The Livable Blog

For any of you who like the line "building freeways to solve congestion is like buying a longer belt to cure obesity", you will not be surprised with the following:

No relief for commuters under Fraser mouth
New ring road won't ease congestion
Brian Lewis, The Province
Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010

If you commute daily through the George Massey Tunnel and think that the $1.2-billion South Fraser Perimeter Road will ease the 51-year-old crossing's congestion when it opens in 2013, you'd better think again.

A significant portion of the tunnel's daily gridlock is caused by an ever-increasing number of trucks, running to and from Deltaport and B.C. Ferries' nearby Tsawwassen terminal, that merge with commuter traffic from South Delta, White Rock and south Surrey into the tunnel's inadequate four lanes under the Fraser River.

Figures obtained last week by our sister weekly newspaper, the Delta Optimist, show that the B.C. government estimates truck traffic through the Massey Tunnel will hardly decline once the 40-kilometre SFPR is completed sometime in 2013.

[snip]
blewis@theprovince.com
http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=4e36d95f-74d1-40ff-b640-a06937541be8

But really, the quote should be something like "building freeways to solve congestion is like spending a billion dollars on a longer belt to cure obesity"

This is what Metro Vancouver chief administrative officer Johnny Carline said recently:

"We don't think we'll be able to afford full-scale investments in the Evergreen Line, south of the Fraser and UBC all in the life of this plan . . . We can't afford to have investments going out to UBC that take away from investment in the major growth areas."

Read the quote carefully - "full-scale investments" really means Skytrain type light metro, or the kind of light rail highway engineers love, with lots of underground stations and underpasses so road space for cars is not reduced.

The fact is that if the province shifted all the billions they plan to spend on urban freeways and other roadway expansions we could have even this kind of gold plated transit well before 30 years is up (noting that most of the gold goes to serve the automobile rather than the transit rider).

Photo: The consequences of climate crime - floods in Pakistan

But we don't have 30 years. Just think about what global warming is doing already in Pakistan and in Russia.

As I wrote earlier, we don't have to wait as long as the transit is on the surface using existing road space. We need a full network of rapid transit within the next five years, and we can afford it if we put the priority on transit not freeways.

Mark your calendar for 10/10/10 www.dig4justice.org

From The Dependent:

Land use and transportation, historically the concerns of engineers and politicians, have begun to seep into the public conscious as Vancouver works to maintain its status as one of the world’s most livable cities.

City councillor for sixteen years, influential blogger, recognized global speaker and Director of the City Program at SFU – Gordon Price is one of Vancouver’s foremost authorities on the built environment.

–

What would you say is the biggest planning issue facing our region today?

The vulnerability to the basic commodity upon which our entire world has been based: oil.

Let’s just cover that off: oil has some particular features that if not making it unique, the combination thereof is extraordinary: it’s liquid and stable at room temperature and it’s incredibly energy intensive. So while people may talk about alternatives, there isn’t any alternative that combines all of those particular features.

We’ve come to accept that our world can function in a certain way based on the particular characteristics of a limited resource that’s been so cheap – bottled water is more expensive – that it’s now in every aspect of our lives: food, clothes, transportation, construction materials, and just about everything that we process has an element of oil in it. [snip]

Full text at http://thedependent.ca/featured/gordon-price-on-gateway-choice-and-the-volatility-of-oil/

In the world of human ground based transport, there are two strains of thought.

1. We can all have what we want, ie. endless freeways, transit, bike lanes & walkways.


2. One option always comes at the expense of another or choices must be made or those without cars will have limited transport choice.

Taxes for transportation infrastructure are paid by all of us, so we all must benefit. Not just road builders, car dealers and those that choose to drive. In this video, Eric Doherty puts forward an excellent case for why more BTW is the way to transport oneself.

Well, the 40th Earth Day and 1st Mother Earth Day has passed quietly. But something seems to have changed for the better, at least in the South of Fraser media - the Gateway freeways are being clearly identified as the threats to our Mother Earth they are.

For example, the Surrey Leader's Earth Day editorial read:

Like many 40-year-olds, maybe Earth Day and its proponents are facing a mid-life crisis of sorts; a period of reflection on accomplishments and regret over missed opportunities.

Locally, there are many examples of both.

