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Vast majority of readers say North Shore traffic is getting worse, not better: poll

Attempts to fix the traffic problem via highway upgrades and getting people out of their vehicles haven't made much difference, according to North Shore readers
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd
Highway 1 onramp web
Traffic from two different on-ramps merges onto the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing. The Main Street and Dollarton ramps have now been combined and controlled by a traffic signal. Google Earth

OK, perhaps it wasn't entirely fair to ask readers to weigh in on North Shore traffic just days after one of the worst gridlock snarls in recent memory.

Not surprisingly, an overwhelming number of readers (both local and those from off the North Shore) said traffic is terrible – and only getting worse.

Many commuters discovered their own worst-case traffic scenario Oct. 27, when the need for an emergency five-hour repair on a "small hole" in the bridge deck of the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing caused eastbound highway traffic to back up into West Vancouver, as well as jamming all feeder routes.

On social media, many North Shore residents claimed it was the worst traffic jam they had seen in years.

That sentiment carried over to the results of the North Shore News' online poll, in which more than 87 per cent of respondents said despite big-ticket attempts to improve traffic flow and efforts to get people out of their cars, traffic is worse than ever. Only nine per cent of readers said traffic has improved somewhat in recent years, while less than three per cent of local readers said traffic has always been bad. Responses were very similar for readers on and off the North Shore.

The North Shore News polled 1,452 North Shore News readers and asked the question: Is traffic on the North Shore getting worse?

The poll ran from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3. Of the 1,452 votes, we can determine that 684 are from the North Shore. The full results are as follows:

Yes. Despite the new Lower Lynn highway interchange and attempts to get people out of their cars, traffic delays on the North Shore are worse than ever and impacting our quality of life. 87.57 % local, 87.33 % total    
Maybe. Some days, crazy things happen such as recent "pothole" incident that slowed traffic for hours. But it's better than it was a few years ago when every single day was a slow crawl on the highway. 9.21 % local, 8.13 % total    
No. People who think it's terrible now just aren't remembering that traffic has always been bad on the North Shore – or at least for the past decade. Even historical photos show traffic jams heading on to our bridges. 2.92 % local, 4.55 % total    
  Local   Total

Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers that are located in North Shore. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 2.56%, 19 times out of 20.

North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.