{"id":868,"date":"2017-01-31T20:33:18","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T20:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/?p=868"},"modified":"2017-02-02T00:44:46","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T00:44:46","slug":"express-lanes-coming-to-the-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/express-lanes-coming-to-the-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"Express Lane Coming to the North Vancouver Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Lower Lynn Project has been expanded to include direct access to the highway for Lynn Valley residents and a separate east-west connection between Seymour and Lynn Valley!<\/p><\/div>\n

Jane Seyd\/Brent Richter (North Shore News)<\/p>\n

Published January 27, 2017.<\/p>\n

Plans to alleviate traffic on the Cut and Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing got a big boost Friday with the announcement of two new two-lane bridges over Lynn Creek shouldering the existing orange Highway 1 bridge.<\/p>\n

The $60-million project announced Friday expands on the already-in-progress Mountain Highway interchange redesign. Costs of the project will be shared equally by federal, provincial and District of North Vancouver taxpayers.<\/p>\n

When the project is complete, which is targeted for 2021, the Cut will be divided into express and collector lanes, similar to what\u2019s used at the Port Mann Bridge now, with local east- and westbound traffic crossing the new bridges.<\/p>\n

The design is meant to physically separate east-west traffic trying to get across the North Shore from traffic bound for the Ironworkers. It will also mean less weaving and merging of vehicles at multiple entry points on the highway, which creates inefficiencies.<\/p>\n

The total cost of the project is now nearly $200 million.<\/p>\n

North Vancouver Seymour MLA Jane Thornthwaite described the project Friday as \u201cone of the most complicated infrastructure projects in the province today\u201d and one that\u2019s critical to the North Shore. \u201cSince 2009, this has been the number one issue I\u2019ve been working on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been stuck in this forever and we\u2019re finally going to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thornthwaite said the lower Lynn corridor is currently a choke point for the entire region \u2013 both for people driving from Horseshoe Bay to Burnaby and those going from shopping to soccer practice within North Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI live here and I know how busy Highway 1 can get,\u201d she said \u201cI\u2019ve been stuck in traffic for hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson described the project announcement as \u201cvery good news for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added he\u2019d raised the issue of the significant bottleneck in the area and promised a Liberal government would fix it during the 2015 federal election.<\/p>\n

North Vancouver Lonsdale MLA Naomi Yamamoto said the full project will create 600 jobs over a four-year period.<\/p>\n

The new express\/collector distribution system will be an adjustment at first, with a few people likely getting caught in the express lanes and missing their desired exit, said Gavin Joyce, the District of North Vancouver\u2019s general manager of engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to make that decision early,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll get used to it pretty quickly if you live on the North Shore.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to traffic studies, about 20 per cent of the drivers on the Cut during the evening rush hour are exiting before the bridge.<\/p>\n

Part of the $20 million going towards the project from District of North Vancouver taxes will go towards the purchase or expropriation of private land on the north side of the existing bridge, and more trees will have to be removed from Bridgman Park to accommodate the new bridges.<\/p>\n

There had been talk of replacing the orange 1960 Highway 1 bridge over Lynn Creek, but the structure has at least another 15 years of life left in it.<\/p>\n

Compared to previous iterations, the concept unveiled Friday adds the ability for Mountain Highway drivers to get on Highway 1 eastbound, though it does not offer a way for drivers exiting the Cut at the new interchange to turn north onto Mountain Highway.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the province will also look to totally revamp the Main Street\/Dollarton Highway interchange as well, although what that might look like hasn\u2019t even been put on paper yet.<\/p>\n

According to a provincial traffic study, the Ironworkers Bridge itself is almost at capacity now. In theory, the bridge can handle 1,800 vehicles per lane, per hour heading eastbound. But the bridge already accommodates more than 5,000 vehicles per hour in its three eastbound lanes during peak periods.<\/p>\n

Seymour North Burnaby MP Terry Beech acknowledged Friday\u2019s announcement won\u2019t eliminate traffic congestion on the North Shore. \u201cIt\u2019s not the only solution to solving our traffic problems,\u201d he said, adding housing affordability and transit also play key roles. \u201cAll of these issues affect traffic and they affect each other,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

District of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton said while \u201cthe future isn\u2019t just in building roads and highways \u2026 you have to invest in your infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walton said the project will make a difference to traffic congestion on the North Shore.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always going to have to spend some money on roads,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of lost productivity with people sitting in traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0http:\/\/www.nsnews.com\/news\/express-lanes-coming-to-the-cut-1.9228835#sthash.kHh7PpuL.dpuf<\/a><\/p>\n

Govt. press release:\u00a0https:\/\/news.gov.bc.ca\/releases\/2017TRAN0014-000173<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plans to alleviate traffic on the Cut and Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing got a big boost Friday with the announcement of two new two-lane bridges over Lynn Creek shouldering the existing orange Highway 1 bridge. The $60-million project announced Friday expands on the already-in-progress Mountain Highway interchange redesign. Costs of the project will be shared equally by federal, provincial and District of North Vancouver taxpayers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[246,247,119,24,351],"class_list":["post-868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neighbourhood-stories","tag-chris-brown","tag-chris-brown-real-estate","tag-ironworkers-memorial-bridge","tag-north-shore","tag-north-shore-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":874,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868\/revisions\/874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbrownrealestate.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}