REVscene Automotive Forum - Port Mann Construction

REVscene Automotive Forum (https://www.revscene.net/forums/)

- Vancouver Off-Topic / Current Events (https://www.revscene.net/forums/vancouver-off-topic-current-events_50/)

- - Port Mann Construction (https://www.revscene.net/forums/632685-port-mann-construction.html)

Port Mann Construction

I drive over that freaking bridge every day. Going west today was a little interesting.

I think I'm the only person obeying the 80km/hr limit. In the morning people are booting it up the hill. 100+ easy. I rarely see anyone pulled over.

Progress is slow but steady. Two more years of this shit, amiright?

Yeah, on Johnson Hill heading West, that 2 lanes on the freeway kicking out right and merging with traffic coming off 152 is.... interesting.

I just noticed all the construction vehicles parked on the new bridge deck too. You notice it when you're heading East and look to the right.

I remember working 500m from the Golden Ears during construction. I'd be doing 14hr shifts on a barge, a couple of times a week. I was right by their staging area on the water, just off 102B. It was pretty cool watching the progress but at least it didn't affect my commute or anything.

I'm glad I live in Coquitlam though. All the benefits of the Hwy 1 upgrades and no tolls unless I have to venture East.

yep I take the 15wnd exit every morning and it was wicked this morning. hopefully it won't back up as bad now

I was heading westbound and hit the right hand bend at around 3:00 pm and didn't notice any cars merging from Surrey. At first I thought they had closed the bridge access from Surrey. Now that would be really cool. I can't wait to see 6+ lanes on each side of the freeway at that point.

My question. When all this is said and done, are they going to toll everybody, tourists included? I've only been across the Golden Ears when it was free. How do they charge non residents of BC?

all I know I thought the government is unable to toll a #1 hwy?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89blkcivic (Post 7226959)

My question. When all this is said and done, are they going to toll everybody, tourists included? I've only been across the Golden Ears when it was free. How do they charge non residents of BC?

The bridge has cameras set up to take pictures of your license plates,you will get the bill in the mail.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89blkcivic (Post 7226959)

for the golden ears bridge they said the tolls are only for BC Residents. All out of provience/country vehicles will not get charged. It will be the same for the Port Mann

WTF! So someone who commutes daily across the Port Man can avoid the tolls by having Alberta plates saving $500+ a year?

EDIT: I wish construction speed limits would be more strictly enforced, its difficult to follow them, because when you do people start road raging around you!

http://www.translink.ca/en/Driving/G...pass/FAQs.aspx

B2. Do out-of-province users also have to pay tolls?
Yes, all motorists pay the toll.

I have a friend in Calgary and Washington and none of them had to pay a toll ever or have seen a bill. Translink only has access to information from BC plates so there for they can not charge out of province and country drivers. Sounds like to me they say that but don't really want anyone to know so people start doing that. My friend from washington is down here all the time and for the past 2 years he has never received a bill and he cross's the bridge a couple times a week.

Here's a fourm where I remember seeing the article saying how they can't charge tolls right now

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...487313&page=21

Quote:

By Jeff Nagel - Aldergrove Star

Published: July 22, 2009 12:00 PM

Although tolls are now being charged on the new Golden Ears Bridge, some motorists will continue to cross it for free – perhaps indefinitely.

Vehicles with out-of-province plates won't be charged because TransLink doesn't have a system in place to obtain billing addresses for motorists from Washington State, Alberta and beyond.

To 70-year-old Surrey resident Ingeborg Kuehn, it doesn't seem fair.

"In California, you go through the toll bridges and you pay no matter where you come from," she said. "They have tolls and everybody pays. Why do just we have to pay?"

It's a serious issue for B.C. Trucking Association president Paul Landry.

His members with B.C.-plated trucks will pay close to $9 to cross the Golden Ears Bridge while competing rigs with Alberta or Saskatchewan plates – plenty of which are based here – scoot across for free.

"We think everybody should be paying their fair share," Landry said.

"If B.C.-plated carriers are required to pay, so should non-resident carriers."

He said some interprovincial carriers have large numbers of trucks that never leave B.C. yet have Alberta or Saskatchewan plates because the company is based out of province.

