Recent Trans Canada highway improvements extend from Chilliwack to Whistler. Have the municipalities along the way been asked to share the costs? Don't they all benefit from the improvements? As the Editorial in the North Shore News says, "We expected the province to take the lead in rectifying the negative results that have only compounded with time, not abdicate responsibility."
Is the City of North Vancouver being asked to share the cost of the highway upgrades at the second narrows exchange? The proposed on and off-ramps off of Brooksbank Ave. would benefit that municipality as well.
Is this proposal in line with the District's Vision"...to be among the most
sustainable communities in the world by 2020...?"
As Clr. Nixon says, "This buys us maybe 10 years of relative ease of access but, beyond 10 years it will be back to what it was before unless we take really hard steps on mass transit to encourage people to get out of their single occupancy vehicles."
12 comments:
I think they need to re-think the proposed closing of many of the access and egress points. Limiting the on- and off-ramps as they have in this proposal will create parking lots and choke points. Furthermore, it will make it so that drivers have to travel longer distances to reach the planned on- and off-ramps. How does that fit with the "green" logic that we're supposed to espouse?
The bottom line is that the whole Fern Street detour was supposed to be a temporary measure lasting maybe 1 or 2 years - it was never intended to be a permanent fix.
Victoria has acted shamefully on the Upper Levels in the last 20 years and now they're pleading poverty (at least until 2014) as they've spent your tax dollars on Gateway and other projects far from here.
This is definitely something we need to be constantly on our MLAs about!
I live in the district, sure I use the 2'nd Narrows bridge but why should just our municipality be on the hook for the upgrade?
The city of North Vancouver and of course the District of West Vancouver use it also. Not to mention that it is part of the Trans Canada Highway to all points west and north
The stale idea that local politicians will "get people out of their single occupancy vehicles" is an ongoing piece of nonsense that deserves a decent burial.
Aging baby boomers, mom's with a bunch of kids in the mini-van, salespeople, young turks, those living more than a few blocks from transit - few of these people are going to trudge to the bus stop in our 6 months of rain or crank a bicycle up the N. Shore's mountainsides as a daily driver alternative to the car if they can help it.
Politicians - the majority of you are driving around in a car. Get into the reality of our demographics and geographics.
It really is nuts to expect DNV taxpayers to fund this rather massive upgrade to a road that is part of the Trans Canada Highway and utilized by many many more people than those who actually live here. Talk about downloading!
When the Superstore first opened, they advertised the fact that they were just ten minutes away from North Burnaby.
Then there are the huge Italian family picnics that take place in Cates Park in summer, many (most?) of whom are from "over yonder" enjoying our beautiful community. They don't come by boat....
To expect DNV to bear the cost of any upgrades is ridiculous--insane actually.
Efficient highways are critical to efficient movement of goods - Safeway and Save-On (among others) are not going to be stocked by rail!
Effective traffic flow is about a LOT more than efficient movement of commuters and any Councillor who thinks the problem is solved by handing the Highways budget to Translink is deluding himself.
People may move by public transit (though I argue they don't move very effectively now within North Vancouver) but people alone don't make up the entire traffic story.
Nor is it just about emissions. As I told one councillor "Even if I waved my magic wand like Harry Potter and all of us suddenly drove zero emission vehicles traffic would still be a problem!"
Nor do I think that Upper Levels Highway access in this area is 'strictly a Seymour issue' as the Mayor seemed to think - it's the #1 eastbound route out of Lynn Valley as well.
The bottom line: both Translink and the Highways department have delivered a much lower level of service to North Vancouver than our population pays for in taxes and it's high time we be #1 in the budget instead of #101!
Don, are you suggesting North Shore Amalgamation?
Anonymous, amalgamation of North Vancouver is hardly possible and doing it for the whole North Shore even moreso of course. My point was why should just the district of North Vancouver be on the hook for this when the other two municipalities have the same highway running through their boundaries.
Were all the upgrades to the West Vancouver portion of the Sea to Sky highway paid for by West Vancouver? And you know the answer to that!
I remind you all of my April 1, 2008 article here on the blog concerning DNV - DWV. In the article I suggested that the City had been interested but pulled out at the last minute so the District and West Vancouver went ahead hoping to draw the City in later.
Given the date it was of course a spoof but it wasn't nearly as outlandish as the idea suggests!
Lyle,
So what are ya cookin up for this April 1st?
I'm too busy getting my 1st quarter HST return ready for Monday's deadline. There is no significant increase in paperwork required compared to the previous GST return - both are a pain in the (deleted) for the small business person without a dedicated accounting staff.
If you have a suggested topic for April 1st I would love to hear it!
We submitted our HST on Friday. The HST and GST are an almost identical exercise.
The point being that it's only one submission and you don't have to undertake the separate and annoying PST submission so in our business's case it's a time (therefore money) saver.
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