Work is now under way on what has been called the "bane of transportation" on the North Shore.
The District of North Vancouver is finishing up designs for a new five-lane Keith Road bridge that will ultimately lead to a redesign of Highway 1's on-ramps and off-ramps - all aimed at reducing gridlock in the area.
Right now Keith Road narrows to two lanes east of Lynnmouth Avenue. When rush hour commuters trying to get over Highway 1 end up in the same bottleneck as those trying to get over the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, traffic can back up as far as Grand Boulevard.
With the $14-million project due to begin this fall, Keith Road will follow a new route along Highway 1 on the Seylynn development land so it meets up directly with the Fern Street overpass, allowing east-west traffic to get through the area without getting stuck in the Ironworkers lineup.
"The bridge widening plus that new Fern Street connector should really smooth out some of that traffic back-up there," said Steve Ono, the District of North Vancouver's manager of engineering services.
At 70 years old, the steel bridge had reached the end of its lifespan and was due to be replaced.
Roughly half of the bill will be covered by development cost charges, which the district collects with every new construction project. Somewhat ironically in this case, the Seylynn project will have a direct impact on reducing vehicle congestion, Ono said.
"Getting that big chunk of that property to allow that road to be built was strategically really important. That's probably one of the biggest positive contributors to solve the long-standing traffic issue," he said.
The new bridge is currently designed with painted bike lanes but the staff are considering widening the structure to allow separated lanes - something bicycle advocacy groups have been lobbying for.
In order to comply with Fisheries and Oceans Canada regulations on projects over waterways, the construction will be staggered from early 2015 and into 2016. The existing bridge will be kept in place until at least half of the new one is ready to take traffic.
"You know as well as I do that there's only so many travel routes in that area so we can't afford to have one taken out," Ono said.
Beyond replacing the bridge, the district is also working with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to design new on-ramps and offramps on this side of the Ironworkers, which are notoriously close together.
"When the traffic volumes are really high, of course the traffic backs all the way up The Cut. When the traffic volumes are a bit lower, you still have cars slowing down because some people are trying to get off that first intersection and take off toward Mount Seymour Parkway," he said.
The Ironworkers' approaches were designed in the 1960s and much has changed in highway planning in the last 50 years, Ono said.
"What I can say it was probably fine for the standard of the day but I would say it doesn't meet current standards," Ono said.
The exact layout of the new approach is still being negotiated between the district and the province but part of it may include what is today the shuttered Keith Lynn alternative secondary school, which the district is set to buy from the North Vancouver school district for $5 million. Money raised from the sale will go toward paying for a rebuilding of Argyle secondary.
The district and province are aiming to go public with their new designs this fall.
Editor's Note:
An earlier version of this story stated the bridge would be four lanes. It is in fact four lanes plus a right torn lane for Mountain Highway.
