District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little has called on the province to step up and ensure the transportation infrastructure connecting the North Shore with the rest of Metro Vancouver keeps up with population growth.He also urged residents on both sides of Burrard Inlet to contact their elected officials and demand action.."We're very much focused on advocacy to the provincial government on a medium-term replacement of the Second Narrows Bridge," Little told the West Coast Standard, pointing out that there hasn't been an increase in vehicle infrastructure since it was built in 1960. In the years since, the population of the region has more than doubled.He noted that with around 165,000 daily users, the Second Narrows Bridge gets far more traffic than the George Massey Tunnel and the Pattullo Bridge — both of which are in the process of being replaced. It is also older now than the Port Mann Bridge was when the government decided to knock it down and build a new one."We're under pressure from the province to grow, but they're not coming to the table with infrastructure to replace a bridge that's not meeting our needs now, let alone into the future," Little lamented. "It's a very frustrating situation for us, but we have no other path forward other than to work with the provincial government to get a solution.".Little dismissed the claim that the North Shore is isolated and that new infrastructure would only benefit a small number of people, noting that the area "We have a very robust employment zone on the North Shore, which draws people from all over the region, and it's not just the local residents waiting in that commute to get to the North Shore in the morning or off the North Shore in the afternoon. It's overwhelmingly people from all over the region.".EXCLUSIVE: BC Conservatives support third North Shore crossing to ease 'endless traffic gridlock'.He noted that change can only happen if those with power hear about the problem, and called on residents across the Lower Mainland to contact their MLAs."Our MLAs hear the issue all the time," Little added, "but if you live in, you know, Coquitlam, New West, Burnaby, Delta, you need to tell your MLAs in your community that this is a priority — they need to see that it's an an all-region priority.He argued that the North Shore "can't expand our relationship to the south shore economy without addressing this issue of replacing the Second Narrows Bridge," noting that, "we've tried to find common areas to work with the provincial and federal government around transit, but even that's been coming up short.".While there are currently no plans to build a new bridge, improvements to public transit are in the works. The RapidBus service from Park Royal to Phibbs Exchange, for example, is set to be extended down to Metrotown in the next couple years. Little explained that if everything goes according to plan, over 90% of the route would have dedicated lanes, allowing the bus to bypass traffic.Even still, he maintained that a more long-term solution was necessary..Petition demands 'immediate action' to address North Shore transportation woes.Recently, North Vancouver resident Cheryl Atchison launched a petition calling for a "third crossing" over to the North Shore. In an interview with the West Coast Standard, she said that doesn't necessarily mean a bridge, but could be a tunnel, or even an expanded ferry service."If you are going to build a third crossing and it's a bridge or tunnel or even a transit option, you have to have the infrastructure on both sides to support it," Little said in response. "We obviously don't have highway lanes to anywhere else as a point for a bridge or a tunnel, and the distances are fairly significant."The Lions Gate Bridge, built in 1938, was the first structure to span the two coasts, with the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, also known as the Second Narrows, opening 22 years later six kilometres to the east."There's a reason why those two spots are called the narrows," Little said. "They really are the logical points to connect above ground or below ground ground between the two communities."."They looked at a tunnel option in between at one point," Little added, "and the technical challenge is, not only is it very long distance to be down in the tunnel, it's deepest, not in the middle, but just before you get to the North Shore."He explained that as a result, it would be "too steep" to connect with Lonsdale Ave., and would instead have to be built near Capilano Mall, which has no direct connection to the highway.Turning his attention to marine options, Little mentioned a report conducted by the Integrated North Shore Transportation Planning Project, which includes representatives from the three municipalities on the North Shore, as well as two First Nations, and the province."We made 13 recommendations, and one of them was better utilization of the marine space," he said, "but when we dug into it, the Seabus model's not great for long distances.""It only travels at about eight knots," Little noted, "and so when you go north shore to south shore, you don't have to deal with tidal challenges, but if you're going across east and west and you have to deal with tidal challenges, it's actually a really big problem because the tide is almost coming at the same speed that the sea bus could achieve when you go under the Second Arrow bridge."He added, however, that just because the SeaBus wouldn't make sense east to west doesn't mean there are no marine options for north to south traffic..The idea of expanding Vancouver's ferry network was supported by Indian Arm Recreational Services Senior Captain Mike Bothma, who traverses the North Shore by motorcycle to get to and from work in Port Moody every day."Congestion is noticeable and getting tighter," he told the West Coast Standard, "so I believe an alternative is to use the water we have available and get people across the shore and connected with the SkyTrain or other potential use here on this side."
