Let’s suspend our disbelief. Let’s suppose we could have a third crossing without recourse to taxes or tolls. Let’s say the new bridge wouldn’t need maintenance (which is improbable) and we’ll stipulate that the cars driving across it wouldn’t exacerbate climate change (which is close to impossible).
It would still be nothing more than a car lot in the sky for commuters sandwiched between traffic jams.
It’s too late to reconfigure downtown Vancouver or redraw the road system that more or less serves the North Shore. What we need is the type of ingenuity that was widely maligned 40 years ago when the SeaBus set out for its first sailing.
As you can read in our Sunday Focus, the SeaBus was destined to be a $46 million blunder and a “60 day wonder,” according to critics of the day.
Several decades and fare hikes later, the SeaBus transports better than 16,000 commuters most days. If you think our two bridges are bad now, try imagining 8,000 extra cars on each of them.
TransLink is vulnerable to criticism on a great many issues – mostly related to its almost indecipherable governance structure – but its marine experiment worked.
Another bridge would build on failure. More SeaBus service is an investment in success.
There are many reasons for the carbon monoxide cloud that hovers over our streets every morning and afternoon but there’s only one way out: ingenuity.
While we stop short of championing a light rail system running beneath the Burrard Inlet, we wholeheartedly endorse the idea’s exploration. We have a big problem and we need big ideas.
That’s something to believe in.
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