Dear Editor:
The 2016 Census data released last week should put an end to the dithering about population growth on the North Shore. Factoring in the Bowen Island, Lions Bay and Squamish populations, which rely on the North Shore’s transportation, commercial and social infrastructure, population growth in the region is up nearly five per cent since 2011, virtually equivalent to Canada’s population growth rate.
West Vancouver had a population decline of about 0.005 per cent while Squamish saw a whopping nearly 15 per cent increase in population, three times the national rate.
North Shore mayors and some councillors have opined that population growth in their municipalities is modest and not a contributor to the stresses on transportation and social infrastructure, such claims made as recently as two weeks ago at a North Shore Chamber of Commerce lunch as reported in this paper. In fact, they claimed the population on the North Shore had declined. Not so, says the census.
When filling a bottle with a funnel, there is no spillage until the rim of the funnel is reached and then all hell breaks loose. Our transportation funnel reached that spillage point sometime over the past five years.
It is very difficult to replace or enlarge the funnel while the spillage is occurring since it is impossible to predict actual need at that time. The expansion should be done before capacity is reached.
The same expansion concept applies to transportation infrastructure. That concept explains why new roads immediately become clogged with vehicles when opened. The new roads were built based on need 20 years back, not the substantively higher need today.
It is now clear that a regional view of infrastructure is required. Someone transiting from Squamish to Burnaby is not doing so by air or rail, they are using Highway 1 either on a bus or in a car. It is also time for new municipal leadership from those with experience and education dealing with contemporary urban and transportation planning issues. The apologists for the existing administrations need not apply.
Hazen S. Colbert
North Vancouver
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