(Photo taken by me)
If you commute in Metro Vancouver, you likely use 1 of 2 routes every day: Highway 99, or Highway 1. Although the 99 often hits a bottleneck at the George Massey Tunnel, it’s usually pretty smooth sailing. The #1 is quite the opposite. In fact, I can think of at least 3 times when I’ve felt my heart begin palpitating from the stress and terror of commuting on that nightmare of a freeway.
I often mention my status as a Langley resident when writing articles, as it often provides an interesting point-of-view of the rest of the Metro. In this case, I’d say the POV is less interesting, and more nauseating. It takes about 30 minutes to travel from the southern end of 200th street to the Carvolth Exchange, where the HOV onramp for Highway 1 begins. This means if I’ve got a class at 8:30, I’m up at 5, and out the door at six. The stretch of road between Walnut Grove in Langley and Guilford Town Centre in Surrey isn’t terrible, it’s actually a nice break from the action. But as soon as you hit 160th street, all hell breaks loose. The Coquitlam lanes for the Port Mann Bridge cause the bottleneck of all bottlenecks, adding a welcome 20 minutes to the commute. Oh, and of course the massive trucks take the fast lane, which has caused my friend’s windshield to be cracked on 2 separate occasions by falling debris, one time coming very close to going right through and hitting me in the head. Happy times!
After the bridge, a complete standstill occurs in Coquitlam. I’ve sat and stared at the IKEA for 30 minutes straight on multiple occasions, it’s not like I’m going to be moving. Once the traffic starts crawling again, you’re bound to be nearly sideswiped by a merging vehicle with no spatial awareness, It’s happened to me multiple times. On one occasion, I was driving a rented vehicle, only for a garbage truck to begin merging into my side. Luckily, the moron in question realized I was there at the last second, saving me from what would’ve been a paperwork nightmare.
So heading west during the morning rush is bad, but what about the journey home? It’s somehow worse. I get on the freeway at Willingdon, and good lord, people do not understand the concept of merging. Some get cold feet and stop in the lane, whereas others decide to speed past everyone else to the end, where they’re somehow surprised no one wants to let them in. It’s called “the zipper” people, it’s not rocket science. The HOV lane is helpfully situated on the opposite side of the highway, which means timing your gaps just right to cross every lane. One time, I miss-timed a lane change, nothing major, the vehicle behind me was quite a distance away. He didn’t think so, so he proceeded to pull beside me, start screaming out the window, flipping the bird, and then speed in front of me, where he very calmly and safely zig-zagged in front of me in the hopes he’d cause a crash. To finish this elaborate display, he’d cut someone off for real to escape the scene, giving them a wave as if it was suddenly ok. Some people don’t deserve a driver’s license. This guy wouldn’t deserve parole.
So yes, I’m evidently not Highway 1’s biggest fan. But my motivation for telling you the story of my many misfortunes is for a good reason. I’d rather vent here then on the road, because unlike Mr. Bird-Flipper or the garbage truck driver, I actually try to make sure I don’t kill anyone while using the freeway, and you should too.
Written by Noah Schmidt
Contact: nschmidt20@my.bcit.ca