Kevin Falcon and BC United have announced a ‘transformative transportation plan’ to fix the chronic traffic congestion plaguing North Shore residents and commuters. In a press release, BC United said this detailed and significant commitment will go a long way to fixing transportation for North Vancouver.
“The North Shore is a world-class community and North Shore residents deserve a world-class transportation system to match. Under David Eby’s NDP, we’ve seen countless studies without any action and the few projects they do launch are way behind schedule and wildly over budget,” said Kevin Falcon, BC United leader. “Our plan will fix transportation for the North Shore, and we’ll get it done on-budget and on-time. BC United, under the former BC Liberals, successfully delivered countless major transportation projects – like the Canada Line, the Sea-to-Sky Highway and the William R. Bennett Bridge – and we will do it again; that’s a promise.”
Highlights of BC United’s North Shore Transportation Plan:
- New Second Narrows Bridge: BC United will build a new 10-lane Second Narrows Bridge featuring additional vehicle and HOV lanes, a SkyTrain connection, and facilities for active transportation to provide a robust solution to current bottlenecks.
- SkyTrain Expansion: BC United will build a new SkyTrain line to connect the North Shore directly to the broader Vancouver transit network, dramatically improving travel times and accessibility.
- Fix Roads and Transit:BC United will make immediate, comprehensive improvements to road and transit infrastructure to alleviate existing congestion and enhance overall safety and connectivity.
“With the addition of a new bridge and expansion of the SkyTrain, we will unlock the North Shore’s full potential, improving access to jobs and stimulating economic opportunities,” said James Mitchell, BC United candidate for North Vancouver-Seymour. “This is about more than just fixing traffic — it’s about building a better North Shore.”
“Any solution to the North Shore’s traffic disaster has got to be comprehensive if it is going to truly fix commutes for the people of North Vancouver, for drivers and transit users alike,” added Caroline Elliott, BC United candidate for West Vancouver-Capilano. “Our record shows that when we say we’re going to do something, we get it done, and this needed infrastructure will be no different.”
“I’m very pleased to see BC United committed to undertaking significant improvements to our transportation infrastructure here in the District of North Vancouver,” said District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little, “These investments are exactly what is needed to help alleviate the severe traffic congestion we face every day.”
What BC United proposes
New Bridge & SkyTrain
- Additional lanes in each direction with dedicated lanes for exits before Cassiar at McGill, ensuring smoother traffic flow.
- SkyTrain expansion underway on day one of the bridge opening, connecting Phibbs Exchange with the existing SkyTrain network in Burnaby, with a longer-term extension to Lonsdale and Park Royal.
- Separate pedestrian and cycling paths to promote active transportation modes.
East-West Travel Lane
- Alleviate congestion at the Mountain Highway interchange with the construction of a dedicated east-west travel lane, effectively connecting the Highway 1 eastbound on-ramp from Lynn Valley Road to the Highway 1 eastbound off-ramp at the Mountain Highway interchange.
Upper Levels Highway Improvements
- Upgrade the associated infrastructure, including the Upper Levels Highway and priority interchanges (Lynn Valley, Capilano, Cypress Bowl).
- Act on the Upper Levels Corridor Study, including six-laning to Taylor Way, twinning the Capilano Bridge, and creating a new Capilano/Hwy 1 Interchange with HOV/Transit lanes, as critical long-term projects to enhance safety and connectivity.
SeaBus Enhancements
- Provide more drop-off and parking options near the SeaBus terminal to encourage short trips downtown by SeaBus instead of the Lions Gate Bridge, addressing the parking issues to accommodate commuters.
Streamlining Lions Gate Bridge Traffic
- Ensure the signal control on the Lions Gate Bridge is more responsive to actual traffic conditions to prevent unnecessary delays.
- Review and improve the process for lane-switching on the Lion’s Gate Bridge during congested times to better manage congestion at the Taylor Way intersection at Park Royal.
- Work with local governments to optimize traffic signaling at key congestion areas near the Lions Gate Bridge (such as at Capilano Road and Marine Drive) to streamline traffic flows.
Old Ironworkers Bridge
- Recognize the need to ensure that the existing bridge remains operational throughout the process.
- The new bridge will be constructed in phases to ensure the existing crossing continues to serve the North Shore effectively during construction.
- Explore the feasibility of retaining the old Ironworkers Bridge for truck and industrial traffic once the new bridge is complete.
