The Cassiar C

Sunday, September 8. 1991 - North. Shore News - 3

onnection

North Shore traffic congestion to ease as
$1i5-M connector project nears completion

FOR MANY North Shore
residents, driving to and
from work five days a week
can drive them crazy.

By Susj Rattan
News Reporter

Especially if they have to cross
the Second Narrows Bridge and
contend with the traffic bottleneck
at the south end of the bridge and
the congestion in the Cassiar and
Hastings streets area.

For those fortunate enough to
be able to avoid driving this route,
daily Vancouver-area traffic
teports regularly describe just how
bad the area has become over the

years.
It is | aimost routine, during
tush-hour mornings, to hear

reports that) Vancouver-bound
North Shore drivers are backed all
the way up “the cut’’ on the Up-
per Levels Highway.

And during the afternoon rush
hour, North Shore-bound com-
muters are usually advised to stay
clear of the Cassiar and Hastings
area, if at al] possible.

According (to Transportation
and Highways spokesman Jim
Davidson, the Cassiar and
Hastings intersection is the mast
congested traffic area west of
Toronto.

And the number of vehicles us-
ing the route is not decreasing.

But the traffic nightmare is ex-
pected to end carly in the new
year when the Transportation and
Highways ministry winds down its
$115-million dollar Cassiar Con-

RENFREW ST.

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CASSIAR CONNECTOR

RUPERT ST.

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| BOUNDARY RD.

BUPEAT OVERS

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HASTINGS ST.

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ONCE THE $715-million Cassiar Connector project is finished, motorists
saving to battle congested traffic in the Casslar and Hastings streets are.
tween Adanac and Triumph streets shows where the tunnel will be.

Highway interchange, traffic will
be able vo flow non-stop between
Horseshoe Bay and the Trans-
Canada Highway in Vancouver.
Traffic between the highway in
Vancouves and Horseshoe Bay is
now fotciust to stop at two in-
tersection:: Westview Drive and

the Uppe: Levels Highway and
Cassiar an:t Hastings.
Before tie Upper Levels High-

mil

———————= PROJECT LIMITS ——-——~

First Street."

The Trans-Canada Highway
ends as a freeway just south of
the Cassiar and Hastings Street
intersection and cammuters must
drive 2.3 kilometres along Cassiar
Street from the highway entrance
before reaching the Second Nar-
cows Bridge.

The Cassiar Connector project
was approved to relieve the ‘‘ex-

: CEN
NEWS photo Terry Peters

CONSTRUCTION WORKERS handle steel bars at the south end of a tunnel being built as part of the
muiti-million dollar Cassiar Connector project.

nector project. Construction on

way

interchange at Lonsdale

the connector began in January
1990,

Davidson, who admits the pro-
ject is two months behind sched-
ule, says the connector’s largest
feature will open in January: the
730-metre-long Trans-Canada
Highway Tunnel, which will rua
between the start of the Trans-
Canada Highway and the north
end of Cassiar Street.

The tunnel will allow traffic to
bypass the congested Hastings and
Cassiar intersection and flow free-
ly between the highway and the
Second Narrows Bridge.

And when the highways
ministry completes the $22-million
Westview Drive and Upper Levels

Avenue was completed earlier this
year, highway traffic was also
forced to stop at Lonsdale. A
tunnel underneath Lonsdale now
allows highway traffic to bypass
the intersection’s traffic lights.
Davidson said the Cassiar Con-
nector will be a much-welcomed
relief to North Shore drivers.
“When it is complete, it will
take off all the through traffic
from the North Shore and it will
all go underground,”’ said David-
son. ‘ht is estimated that between
40 thousand and 50 thousand cars
will pass through the tunnel every
day. That will help ease the traffic
at Hastings and will provide direct
access to the North Shore from

treme congestion’’ along Cassiar
Street for North Shore and other
highway commuters, and to
reduce the negative impact that
congestion has on area
neighborhoods and port facility
access.

But the traffic congestion in the
Cassiar and Hastings Street area is
not the only thing that has in-
creased over the years. The
Cassiar Connector project's price
tag has also risen.

When the project was first an-
nounced in November 1988, it was
estimated that the connector
would cost $85 million in 1988
dollars. Then in 1989, the price-
tag rose to $89 million in 1989
dollars.

Davidson said the connector is
now expected to cost $115 million;
the tab will be picked up by the
provincial governinent and Van-
couver City.

The four-lane tunnel between
the Second Narrows Bridge and
the Trans-Canada Highway will
have two lanes in each direction
with paved shoulders for
emergency access. The paved
shoulders will be wide enough to
allow the Cunnel to be expanded to
six lanes in the future.

In addition, a short two-lane
tunnel will be built under Hastings
Street just west of the main tunnel
to allow buses to drive under
Hastings; a future transit ex-
change is also being considered.

Other plaris call for a three-level
interchange with ramp connections
between the Trans-Canada High-
way, Wall Street and the Second
Narrows Bridge, which is designed
to allow for expansion of the six-
lane bridge to eight lanes.

Davidson said the current traf-
fic tie-ups south of the Second
Narrows Bridge on Cassiar Street
faced by North Shore commuters
are to be expected with a project
the size of the Cassiar Connector.

But he added that most people
are pleased with the work being
done and that most of the credit
for that has to go to the Fenco
Lavalin Ccrp., the project man-
agers.

rs

~~ T

OF
VANCOUVER

HARBOUR

SECOND NARROWS
BRIDGE.

will be able to drive to and from the North Shore without
a thanks to an underground tunnel. The dotted section be-

44 /[t is estimated

that between 40

thousand and 50
thousand cars

will pass through

the tunnel

every day. 99

- Transportation and

Highways spokesman
Jim Davidson

“Buring the 18 months of con-
struct:on, there have only been
three cimes that there have been.
back-ups,’’ said Davidson. *‘One
of the reasons for the tie-ups at
the south end of the Second Nar-
rows Bridge is because the traffic
lanes are now destined for McGill
Street rather than Cassiar.

“‘There’s a new detour every
week.”

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