It’s no secret that our local highway infrastructure is well… questionable. The piece I have the most issue with is our highways, and in particular Highway 1. Highway 1 is woefully unprepared for the amount of people that travel it day by day and this was made evident by the transition between pandemic traffic and post pandemic traffic. During the pandemic it was less than an hour to get from all the way out in my humble abode in Agassiz to the city. People were staying home and the roads were clear. The life of a commuter was the best it had ever been. Now that we are slowly returning to normal walks of life, the roads are back to their characteristically bad selves. 264th to 200th street is basically the Bermuda triangle of North America. You go in one end on a light traffic day and come out the other end having just endured the worst accidents and mix-ups of your commuting career. It never ceases to amaze me how many issues can arise on a straight stretch of road. To be fair I know that mechanical failure can happen and medical emergencies, etc. can be unpredictable.
Previously completed Highway 1 project in 2020: 202nd Street to 216th Street (purple); Current project under construction: 216th Street to 264th Street (yellow); and future project: 264th Street to Whatcom Road. (Government of BC)
The province had an answer to this though. They decided that the Highway would now be three-laned both directions. Oh thank goodness. This is going to be the big ticket, this could actually work!… Is what I would say if that actually was going to fix anything. Knowing the masterminds behind our highway infrastructure, even with three lanes they are going to somehow, someway screw up the merge lanes that cause us so many problems. 200th street eastbound was plagued by the highway choking from 4 lanes down to 2 as the merge lane and HOV ended in the same place. The solution? They moved it a kilometer down the road… The exact same issue, 1000m further down the highway. I pray that this highway widening project includes the merge lanes having their own lane for a significant distance if not just being their own permanent lane. It would solve just about every issue the highway currently has. Then again maybe I don’t know anything. Maybe I’m just a disgruntled east valley commuter who’s tired of the big city. Or maybe, just maybe, I’m onto something. What is your biggest gripe with our highways in the Lower Mainland?