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One way to improve access to downtown


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#1 Phil McAvity

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Posted 23 January 2007 - 04:09 PM

Every time i drive downtown from the west or vice versa i shake my ****ing head. I should easily be able to drive straight from the Johnson St. bridge on to Tyee Rd. but i can't. Not only is there a completely unecessary and dangerous hairpin turn (one that has seen countless accidents over the years) in my way (courtesy of the E&N Train, but more on that later), but then i am detoured up Esquimalt Rd. to face an unecessary intersection at Tyee Rd. What should have happened all along is, we should have come across the bridge and turned right to get to Tyee Rd or gone straight up Esquimalt Rd., but we have never been able to, thanks to some very dim-witted individuals a long time ago that decided it was absolutely critical that the E&N train stop right downtown. Had they made it's final stop the roundhouse in Vic West, none of these traffic problems would have ever existed. Or they could have made it come to fruition even closer to downtown, just on the other side of the bridge, by what is now the PSC natural foods warehouse. If we were to make the train stop on the western side of the bridge, we could use it's lane for another lane or two of vehicular traffic, get rid of that hairpin turn (drastically reducing the number of accidents) and hill just before the Ocean Pointe Resort, and eliminate the intersection at Tyee Rd., saving everyone valuable time, money and gas. We could also turn that little hairpin turn area into a nice little park. All of this because one stupid little train comes in once a day. Will it ever happen? Not bloody likely. It just makes too much sense.
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#2 G-Man

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Posted 23 January 2007 - 04:19 PM



They are obviously thinking about they can best mess with the traffic in Victoria in this picture.

No doubt John A came up with the terminus in a blind drunken rage (notice he has had to sit down in the pic).

Apart from the fact that a terminus to the West kills any chance of making a usable commuter system. The current entrance into downtown is not so bad, plus soon you will be able to go straight up harbour road and then right turn onto Tyee, no traffic light involved.

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#3 ressen

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Posted 23 January 2007 - 07:34 PM

Apparently traffic calming has been around for a lot longer than we first thought.

#4 renthefinn

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Posted 23 January 2007 - 09:48 PM

Well I think Trains should take presedence over cars so your points are useless on my opinion.

#5 Phil McAvity

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Posted 25 January 2007 - 05:30 AM

I can't believe you're serious Ren. You might want to go back and read what i wrote again.

The 30 or 40 people that take the train once a day could easily get off 200 yards from town and make traffic to and from the west way easier, safer, faster and smoother for those that drive, but you think it's more important that traffic chaos ensue wasting thousands of people's money, time and gas (and creating more air pollution) to slightly convenience those 30-40 people? Are you high? :?

G-Man, will they re-route traffic along harbour Rd. once Dockside Green is finished?
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#6 G-Man

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Posted 25 January 2007 - 07:28 AM

The have already graded itI imagine that either after this first round of buildings are complete or a little later it will be a through road.

The master plan shows it as a through road though clogged with fisherman, smart cars, and young entreprenuers.

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#7 Mike K.

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Posted 25 January 2007 - 10:29 AM

Part of the Vic West traffic plan is to straighten out that curvy bit of road under the rail bridge.

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#8 Ben Smith

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Posted 08 February 2007 - 09:38 PM

A schedualed train running from the Western Communities to Downtown and out to the airport would be such a goldmine for the city. But, it would also cost a whoppin'

#9 ressen

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Posted 10 February 2007 - 07:20 AM

I liked it when they had that strip of lights attached to the top of the 'no posts'. I think they lasted a week before someone wiped them out with their car. I think that that hair pin serves a useful purpose in taking people of the road who can't drive or are just plain drunk. How inconvenient is it really, you just slow down a bit and turn your steering wheel to and fro and by the time you know it you are past the annoyance.

#10 brianwil

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Posted 10 February 2007 - 08:07 AM

I have two responses to Phil McAvity's post.

1. The serious one. The E & N should be the basis for a real transit system that links downtown Victoria to downtown Langford. To do this, it has to actually come into downtown Victoria. Once there is a clear downtown station, many other issues are easily settled as in where should the PCL buses coming from the ferry go.

2. The not-serious one. Why don't you just park at the roundhouse yourself and walk the rest of the way? Then you won't have to deal with all the annoyances around the blue bridge.

#11 G-Man

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Posted 11 February 2007 - 09:24 AM

^Good points. Yup the downtown station has to stay.

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#12 Mike K.

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Posted 12 February 2007 - 09:54 AM

I know this may sound outlandish and is completely uneconomical or perhaps impossible, but wouldn't it be cool if the E&N tracks went underground as soon as they crossed into downtown? The tracks could continue into a station directly below the huge parking lots between Cormorant and Pandora across from City Hall with a station entrance along the block as a component of the podium.

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#13 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 12 February 2007 - 10:49 AM

I liked it when they had that strip of lights attached to the top of the 'no posts'. I think they lasted a week before someone wiped them out with their car. I think that that hair pin serves a useful purpose in taking people of the road who can't drive or are just plain drunk. How inconvenient is it really, you just slow down a bit and turn your steering wheel to and fro and by the time you know it you are past the annoyance.


Exactly. I quite enjoy laughing at all the bumper and other scrape markings all over the divider that shows how many idiot drivers have "made contact" driving through there.
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#14 Mike

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Posted 12 February 2007 - 12:50 PM

I think that that hair pin serves a useful purpose in taking people of the road who can't drive or are just plain drunk. How inconvenient is it really, you just slow down a bit and turn your steering wheel to and fro and by the time you know it you are past the annoyance.


Ha! Amen; testify!

A schedualed train running from the Western Communities to Downtown and out to the airport would be such a goldmine for the city. But, it would also cost a whoppin'


The only right-of-way that would seem practical for this would be the Goose, and the rails are gone. Too bad, because if development continues west, something other than a 4-lane crawl like hwy 1 in the Fraser Valley would be needed.

 



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