dragged through congestion in every direction.

We need to build my bridge.

True. And little different living in the Gorge neighborhood - Craigflower, Gorge Rd, Tillicum, Admirals are all a complete s*** show whether its a serious accident like this or when a major infrastructure project like the Admirals Road bridge was replaced a couple of years ago. Its literally like living in prison. No matter which route you attempt to negotiate inevitably you hit a figurative brick wall (or the bumper of the guy in front of you).....

 

Go anywhere near Tillicum Mall at times like that and you can add to the gridlock chock a block traffic backed up from or along Harriet and bumper to bumper trying to make the light toward the TCH @ Tillicum or turning left at the same intersection heading down Wilkinson to Five Corners - not to mention all the cars inching their way up the hill by the Pacific Forestry research center to get to McKenzie. Just wait until the new interchange is done because the "next" choke point will be the light at Tillicum and the highway. Folks in the Carey Road neighborhood will really love that....

[rjag]

^ yup and the funny thing is that if you go to the CRD traffic counts you'll see traffic volumes havent increased in the last 10 years....so whats changed? 

[AllseeingEye]

^ yup and the funny thing is that if you go to the CRD traffic counts you'll see traffic volumes havent increased in the last 10 years....so whats changed? 

I can tell you what hasn't changed Rich.......<ahem....cough, cough> 13 municipal governing entities overseeing a population significantly less than that of Surrey with its one administration....all running their little fiefdoms and "doing their thing" individually instead of working cooperatively and collectively for the region. That hasn't changed - but it needs to. Desperately.

 

Otherwise concepts and ideals like REGIONAL planning - and I mean true planning for the entire region be it transportation, transit or infrastructure - will remain but a pipe-dream. IMO Horgan and Co., should grab some cajones, kick some Greater Victoria butts and force the local politicians to, at the very minimum, all sit at a table and have serious conversations in regards. Lock them in a room and don't let them out until they commit to some real change. Otherwise it will just be more of the same old s*** in l'il ol' Dysfunction-by-the-Sea.

 

When I can (easily!) drive more efficiently and quickly across the breadth and width of Greater Vancouver, with its nearly 3 million population, than I can in the byzantine system here with one-seventh the population, and barely a fraction of the physical size of the GVRD, yet saddled with inadequate roadways, controlled intersections seemingly at every other block, posted speeds that seem like they date from the 1950's - 30 freaking KPH on Craigflower Road, a major arterial road in and out of the city, is ludicrous and I know because I have to deal with that stupid policy every day, generally poor public transit, and a hodge podge of balkanized municipalities with Zero common vision in terms of a strategy to deal with these challenges - which are only getting worse - then that tells me something stinks. And usually a fish stinks from the head down....

Edited by AllseeingEye, 07 June 2018 - 09:27 PM.

[Nparker]

I wish VV would let me like your post more than once ASE.

[On the Level]

I can tell you what hasn't changed Rich.......<ahem....cough, cough> 13 municipal governing entities overseeing a population significantly less than that of Surrey with its one administration....all running their little fiefdoms and "doing their thing" individually instead of working cooperatively and collectively for the region. That hasn't changed - but it needs to. Desperately.

 

In a nutshell - Conflict of Interest

 

While I don't appose Amalgamation at some scale, I don't buy the argument.  The core is interested in their needs, and spending a significant amount of the budget so folks can commute goes against every grain of instinct in their being.

 

You have Screech advocating for a regional transit system while he turns the Island Highway into a single lane babbling brook art show...then seems dumbfounded that folks outside of View Royal might not like his view of "Regional"

 

"The Gorge neighborhood - Craigflower, Gorge Rd, Tillicum, Admirals are all a complete s*** show"     So you're thinking those neighbourhoods are interested in major roadway investments?

 

The CRD is polarized and Amalgamation isn't the silver bullet to fix this.

[Midnightly]

In a nutshell - Conflict of Interest

 

While I don't appose Amalgamation at some scale, I don't buy the argument.  The core is interested in their needs, and spending a significant amount of the budget so folks can commute goes against every grain of instinct in their being.

 

You have Screech advocating for a regional transit system while he turns the Island Highway into a single lane babbling brook art show...then seems dumbfounded that folks outside of View Royal might not like his view of "Regional"

 

"The Gorge neighborhood - Craigflower, Gorge Rd, Tillicum, Admirals are all a complete s*** show"     So you're thinking those neighbourhoods are interested in major roadway investments?

 

The CRD is polarized and Amalgamation isn't the silver bullet to fix this.

