6319 replies to this topic

[UrbanRail]

I do think that the service should be free, after all it is part of the highway.

Ferry service between the Gulf Islands and Victoria or Vancouver Island the mainland has never been free. So how can you say its part of the highway, except that the highway might have the same number on both sides of the route (#1 TC HWY.).

My mistake, I thought it was part of the highway. I dont use the ferries that often (I think Ive been across 4 times in the last 7 years).

[VicHockeyFan]

Tswwawwassen.

But don't forget, when pronouncing it, all the W's, S's, A's and N's are silent. And it's a hard E.

[UrbanRail]

Arent the new ferries suppose to be more fuel efficient? Which should make the fuel surcharge go down or at least not go up.

[G-Man]

The way to remember it is T-SAW-WAS-SEN pronounce it in your head this way when you want to spell it.

Holden - Dismal attempt

[aastra]

The only place you could build a bridge slash highway would be just north of Campbell River There are just some easy island hops and a new freeway to the Sea to Sky highway and your set. Anyone thinking of route closer to Vic would be insane.

That'd be a 450-500km trip from Victoria and a 350-400km trip from Nanaimo. I can't imagine too many sane people would be keen on driving 6 or 7 hours (assuming no delays en route) to get to Vancouver. And the lion's share of the highway portion on the mainland side is essentially nonexistent as we speak, so the scale of the project would still be enormous.

There's no chance of that. The only place a fixed link makes any sense is from Victoria through the San Juan Islands to Bellingham and/or Anacortes. This would be something along the lines of the Oresund link between Sweden and Denmark. Oresund is 16km, whereas Victoria to Bellingham would probably be about double that distance in total, but the bridge/tunnel length would probably be about the same and the rest would be highways on terra firma.

In 2004 almost 17 million people traveled over the (Oresund) bridge.

What's the total for Tsawwassen/Swartz Bay and Anacortes/San Juans/Sidney? I know BC Ferries likes to say it carries ~22 million passengers a year in total across all routes. I also know that Washington State Ferries likes to say it carries ~27 million passengers annually. I have no idea how much of that is represented by the San Juan Islands.

If I'm doing the currency conversion correctly, the charge for taking your car on the Oresund link is about $50 Canadian dollars. The total cost of the project was about $5.5 billion Canadian dollars.

The San Juan Island route is the only viable route. If this was Europe, the fixed link would probably already be there.

Consider this hypothetical Canada-centric route:

[G-Man]

Property cost and pushback fom lobby groups would be significantly more challenging with that option and that is not even including the whole border issue.

Also I think that 6-7 hours is off more like 4 to 5 hours - 2.2 to CR - 1 CR to Squamish 1.5-2 Squamish to Vancouver

And this would not be for your everyday jaunts over to Vancouver you would still need a ferry for that though at a reduced capacity as trucks and some drivers could take the alternate routing. If you were heading to the interior then this option would be favourable if you were going to Seattle probably not.

Still the option would be there and I think it would be a lot cheaper than through the San Juans. Of course all things being equal and feasible I would prefer the san juan route for myself just don't many would agree with me.

[valdez12]

^^ nice idea and map.. I agree it could make for a viable route.

Specially if you have small floating bridges to keep costs down between islands and a massive large suspension bridge between Sidney Island and the USA's Orca islands as this channel has all the large boat traffic to Vancouver I'm guessing.

[aastra]

This hypothetical high speed highway from Campbell River to Squamish would be a titanic engineering project in its own right. It would also seem to call for the construction of two or three tunnels/bridges that would be longer than anything that currently exists in BC, in addition to several other significant bridges and/or tunnels.

[G-Man]

Throw in the double border crossing for those going to Vancouver and your trip time would be the same most likely longer then the current ferry crossing.

[aastra]

I suppose it could be worse. For example, we could have the sort of oppressive socialist bureaucracy they have in places like Sweden or Denmark.*

Anyway, there could be a high-speed rail line from Vancouver to Victoria that doesn't stop and therefore doesn't require a trip through customs. If it averaged 120kph it would take an hour from start to finish.

*witty/ironic comment on US border issues, just in case anybody missed it

[G-Man]

Now that is a great idea. Washington would probably love the royalties too.

[Ms. B. Havin]

I like the San Juan route aastra proposed. The San Juanians probably wouldn't... ;-)

[Mike K.]

The San Juan concept is brilliant. I never would have imagined that a link could make so much more sense if we wen through Pt. Roberts in lieu of other bridgehead locations.

[UrbanRail]

Several years ago, the TC did a special series on the transportation network history of the island, it included, air, sea and land (highways and railways). One of the issues showed two possible mainland links, The Juan De Fuca route proposed in the 50s and 60s and the direct route proposal from the 80s (i have copies of that study somewhere in my file cabinet). Anyway since we are talking about a link to the mainland, how about this one. Its something I came up with some time ago. I realize that this is unlikely to happen, but it doesnt hurt to imagine it.

My rail link to Vancouver Island

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/gMUnRxXjyOUEFhANM9b1Z5CpzERyjgB6SPifwy0PKbfb91GqJL3FzQVObCaW5kSpgPc8WbN6Oqt7uA_i92kDL-hANnCcRdnQs7Ze/E%26N%20Rail%20System%202010/E%26N%202010.jpg

[UrbanRail]

Now that is a great idea. Washington would probably love the royalties too.

yeah, except we would be at the mercy of the Americans. I would personally prefer an all Canadian route.

[UrbanRail]

A highway/rail link similar to the Oresund link between Sweden and Denmark as was suggested earlier would make more sense. It would be one incredible project, but unlikely to occur within the next 50 years.

[UrbanRail]

Here is a related article from a few years ago, dated Dec 2001.

http://www.citizenreviewonline.org/Dec_2001/b.c._considers.htm

[Mike K.]

I think I'll merge this thread with the other BC Ferries thread we have going.

If it works, I'll see you all on the other side

EDIT: ok, seems to have worked.

[Holden West]

Aastra's route goes through James Island; private property.

I'm not sure you could compare it to a Scandinavian bridge. The ocean floor depth and conditions as well as the seismic conditions are probably much worse. Maybe the ocean is rougher here too. The environmental aspects alone of the Oresund bridge cost $80 million! And I assume that $5 billion is year 2000 dollars.

[aastra]

Aastra's route goes through James Island; private property.

Doesn't every new highway go through property property at one point or another? That's why they invented expropriation, right? Anyway, couldn't you skirt the problem altogether by going under the island?