never going to happen. They spent a ton of money on a huge report only a few years ago which concluded as much. They have multiple other skytrain lines to extend which will benefit much more people for much less cost. Post Covid much fewer people commute certain 5 days a week to downtown so even less need. Most of the proposed options increased transit times for most after spending billions. adding lanes in the iron workers was predicted to just fill up with more traffic and have no material time savings within only a few years. We definitely need to look to improve north shore traffic but unfortunately geography with so many rivers and the highway really limit things. The only way i can see improvements is better dedicated transit lanes for busses. The only way you'll get many more people to take public transit is make it much more efficient in time than driving, and with limited space that means decreasing driving lanes which is a real tough proposition to get voters to agree to.
I remember around 2015 or 2016 I used to cross it every night around or after midnight and for many months they were doing some serious construction work to the expansion gaps I believe. I wonder what that was about. But this is cool insight. I first moved here when I was 9 back in 1999 and only saw the bridge for the first time in my young teenage years. It felt like they were working on it non-stop for at least two years but they were probably putting the finishing touches on the replacement of the suspended decks. A joke I've heard as a teen was that by the time the workers are done painting the bridge from one end to the other, they need to start repainting it again because it took them so long lol
There's a Bruce Cockburn song that was on the Billboard charts, "Wondering Where The Lions Are", which was a take on air pollution blocking the view of those Lions.
My great grandfather used to take that boat, had to live on the beach before he became a lead Engineer for the bridge and got the cut the ribbon on the unveiling. Wish to have seen the last name on the monument, but I guess as all stories you're told from parents - are unique, and just as proud to have that in the history of [Last name]. :) Cool it became 3 lanes, and oh eventually built a house in west van. Only recently was it replaced with a modern house. I wonder, if I have children... who then have children, etc... what my story may be. We've had engineers for 4 generations, maybe it'll be one of my children. Who knows! Great vid.
@@AIMEE911 I have 3 stories, if you guess them all then we're related. 1. Before the city was established the pioneers such of west van - they made tents, coming from actual homes, on the beach (as they saw the potential) and without giving away the name, was someone a little surprised at what when they travelled over...? And from where? 2, or simply, what's the first letter of the last name! Actually unsure first name. I'll edit this when find out 3. the next grandfather (his son). What did he pioneer in west van after as an Engineer? It's a building and network still standing today.. and had to wake up at 4am sometimes to drive over and fix the [blank] on occasion.
@@YourBoyRob my grandpa's initials were g.b. Lived up in west van. Built own house in aboit 1955 after ww2 was a pilot got a medal for saving 2 other officers. Had a son, my uncle that fell from a local bridge in 1975, cable stuck on his leg... an iron worker rode a wrecking ball on a crane up and saved my uncle. Same initials.
I did a fireplace on a house built into the rock in West Van. (owned by old Japanese family money, local) Was that the house? I was told the lead Engineer for the bridge that that was his house. It listed for just under 4 million a few years back, and a photo of my fireplace casting was on it, but there were several fire places.
I lived there in the 1960 as a kid from ages 5-13.. hard to think of doing it these days but i cycled from kerrisdale 34th and arbutus area, through downtown or Beach Ave. Over the Lions Gate to Horseshoe Bay and back many times (i think about 18 miles?)
It was the Depression. The bridge’s construction was ambitious for its time. We should ask ourselves why we still haven’t built a fixed rail link over the Burrard inlet, nearly a century later.
Did the reno at the house into a rock in West Vancouver, BC built for the Engineer head of the Lions Gate build. Fireplace was shown on the listing five years ago for 3.6 million asking, and showed my fireplace. Proud of the work. Interestingly, it DIDN"t show the mantel in the low ceiling dining room. I can't even describe it; some baumeister carpenter did layers of wood trim and it just pops at you. Need a photo.
North Shore Brit and Iranian owners do NOT want the great unwashed to even be able to do the north shore. Seabus is an embarrasment enough. No chunnel, no Sky Train, no nada.
way to expensive and would far to few vs. half a dozen alternative new lines for the sky train. The most simple is just add lanes to iron workers but even that was just predicted to fill with more traffic within a few years. Improving traffic simply results in more traffic as we take more trips because they are less annoying. the other solution is stop improving traffic, actually de-prioritize cars in favor of dedicated bus lanes. the only thing which will materially increase public transit usage is when we are sitting in traffic watching busses fly past. residents will never be in favor of this however, because everyone loves their audis and teslas.
Nice, but the map you show at 0:49 demonstrates the original combined car/rail bridge at 2nd narrows was already in place, so when you say "prior to opening, the only way for people to reach the North Shore was by ferry service", that is false.
You are absolutely correct. Thank you for pointing that out. The 2nd narrows road/rail bridge opened June 3, 1926 and Lions Gate Bridge opened Nov 14, 1938. 12 years later.