A truck highway (the South Fraser Perimeter Road) is being built that will separate the community from a historically rich waterfront in North Delta, and broaches the edge of the “lungs of the Lower Mainland,” Burns Bog.

The Port Mann Bridge is being super-sized at great cost to accommodate an ever-increasing army of vehicles, while an under-funded TransLink struggles to maintain transit service. http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/opinion/91649429.html

The Pilgrimage to Burns Bog gets prominent coverage:

Burns Bog 'sacred,' pilgrimage organizers say

Photo: Karl Perrin puts up posters advertising the April 25 Pilgrimage to Burns Bog.
Rob Newell / Black Press

It’s a cathedral with lofty and leafy green spires.

There are fallen tree trunks for pews.

And there lies enough water in shallow basins for mass baptisms.

For those taking part in the annual Pilgrimage to Burns Bog on April 25, the wilderness area is sacred. Sacred enough to consider the bog land to be a holy place, deserved of their protection.

And they will walk to it and then revel in the quiet, natural beauty they feel is threatened by development and highway expansion in Delta.

[snip]

Its location, pretty much the centre of the Lower Mainland, is a prime one. So is the fact that it is home to a multitude of species (one count puts it at 24 mammals and 150 birds), some of which are rare such as the Sandhill Crane.

“The bog is not just rare where it is in the Lower Mainland, but in the world,” Perrin says. “And visiting it is truly a spiritual experience.”

“There’s a multitude of species that consider Burns Bog to be their home,” adds Hudec who is a Sister of Charity with an MA in Earth Literacy. “And in that way it becomes a sacred place not to be destroyed. It’s also the last bog on the west coast, so we have to care for it.”

The hike, which starts on nearby Annacis Island, crosses the Alex Fraser Bridge and ends at the Delta Nature Reserve, allows for only a small-scale observation of the 40-sq.-km. bog, but the event develops an appreciation for what it is, Perrin says.

While the federal, provincial and Delta governments combined with the then GVRD (now Metro Vancouver) in 2004 to preserve 2,042 hectares of the wetlands, Perrin feels the area is still threatened by the South Fraser Perimeter Road.

The Pilgrimage to Burns Bog begins April 25 at 1:30 p.m. on Annacis Island at the Quizno’s at 640 Chester Road. For more information visit pilgrimage2burnsbog.org.

editor@southdeltaleader.com

Then Surrey Leader articles repeatedly point out the folly of freeway expansion:

How healthy is the mighty Fraser?
By Jeff Nagel - Surrey North Delta Leader
[snip]
Port authorities, desperate to develop new dock terminals and use the lower river as a freight highway, have lately been snapping up waterfront land, some farm land.

One of the biggest projects advancing along the shore is the new South Fraser Perimeter Road, which critics say will bulldoze critical habitat and threaten the hydrology of Burns Bog.

Wilhelmson said there’s a widespread sense that development and business trump the environment and that pledges of stewardship, particularly the province’s environmental assessment process, are not to be trusted.

“We still don’t really consider the environment when it comes to developing our shorelines,” she said. “Look at the devastation we’ve done. Yet we still allow projects on shoreline, we still allow dumping. That’s only going to get worse the more people live here.”

The Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C., in its latest Endangered Rivers report, listed the Fraser as the fourth most endangered river in the province. [snip]
http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/community/91639814.html

Volunteers bearing witness to nature
Ben West of the Wildnerness Committee at the South Fraser Witness Trail.
Boaz Joseph / The Leader

Upstream from the Port Mann Bridge, adjacent to Surrey Bend, is a strip of land in nearly pristine condition, looking much like Surrey did before people arrived.

Part bog, part thick forest on an undiked floodplain, it hosts an array of largely untouched flora and fauna.

A walk on a path through it reveals tiny bubbling streams glinting from whatever sunlight breaks through the thick canopy of moss-covered trees, a beaver dam under construction, and blankets of watercress on still puddles. A garter snake swiftly crosses the path. Above, a soft, musical “cheeriup” reveals a robin navigating its way through branches.

There’s only the barest glimpse of development: a railway storage yard to the east, and the roofs of houses at the top of a cliff on 168 Street north of 108 Avenue can be made out through the trees to the west.

