If you think about the most isolated city in Vancouver, most people will probably think about the Northern most part of Vancouver. North Shore is quite isolated from the rest of Vancouver. Its not because of its proximity, but because the city is separated by a body of water, more specifically the Burrard Inlet.
Unlike the rest of the city, there are only three options for people to go to North Vancouver and vice versa. It is either going through the first Narrows bridge (Lion’s Gate Bridge), the Second Narrows Bridge (Ironworkers memorial Bridge), or the most popular, Sea bus ride. the two bridges are famous for its traffic, especially during busy hours. People tend to get stuck during busy times for as long as an hour. It is not convenient for people especially for the ones who live in North Van and have to work or go to school somewhere else. With North Vancouver’s growing community, transportation will most likely be a future problem not only for the North Shore residents, but for the Entire Vancouver.
“I usually wake up at 5:00 in the morning to prepare and could go to school without any traffic to delay the bus. This way I won’t get late if something happens that could create traffic.” – Faith Gazmen, Former BCIT Student
Although there are a lot of things to be done. The process Burrard Inlet Rapid Transit project that was proposed in 2018 are doing its best to progress. It is a project that plans to create a way for SkyTrain going to the North Shore. The main purpose of the project is to add an additional and quicker route for people to choose going to other cities of Vancouver. It will also help to ease down the traffic of both First and Second Narrows Bridge.
The specific plan is to make an underground tunnel across Burrard Inlet. However, they needed to study the underwater landscape of the Inlet so that Engineers and Architects could calculate, and plan out how would they approach the creation of the route. On September 9, 2020, the most anticipated stage 2 of Burrard Inlet Rapid Transit Study was released in public. The project’s initial stage was led by North Vancouver MLA Bowinn Ma.
“People living in North Vancouver are eager to embrace socially, environmentally responsible ways to travel that allow them to beat the traffic.” – Bowinn Ma
The stage 2 talks about the technical feasibility of creating a transit crossing from Vancouver to the North Shore across Burrard Inlet. As a result, the team have thought of five possible crossing options for the train. All routes could work that is why it is difficult right now to chose what is best for everybody. In the meantime, the team together with Transport 2050 is under planning process where they ask people’s opinions and peripherals about what the best and most efficient route is would be to choose for the community.
The five possible crossing are labeled with five distinct colours for the people to understand. First is the blue zone. The Blue Zone was planned to start from Burrard station going through Stanley Park. At the very northern part of Stanley Park, just after the First Narrows Bridge, they will be digging underwater tunnelling over to the western part of North Shore, in Park Royal Shopping Centre area. after that, the route will go east ending to the central part of Lonsdale avenue.
The Second one is the Red Zone. This route is fairly similar to the Blue Zone. It Starts from Burrard as well, but instead of going through the entire Stanley Park, the starting point will be at Brockton Point tunneling straight over to North Vancouver’s Capilano Mall instead of Park Royal Shopping Centre. The end of the route will be at Central Lonsdale as well, at 15 Street.
The Green Zone is the third option. This option is the shortest option of them and will going to be the worst enemy of North Vancouver’s Sea bus Transportation. The starting point of the Green Zone will be at the Terminus Station Waterfront. Then they will be digging underwater tunnelling out to North Van’s Lonsdale Quay continuing to Central Lonsdale. After that, the route will go east ending at Park Royal Shopping Center. It maybe the shortest of the five, but it has the longest and the deepest underwater tunnel out of them.
The fourth route is the Yellow Zone. The Yellow Zone starts at Terminus Station Waterfront, then the route will go east along Hastings Street. After that, it goes North crossing the Burrard Inlet and out to Phibbs Exchange Bus Terminal. In this route, there will be no underwater tunnel due to the previous bridge that fell before. Instead, the train rail will be made by connecting it along Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. From Phibbs Exchange, the route will go west, and the end of the station will be at Lower Lonsdale.
The Next and final route is the Purple Zone, the most unique of the five. Instead of starting at Downtown Vancouver, the very first station of this route will be at Brentwood Station in Burnaby. The second stop will be at Boundary Station, then it goes up north crossing the Burrard Inlet along the Ironworker Memorial Bridge just like the Yellow Zone. The next stop will be at Phibbs Exchange, then the trail will go west ending at Lower Lonsdale as well.
With this Options, what would be the best and most sensible one to choose? In my opinion, I think The Blue Zone will be the most Beneficial of them all and the green Zone is the least. The Western and Central part of North Shore are the busiest part of the area with its most popular shopping district Park Royal in the west and North Van’s Downtown area at central. Blue Zone will be a great pick since it goes through West and ends up at Central of North Van. Not only that, but Blue Zone also starts at Downtown Vancouver, which is pretty much connected to everything including train routes going to other cities. The underwater tunnel will also add character to the city and would be a hit for tourist attraction. Although I have a feeling that the Bridge route of the purple and yellow zone would be more popular to the tourist because of the view it will going to have.
There are two reasons of why the Green Zone is a risky idea. My first reason is that the structure of the underground tunnel is dangerous. The underwater landscape of the area is the lowest of the three which means water pressure will be higher in that dept. my second reasoning is that according to the authorities, they will close the Sea Bus Transportation in exchange to making the Green Zone. For me, it’s better to give North Van an additional route instead of changing one of its routes into a more convenient one, because adding will significantly ease up the flow of transportation. Changing it will just ease up the busyness a little bit. The Sea bus transportation is one of North Van’s traits as well; without it, North Vancouver will lose some of its individuality.
That is my opinion, what’s yours? Leave a comment below.