2241 replies to this topic

[GetLisaSomeHelps]

There are no detours when incidents happen, and incidents will always happen.

 

There are no detour areas of many highways, not just Hwy 14. 

[GetLisaSomeHelps]

I do understand where you're coming from, but it's not like this is unknown yet you still have people taking crazy risks of their lives/hours of other peoples time in the name of saving a handful of minutes .

[Mike K.]

There are no detour areas of many highways, not just Hwy 14.

Highway 14 and Highway 1 have no detour zones along very long stretches within urbanized areas. That’s a serious liability and I don’t think any other jurisdiction of our size on the continental US or Canada is faced with a similar predicament.

[Victoria Watcher]

not when cars self drive.

[Mike K.]

Somebody hasn’t seen the new Burger King commercial 🛑

[Victoria Watcher]

no. I better check my tik tok feed.

[UserofVic]

Highway 14 and Highway 1 have no detour zones along very long stretches within urbanized areas. That’s a serious liability and I don’t think any other jurisdiction of our size on the continental US or Canada is faced with a similar predicament.

In fairness no where else in Canada or the US with a sizable population has similar geography. It's a mountainous island, a tag team of constraints. It's a lot easier to build alternative routes when you actually have the space and relatively flat land to do so. Looking at an elevation map it appears that the Malahat already follows one of the only relatively flat routes between Vic and Duncan. The only route relatively flat route is right through our watershed and risking the safety of our water supply likely isn't worth the cost to build it, especially when the Malahat itself can still stand to receive substantial cheaper safety upgrades, possibly including centre barriers to reduce risk and hopefully allow for at least one side of the highway to function. If the Island doesn't have the population to justify restoring/upgrading the E&N (only ~$700,000 for the track upgrades from Vic to Country, the other ~$600,000 was for CRD commuter rail), I'm not sure a new highway through challenging terrain (Needing tunnelling, elevated roadways/bridges, or significant earthwork) at risk of a major seismic event is any more justifiable.

 

Important to note, long/deep road tunnels need extensive safety features to mitigate the risk of fire. They also require adequate ventilation. If an alignment requires any significant level of tunnelling, that's gonna drive up costs. Alternatively a bridge over the Saanich Inlet would cost billions based on Massey Tunnel replacement options. Looking at a topographical map, I just can't see any possible alignment that's both relatively flat, and doesn't compromise Victoria's water supply. If you can find one I missed, let me know.

 

Edit: The Sea to Sky highway is the only reasonable way from Vancouver to Squamish and Whistler. The alternative is via Lillooet. Going to Duncan via Cowichan is nothing compared to that.

Edited by UserofVic, 25 June 2020 - 08:46 PM.

[splashflash]

especially when the Malahat itself can still stand to receive substantial cheaper safety upgrades, possibly including centre barriers to reduce risk and hopefully allow for at least one side of the highway to function. If the Island doesn't have the population to justify restoring/upgrading the E&N (only ~$700,000 for the track upgrades from Vic to Country, the other ~$600,000 was for CRD commuter rail), I'm not sure a new highway through challenging terrain (Needing tunnelling, elevated roadways/bridges, or significant earthwork) at risk of a major seismic event is any more justifiable.

There actually is room for a decent four lane highway further west not in the CRD watershed, the southern half of Niagara Main or the Near West alignments described in a 2007 Malahat report. Or simply lift the rails of the E&N, straighten some curves, and plop two south-bound lanes there - the most environmentally benign solution.

And no, $1.3 billions for E&N spending is not justified by ridership projections, a tiny fraction of the highway travel. If drivers must be punished on the premise of widening or realigning roads is unpalatable, improve the Saanich Inlet ferry crossing.

Edited by splashflash, 26 June 2020 - 06:38 AM.

[Mike K.]

We have vast numbers of roads, they’re just blocked off by gates or ended up within an ever expanding watershed and can’t be used.

If you look at a logging map of the south Island there are roads everywhere, connecting Langford to Cowichan, Sooke to Cowichan, Cowichan to Renfrew, etc.

And recall the government had looked at I believe it was six detour routes before deciding not to pursue any of them as the criteria they established (highway closure of 4+ hours) to open them didn’t make sense for the necessary investment.

[Spy Black]

Folks need to give up on the Niagra Main bypass route, it will literally never happen - CRD Water will never relinquish their control over the lands West of the Malahat.

Ferries will never work, just do the math (the numbers are easy to find). There's just way too many vehicles.

A bridge will never happen, simply because it's too sensible in a part of B.C. that (from a transportation perspective) is anything but sensible.

 

Which leaves us with what we've got, the Malahat. 

Better get used to it, because it will be the sole main route up and down the South Island for decades (if not centuries), to come.

[Mike K.]

There’s a good chance they’ll open up Boneyard Main by the end of the decade.

[GaryOak]

New proposed highway upgrades to the Goldstream section of the Malahat
https://www2.gov.bc....ty-improvements

[shoeflack]

If the future of the Malahat doesn’t include a full four-laning, I like these improvements. The pedestrian overpass is a nice touch, though an acceleration lane for those turning left onto the highway from the park might save a few accidents.

[catfluff]

New proposed highway upgrades to the Goldstream section of the Malahat
https://www2.gov.bc....ty-improvements

Grrr...

 

 

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[Victoria Watcher]

29,000 per day. too bad we don’t have a train to knock that down to 28,600.

[Spy Black]

As I implied in my post a couple of months ago, the Malahat is all we've got, and all we're ever going to get.

 

Folks need to get behind this latest plan to improve the section through Goldstream Park, the plan is safe, it's hardly intrusive in light of the huge daily traffic numbers, and it will be highly effective in terms of safety for drivers.

[On the Level]

I agree that the Niagra Main line won't be built anytime soon, but it really bothers me that the watershed/drinking supply is being used as an excuse to block it.  It is not in that area.......and blocking it has more to do with blind ideology than anything else. Issit can't help but screw up life for the largest number of folks possible.

[Spy Black]

Everybody from Ben Isitt to the CRD water folks themselves freely admit that the Niagra Main is well outside of the watershed ... but it's always oversold as a mandatory "buffer zone" between the general public and the actual boundary of the watershed.

The real shame is that the Niagra Main is in a completely different valley than Sooke Lake OR the Goldstream watershed, a valley very far to the east of the watershed boundary, one that doesn't drain anywhere near the watershed lands.

A quick look at Google Maps in 3D will show the Niagra Main a near perfect alternate or complimentary route to the Malahat.

 

The Niagra Main has an entire mountain range between it, and the actual watershed!

 

But ... the Niagra Main will never be opened to public vehicle traffic.

Which brings us back to whatever efforts that might be successfully undertaken in order to make the Malahat safer for automobile travel.

[Mike K.]

Yes, all true.

[rjag]

https://youtu.be/lYgGHJaji-g We cant even discuss a bypass for the Malahat because induced demand and ghg etc. Meanwhile Norway says "hold my beer"