Dear Editor,
The City of Richmond is missing a huge opportunity to greatly improve bus service.
Engineers are currently resurfacing the four-lane overpass of Bridgeport Road over Hwy. 91, near IKEA, at a cost of more than $1 million. Anyone unlucky enough to use that stretch of road during the morning, and especially the afternoon, commute knows how nightmarish it can be.
The lines of traffic to access the overburdened Knight St. bridge often stretch as far as the eye can see, in every lane.
Almost.
Highway 91 running under the overpass usually is at a standstill. Ditto the eastbound curb lane of Bridgeport, choked with vehicles crossing the overpass to curl around the on-ramp onto the bridge.
Commercial traffic flows steadily across the eastbound centre lane. Westbound traffic leading approaching the overpass is choked with commuters and trucks exiting the Viking Way industrial area onto the bridge.
But the westbound lanes actually crossing the overpass are . . . empty! There’s barely enough traffic to warrant one lane, let alone two. That, in the middle of rush hour, is both an anomaly — and an opportunity.
Buses crossing the Knight St. Bridge get stuck with all the other traffic. They fall behind schedule, connections are missed, and passengers from Metrotown (the 430) to the corners of Richmond in Ironwood (405) and Steveston (407) are left to stand and wonder when, or if, their bus is coming. Not only that, but more buses have to be added into the mix to compensate, which is costly for taxpayers.
But if westbound traffic on the overpass only requires one lane, the other could be made into a queue-jumper for buses to turn directly onto the bridge.
Some might say “why should buses get special treatment?” But a lot of motorists would switch to transit if those buses weren’t caught up in the gridlock.
More people on the buses would mean less single-occupant cars, easing the congestion.
Best of all, not being stuck in traffic would mean fewer buses needed to do the same amount of work.
That savings would quickly recoup the small outlay needed to build the priority measure; repainting the lane configuration on the overpass plus digging up and paving a small section of grass along the Knight Bridge on-ramp.
We’d get better transit and save money in one fell swoop.
This is the sort of small, but effective common-sense measure that (along with countless other similar things that cry out to be done) could play a large role in dispelling the cynicism of commuters and taxpayers who only hear from politicians and planners that billion dollar megaprojects are what’s needed.
And what easier time to do it than when the road is already dug up?
David Magowan
Richmond
