Pressure mounting for rapid transit in North, West Vancouver
Posted October 19, 2021 5:28 pm.
NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Municipal and Indigenous leaders in North and West Vancouver are working together to make rapid transit across Burrard Inlet a regional priority.
The group calling itself North Shore Connects has released an economic impact study showing this could heavily reduce congestion on the Ironworkers Memorial and Lions Gate bridges.
Previous studies have explored expanding rapid transit from Vancouver to the North Shore, but that depends on funding support from Ottawa, Victoria and other Metro Vancouver municipalities.
An economic impact study supports improving transportation across Burrard Inlet — suggesting that could eliminate more than 50,000 daily car trips using two existing bridges — Lions Gate and Ironworkers Memorial.
Other benefits the groups cite include nearly doubling of jobs accessible within a 60-minute transit ride for North Shore residents. The study adds this will also improve connectivity and economic development conditions for four First Nations reserves across the North Shore.
“This benefits assessment will be presented to the Mayors’ Council and TransLink with the goal of prioritizing BIRT for early investment as part of the region’s next round of transit and transportation investment planning,” a statement from the group reads.
Other infrastructure projects this big have price tags exceeding $3-billion.
At this point it’s not clear how much rapid transit would cost or which option is preferred.
