For residents on the North Shore, downtown Vancouver is so close, but can seem so far away.
Congestion on the Lions Gate and Second Narrows bridges have gotten so bad, residents take it as a fact of life.
In 1960, there were nines lane of traffic to and from the North Shore. Fifty-seven years later, there are still nine lanes, and no more are in the works.
Experts say a third crossing for vehicles isn’t the answer.
“Everybody knows you can’t build your way out of congestion,” traffic planner Eric Docherty said.
City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto said the solution is rapid transit. He has suggested that it’s time to take a serious look at building a rapid-transit tunnel underneath Burrard Inlet.
WATCH: North Shore mayor calls for transit tunnel
“What I think is the future that people don’t want to hear is going to be a much bigger, much more enhanced public transportation service so that people don’t need their cars to use every day to cross the bridges.”
Transportation analyst Richard Littlemore thinks the answer to the North Shore’s growing traffic congestion is not beneath the water but above it — way above it.
Littlemore thinks a transit gondola could be built connecting the North Shore to Downtown Vancouver.
“You can do it,” he said. “The technology is there. It’s simple. Gondolas are really cheap to run once you build them.”
WATCH: North Shore commuter gondola?
Historian Eve Lazarus said that once plans for a freeway through downtown Vancouver were nixed in the 1960s, so were plans of a third crossing to the North Shore.
“I think the North Shore was kind of an afterthought,” she said. “The third crossing seemed like a good idea and that would connect the Burrard Bridge to the third-crossing bridge.”
Where We Live: Lonsdale’s Past and Present
With rapid transit likely decades away, Docherty says the quickest solution may be to put more buses on the road.
“I would say it’s time to invest in those bus lanes to signal it’s a priority so that transit is actually faster and you can get the congestion relieved.”
— with files from Ted Chernecki