“Pretty much where we’re standing right here is supposed to be four lanes of traffic,” says Tom Jaugelis.

A volunteer with Surrey Environmental Partners, Jaugelis spent several rainy weekends over the winter clearing out a narrow path, about three kilometres long (two as the crow flies) through the at-risk wetland.

It became the first leg of the South Fraser Witness Trail, a partnership of the Wilderness Committee (formerly bearing the Western Canada name) and Surrey Environmental Partners.

The urban wilderness – accessible on the C74 bus route – is what supporters hope is a bulwark against the Gateway project’s proposed South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) route.
[snip]
http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/community/91637544.html

Earlier in the week, Brian Lewis of The Province used the South Fraser Freeway as a prime example of government arrogance costing votes:

Huntington and her Delta constituents, you see, have seen all this before, in their own backyard.

They've seen an old and tired B.C. Liberal government resurrect well-worn, obsolete project ideas, ignore modern viable alternatives and, finally, ram them through despite public outcry.

They saw it with the controversial South Fraser Perimeter Road, which is now under preliminary construction in Delta and Surrey and, like Site C, is destroying significant amounts of farmland. The idea of the perimeter road was kicked around for years but still trumped more current options for moving Deltaport freight.

They saw it again when the Campbell government destroyed a Tsawwassen neighbourhood by choosing to run a high-voltage overhead transmission line through its heart to Vancouver Island, rather than bury the line or run it along a new non-residential route via Roberts Bank.

At the time, I said if the Campbell government can behave like this in Delta's backyard, it's capable of similar behaviour in other backyards. Subsequently, it was the B.C. Liberals' actions in Delta that led to Huntington's upset election as B.C.'s only independent MLA last spring.

[snip]

"I wonder what kind of province we will be passing on to the next generation?" Huntington asks. "I hope it's not just pavement and cement."

blewis@theprovince.com

The tide has turned against freeway expansion. But that does not mean that the provincial government won't arrogantly plow ahead with cutting everything down to the last school band program to fund a $2 billion gift to property speculators and car dealers. This is the time to get out and put an end to any idea they have that the South Fraser Freeway could be built without a major political cost.

Photo - Stephen Hui, Georgia Straight

GATEWAYSUCKS.ORG and the COUNCIL OF CANADIANS (Delta/Richmond chapter)

MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
March 1, 2010

Post-Olympic budget crunch may benefit environment

As the Olympic euphoria fades and attention shifts to the provincial budget, local environmental and social justice groups are calling attention to the billions British Columbia's government plans to spend on freeway building.

“We can't just stand and watch as billions are wasted on these destructive freeways while transit service and essential social programs are cut” says Cathy Wilander, chair of the Delta/Richmond chapter of the Council of Canadians, Canada's largest public advocacy organization. “And the post-Olympic budget crunch will make it much easier to stop this freeway building binge.”

The provincial government kicked off a massive plan to add over 1,000 km of new highway lanes when they expanded the Sea-to-Sky Highway for the Olympics. The plan includes the controversial “Gateway” Program, linked to the federal government's Pacific Gateway Strategy, now estimated to cost $21 billion in freeway and port expansion on BC's west coast.

The expansion of the Port Mann/Highway 1 freeway from Vancouver to Langley was suspended during the Olympics, but is set to resume. The new Port Mann Bridge is planned to be the widest in Canada.

Eviction and demolition of historic riverside homes to make way for the South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) in nearby Delta proceeded throughout the Games. As many as 300 homes in Delta and Surrey could be demolished for this new freeway.

“These were not the 'Greenest Games', they were the Freeway Olympics,” says transportation planner and GatewaySucks.org organizer Eric Doherty. “The BC government has been attempting to brand itself as a 'Green Leader' during these games, yet their own studies show that provincial greenhouse gas emission targets are being undermined by their massive freeway expansion scheme.” Doherty also points to the thousands of acres of productive farmland under threat from the freeways. “There is nothing green about paving farmland,” he states.

The Gateway program has been met with an ongoing grassroots campaign of civil disobedience. In December, 50 people including University of British Columbia Professor Patrick Condon, occupied a Highway 1 expansion site in East Vancouver. Demolition of homes on the SFPR route has been disrupted by similar action on two occasions.

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