Not necessarily. There are sky trains all over the city and to various suburbs yet the road traffic is worse than ever. I do not believe a sky train to the North Shore will change the traffic much anymore than it has to those places that already have sky train.
@@AsiaOceans-nx5lr exactly. sky trains would if people stopped driving in favor of using it which they wouldn't as the various proposed sky train options actually increased commuting times for most. i say this as a lower bus to downtown commuter.
@0:32 "north bound traffic on the bridge heads in their general direction." That may be true, but the mountains you zoom in on are, in fact part of Grouse Mountain, not the Lions. The Lions are located more directly North of Cypress Mountain 😉
There was an upgrade to the reversible lane control system somewhere around 2000. I know this because I was the co-author of that software. It may have since been upgraded again with a newer, generic lane-control software package, something I also had a hand in writing.
On September 22, 1960. A 17 year old woman climbed the bridge before plummeting to her death. That was my sister. I wonder how many other suicides occurred,
There are amazing photos and videos showing spine tingling construction methods of the lions gate, this video barely showed this. Or mentioned that a worker died, in the construction. Did mention a ferry boat death though?
They close it because of drunk drivers. The risk of having the middle lane open could potentially cause a drunk driver to drift. They also keep it closed because between 10pm to 2am the cops, mostly from WVPD, perform sobriety checks.
The bridge, is woefully inadequate for modern Vancouver's needs. A much wider and traffic efficient bridge is required to manage the vast traffic going across the bridge.
This is what Vancouver wanted. Kind of like rampant homelessness cause in part by height restrictions and “view cones” not allowing high density housing.
West Vancouver did NOT want the great unwashed to even be ABLE to come over to the North Shore. Even NS drug addicts still have that "attitude".......plus being Brit doesn't help. God Save the King is on the NORTH side of the Bridge.
Yes the bridge is inadequate for todays needs. However any attempt to consider twinning the bridge has been met with basically total opposition because of the impact it would have on Stanley Park and the environment.
and the north side really has no where for the traffic it has to go already. the north end of the bridge ends rather abrutly, ive always found it odd like the project ran out of money or something which wasnt even what happened.
Victoria also had a connection to the Guinness family. The owned and operated a farm in Saanich called Broadmead. It has now been built out as a large subdivision.
I came in on the Ovation of the Seas last year and it felt like we were going to scrape the bottom of the bridge. It only starts and ends the season in Vancouver probably for that reason and sails out of Seattle the rest of the year. I watched a really good video that discussed this same subject by Uytae Lee that is worth a watch. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XTDtyXz_mIk.html
There was no mention that the deck replacement that had occurred in 2000 to 2001 eliminated the "hump" on the bridge deck.... I had always wondered what kind of engineering mistake created that hump.... Prior to that work, there was always a spot toward the south end where the old deck with two different arches was joined.
@@leftcoaster67 there isnt anywhere for that traffic to come from even if you skip over people freaking out of a single tree being cut but there is no way to get that much traffic to the bridge. The north side is much the same, it basically cant handle the traffic it already gets. That bridge certain ends abruptly as it is like the project went under before completion.
You pay a high price for the great views of Vancouver from West Van. At night, you used to see the back shadow of the bridge against the beautiful illuminated skyscrapers. Now, someone spent big bucks to ruin the view, with lights on the bridge cables! They are brighter to the eye than the city lights!
Regardless what price you pay for “your” views the rest of the city is entitled to beautiful views too. The view of the bridge with all its lights is iconic in Vancouver and I for one absolutely love it!!
The Guinness family walked away with billions of dollars of property in todays dollar, and was completely repaid their initial investment much earlier. Pretty good deal…
Retired iron worker speaking and I say it was a monumental mistake putting in only three lanes,wasting money instead of improving infrastructure with at least six lanes. It will bite in the ass .
Still working ironworker. I have added girders to widen bridges all over Alberta and the new construction bridges should have all been made wider from the start. Seems to me they make them with less lanes on purpose for some reason, because it’s definitely cheaper to build them wider the first time.
@@grd1184 people are cheap, we rarely build for the future we build for the now even when usually its vastly cheaper in the long run to build more capacity from the get go. plus we'll make something non political into much more so then its drags on for decades for no real reason so the problem is much worse and solutions much more expensive. Pretty much every public infrastructure project... massy tunnel, site c. the human brain very poor at thinking into the future. People would rather have a new car than save for retirement. first narrows is an issue to even get traffic to the bridge on both sides because what is built around. Vancouver never completed to highway into and around downtown in the 60's, was supposed to be a raised highway from iron workers town the waterfront over the train tracks. the only parts which were built was that large exit on the south side which turn into a residential road, and the towers and complex by the seabus including the tower which used to be called the province for the newspaper - cant remember what its called now.
It was deemed to be not just infrastructure but a landmark tourist draw, plus doubling the black top through Stanley park would be a non starter. Should’ve started the 3rd crossing tunnel about the same time they upgraded the bridgedeck.