Very positive initiative for B. C. United.
They have a good track record for transportation projects!
And they are going to add tolls to the bridge and every bridge, just like before
Tolls are coming if they get in
They have NO reputation at all for transport project. Bowrn Ma NDP is a transport engineer, and well aware of the impossibilities of 99% of this pie in the sky.
10 lanes all spilling out onto the same already gridlocked streets??? The North Shore is FULL unless you clear cut all the trees and pave over everything.
Another political ad for a pie-in-the-sky project. Hope you were paid.
What a pipe dream … BC UNITED is in last place in all polls & not even breaking into double digits as as overall support goes. They will NOT form government & whatever they are spewing is simply HOGWASH.
BC Transit is today talking about 50% cuts to ALL service due to funding shortfalls.
That is Transit Reality in 2024.
Give your head a shake FALCON.
Exactly. And where will they get the 15 billion in 2040 dollars to complete such a massive project?
If Kevin Falcon really cared about the North Shore’s transportation woes, he and his party should drop out and throw their support behind the BC conservatives. If Kevin Falcon continues to split the vote, and the NDP stays in, nothing will be done for the North Shore of any significance.
Lol
Have to say one thing for them. There would already be a bridge in place instead of the Massey Tunnel. NDP are still in the planning stage and what they are planning 4 lanes each way wont
meet the needs for that area within the next few years!
Building a new bridge, new SkyTrain line and keeping the existing bridge for truck traffic.
So we’ll have 16 lanes instead of 6. Where will that traffic go… Hwy 1 is only 3 lanes. So you’d have to widen it to Departure bay to get rid of congestion. Off peak travel times aren’t even an issue.
Twinning the Iron Workers – whatever form it takes – needs to happen, end stop. Any final plan no doubt will require many adjustments. Anyone who thinks anything different is in a state of reality denial.
I too believe that the North Shore is full and I long for yesteryear, that doesn’t preclude the need for added bridge deck space now, to service those already here, this is not about induced demand, this is what is needed today.
Whether you support them or not, good going I say to the ‘United Party’ for raising the topic, for attempting to hold feet to the fire, very much needed to be done.
What changes? We have a wider bridge wirh more lanes but the access routes remain the same…. Its still a disastrous bottleneck….
Its just political mumbo Jumbo as usual
Falcon in a panic
Kevin Falcon, “1950s thinking from ‘Yesterday’s Man.'”
Please tell me of any city in the world that has been able to accomodate all their cars. We had the “solution for everything” with work on the Cut. 300 million with minimal improvements. Cities that have adapted to the vehicle have invested in public transit and not in private vehicles. Ten lane bridge will move the traffic problem to another area. Great thinking for the last century.
Please tell me of any city in the world that has been able to accomodate all their cars. We had the “solution for everything” with work on the Cut. 300 million with minimal improvements. Cities that have adapted to the vehicle have invested in public transit and not in private vehicles. Ten lane bridge will move the traffic problem to another area. Great thinking for the last century.
Good initiative, but when they are going to improve road conditions in Vancouver
Anything is a start to helping the terrible gridlock on the north shore. What some doubters forget is that the traffic backups don’t just affect North and West Van but way beyond. People coming from Squamish and Whistler are held up. Also, all folks from the Sunshine Coast arrive very a ferry and immediately are in a jam. Add to that the ferries coming from Nanaimo and dumping off onto the Upper Levels along with the rest of our humanity. Get the picture? YES! WE NEED more bridges, mass transit and whatever else Kevin Falcon and his people can come up with!! Fewer people would be a great solution but that ain’t gonna happen, folks. We drove up the Sunshine past highway two days ago and I am happy to report that despite the potholes in Highway 101, we were lucky to not suffer any flat tires. How long have the NDP been in power? For shame!
10 lanes all the way to Horseshoe Bay or Whistler? Where is the traffic suppose to go? Out off your m|nd?
Another pipe dream
Man I love the article I sure do hope the comments aren’t either the worst takes ever or the weirdest takes ever.
Build the train, you don’t need more lanes as the extra capacity on the bridge is the train, that’s why you build public transit, to take cars off the road.
Also I should note, that BC United, does not have a good track record with SkyTrain projects.
The Canada Line, with high ridership, was not built with the intention of having a train with good capacity, instead for cheap costs with SNC-Lavalin, by building it with smaller stations, as well as operating it privately, with Translink not being able to take all the fare revenue from it to fund their services.