 

 

it almost seems like all the mayors of the CRD should sit down together on a regular basis and discuss the key CRD issues.. kinda create a council of mayors where issues that involve the whole CRD get looked at..like infrastructure.. how to get people moving from one area to another, parking for employees that work downtown (because you can kinda say the parking downtown isn't a huge victoria issue it's a CRD issue often filled with commuters)

[rjag]

it almost seems like all the mayors of the CRD should sit down together on a regular basis and discuss the key CRD issues.. kinda create a council of mayors where issues that involve the whole CRD get looked at..like infrastructure.. how to get people moving from one area to another, parking for employees that work downtown (because you can kinda say the parking downtown isn't a huge victoria issue it's a CRD issue often filled with commuters)

That’s what the CRD is supposed to be about but they’ve been hijacked by special interest lobby groups when it comes to transportation and our region

[lanforod]

I can tell you what hasn't changed Rich.......<ahem....cough, cough> 13 municipal governing entities overseeing a population significantly less than that of Surrey with its one administration....all running their little fiefdoms and "doing their thing" individually instead of working cooperatively and collectively for the region. That hasn't changed - but it needs to. Desperately.

 

Otherwise concepts and ideals like REGIONAL planning - and I mean true planning for the entire region be it transportation, transit or infrastructure - will remain but a pipe-dream. IMO Horgan and Co., should grab some cajones, kick some Greater Victoria butts and force the local politicians to, at the very minimum, all sit at a table and have serious conversations in regards. Lock them in a room and don't let them out until they commit to some real change. Otherwise it will just be more of the same old s*** in l'il ol' Dysfunction-by-the-Sea.

 

When I can (easily!) drive more efficiently and quickly across the breadth and width of Greater Vancouver, with its nearly 3 million population, than I can in the byzantine system here with one-seventh the population, and barely a fraction of the physical size of the GVRD, yet saddled with inadequate roadways, controlled intersections seemingly at every other block, posted speeds that seem like they date from the 1950's - 30 freaking KPH on Craigflower Road, a major arterial road in and out of the city, is ludicrous and I know because I have to deal with that stupid policy every day, generally poor public transit, and a hodge podge of balkanized municipalities with Zero common vision in terms of a strategy to deal with these challenges - which are only getting worse - then that tells me something stinks. And usually a fish stinks from the head down....

 

99% of the time, you can't do that, and I think you know that. Hyperbole doesn't help here. It usually doesn't take more than 30 minutes to get from Gordon Head to Westhills. The greater Vancouver equivalent could be Richmond to Coquitlam which will take 50 minutes.

Even if I take two points that are roughly the same distance driven, Vancouver will take about 5-10 minutes longer as per Google maps, right now.

Edited by lanforod, 08 June 2018 - 07:23 AM.

[jonny]

^ Yeah, it's a ridiculous thing to say. Vancouver traffic is awful and is consistently ranked among the worst in North America.

[Mike K.]

Hold on, downtown Richmond to downtown Coquitlam is 36km. Gordon Head to Westhills is barely 20.

[rjag]

Takes me longer most days to drive from UVic to Douglas and Yates than it does to Costco at more than twice the distance

[Cassidy]

That’s what the CRD is supposed to be about but they’ve been hijacked by special interest lobby groups when it comes to transportation and our region

▲▲▲THIS▲▲▲

 

I don't know if folks truly realize that the "power" in the CRD is actually held by the assorted, elected municipal Councillors that are sent to the CRD board table.

 

All this really means is that you have city Councillors sitting at the CRD board table trying to protect their own little fiefdoms rather than those same city Councillors sitting at their local municipal hall council table trying to protect their own little fiefdoms.

 

Those same Councillors carry the same special interests and personal agendas that they maintain at the municipal council table right on up to the CRD council table.

 

There is no "CRD" really ... it's just a "different staff". That staff still remains under the direction of the 13 elected empires councils from around the region

Edited by Cassidy, 08 June 2018 - 08:15 AM.

[shoeflack]

So the big question is, how does something like this happen in a 60 zone? Was it a medical situation? I’m hearing an SUV sliced through a big rig but details are still scarce.

 

Confirmed now that the driver of the Comox FD pickup suffered a medical issue.

[lanforod]

Hold on, downtown Richmond to downtown Coquitlam is 36km. Gordon Head to Westhills is barely 20.

 

Yes, but if I pick two points about 22km apart (GH to Westhills came up as 22 for me), its still longer in Vancouver. Either way, ASE said 'the breadth and width of greater Vancouver." So I could have picked Tsawassen to West Vancouver instead...

Edited by lanforod, 08 June 2018 - 10:39 AM.

[shoeflack]

Wow. The Hwy 1 accident yesterday involving the Comox FD pickup was caught on dashcam. Pretty violent collision.

 

https://www.cheknews...saanich-458523/

[Casual Kev]

Traffic In Victoria is dog poop for a city of its size. Any construction or small accident and the flow stops. If our population grew proportionally with existing infrastructure we'd give Vancouver a good run for the money.