The Evergreen Extension, despite being a good project ridership-wise, should have instead had its money go to the Broadway Subway, a project that would have gotten higher ridership on day one than the Evergreen Extension.
The 97 B-Line, the bus route the Evergreen Extension replaced, rarely used 60-foot buses like the rest of the B-Line routes, due to it being not very busy, even in rush-hour, compared to the 99.
The BC Liberals decided to toy around with Surrey LRT, a project that would have barely increased travel times, costed in the billions, and not serve nearly as much people as the UBC extension.
In 2015 a plebiscite was put forth, to fund Translink through a half-cent sales tax, and failed, this was because most people who voted No, lived in rural municipalities with worse transit service.
Because of this, Translink, in 2026, may have to reduce service to even worse levels, shut down the West Coast Express, and potentially stop service on up to 85 bus routes. All because people did not want to pay a few cents more shopping.
This plebiscite would have funded the Broadway Subway, built the RapidBus, and would have given 8 billion to Translink.
This was due to the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation, claiming Translink’s misuse of funds.
The BC United, in their infinite wisdom, did not fund the Broadway Subway to save it from being canned for a few years, the Surrey LRT (although they did later), or any of the new RapidBus lines after 2016 (the 95 used the old 97 equipment).
As well, this is roughly the same plan being studied by the NDP, along with studies on the UBCx, something that the BC ́Liberals did not even propose funding.
As well, a 10-lane bridge would induce more traffic through induced demand, similar to the Port Mann on Highway 1.
On top of that, building a line from Metrotown to the North Shore only would bypass a connection with Downtown and the Expo Line.
Rustad isn’t too good either, he doesn’t want to bail out Translink anymore and to cut their bullshitting, like a parent telling their child with ADHD to just focus.
If he does get elected, I hope that he survives until 2028, because hopefully someone doesn’t decide to steal their car tires and tear up their driveway
If he does cut Translink funding, I’d ought to expect a lot of angered Vancouverites, the entire 3 million+ region, a very large voter base, and one not to anger.
Why all the hype I thought we were trying to reduce the environmental footprint. Ten to 16 lanes is the most stupid idea how would it survive earthquakes tsunamis. falcon are you watching too much Maga from down south
All we need is to close our borders for mass immigration and the crisis will disappear. Housing, health, education etc
10 lane bridge going where? All the way to Horseshoe Bay? Stop the madness of high density
Nice try
The tunnel will remain the bottleneck
That bridge was supposed to be built 10 years ago…stop the nonsense or get fired.
the road would need to be rebuilt from the tunnel over the bridge. upper levels and passed capilano road.
seems to me that it may be a better option to put in SkyTrain across the inlet and on Marine drive.
when all the equipment was there rebuilding the highway on the North side they should have put in an extra lane from the bridge past capilano road. then they could have focused on putting a new bridge in with more free-flowing infrastructure. to do this I imagine the costs will run close to $10 billion dollars. where are we supposed to buy to get that money?
I’ve heard this topic for 25 yrs. They researched, debated and ultimately came down to what they just completed a few years ago. It’s so congested on the hourly basis. You need to leave North shore by 2pm or else you’ll be stuck up at Lonsdale and more.
Merge hasting ramp with mcgill and that fix the incoming traffic to north van, now the other way around Whoever thought that adding the Lynn Valley ramp after spending so much money deserves a prize, insane 3 merges back to back in a 2 lines highway is ridiculous.
The route from Lynn valley on ramp in a separated lane down the cut to the new off ramp was supposed to be done when that whole area was redone, but they ended up not doing it, which was stupid. It was probably the most effective for people from the north shore traveling within the north shore. J
Precisely, and it would have cost very little as the the land for the extra lane is just sitting there ready to be paved. It would be simple to implement even further to Westview or even Capilano so that local traffic wouldn’t have to merge with bridge traffic. It’s merging traffic that causes most of the slow down but our boneheaded BC highways engineers just don’t seem to get it
Precisely, and it would have cost very little as the the land for the extra lane is just sitting there ready to be paved. It would be simple to implement even further to Westview or even Capilano so that local traffic wouldn’t have to merge with bridge traffic. It’s merging traffic that causes most of the slow down but our boneheaded BC highways engineers just don’t seem to get it