Those trucks include ones that "compete side-by-side" with local B.C.-registered trucks.

"One would pay the toll, while the other one wouldn't," he said.

"It might actually create an incentive for companies that are able to plate in other jurisdictions to do so."

After a month of free crossings, the tolls took effect on the new bridge on July 16.

The span has no toll booths, but rather sets of overhead cameras that capture licence plates.

Large numbers of bridge users – nearly 20,000 so far – have signed up to rent transponders for $1 per month so they'll be automatically detected as they drive over and get a reduced rate of $2.75 per crossing for regular vehicles.

Those who don't get a transponder but sign up and provide their credit card billing information pay $3.30.

Anyone else who simply uses the bridge is being charged $3.90 each way.

Those who ring up an unpaid bill of $25 or more will eventually be unable to renew their driver's licence or vehicle insurance until they pay up.

That's a simple way to enforce against B.C. motorists – because everyone here has to deal with ICBC – but it's not as easy to go after out-of-province drivers.

TransLink could pay a company to get billing information for cars and trucks with non-B.C. licence plate numbers that use the bridge.

But spokesman Ken Hardie said that may often cost more than the unpaid tolls that might be recovered, and any collection agency that's used would also get a cut of the proceeds.

It would be simpler if ICBC and other jurisdictions could simply swap information, but no such arrangements are in place.

However, Hardie said it will be possible to track out-of-province users and potentially go after those who ring up large toll bills.

"If you get a frequent flyer it becomes economically viable to pursue them," he said.

Motorists who deliberately try to register their vehicles outside B.C. to beat the tolls may end up with bigger problems than dodging bill collectors.

Someone primarily driving their car in B.C. but registering it in Alberta would run afoul of their insurer and TransLink may well blow the whistle on them using data gathered by the bridge cameras, Hardie said.

"They are essentially uninsured and that's against the law," he added.

In the case of heavy trucks, Hardie said TransLink may ask the province to require all trucks using the Golden Ears Bridge to carry a transponder.

He said the tolling system would automatically detect trucks that pass without a transponder and could then signal police, allowing enforcement either on the spot or later through a mechanism like photo radar.

"It's a measure that can be brought in if necessary," he said, adding it's not yet clear it will be a large enough problem.

TransLink didn't anticipate many out-of-province vehicles would use the Golden Ears Bridge, he said.

A better solution to the problem of out-of-province vehicles skirting bridge tolls may be needed when the new tolled Port Mann Bridge opens in 2013, he added.

lol pull over trucks that don't use a transponder.

trans link is amazingly skilled at spending tax payers money on things not everyone wants

Quote:

Originally Posted by MindBomber (Post 7227003)

WTF! So someone who commutes daily across the Port Man can avoid the tolls by having Alberta plates saving $500+ a year?

Yes, and instead you can pay the $600 fine for improper or no insurance.

Quote:

Construction speed limits are a joke, trying to follow them is impossible without getting tailgated and honked at.

YOU go work in a construction zone with idiots whizzing by three feet away, then come back and tell us how it's a joke.

Fuck you very much.

Time to get me one of those 007 James Bond rotating license plate holders, LOL.

I set my cruise control on 80 kmph. I'm so used to going that speed over that stretch. I don't get honked or anything. And if I did, I wouldn't give a shit. They can pay double the fines. Once I'm past 208th and a bit......... that's a different story.

As for non residents not paying, I'm not that upset. We drive across that bridge on a daily basis and we should pay for it. It's an improvement over what's there or was there. Visitors, shouldn't have to pay. They bring in enough to the economy by coming here. I guess I don't really care.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soundy (Post 7227105)

Yes, and instead you can pay the $600 fine for improper or no insurance.

YOU go work in a construction zone with idiots whizzing by three feet away, then come back and tell us how it's a joke.

Fuck you very much.

NO, thats not what I meant at all!! I worded that post poorly.

I work in construction zones, I hate the people that refuse to slow down despite the reduced speed limit, and I wish they would be enforced more heavily! I always drive the construction speed limit, whether it be on Highway 1 or on the sea to sky when it had construction speed limits.
I remember when I was going the construction speed limit on the sea to sky and people would literally start honking at me, because it was single lane and they were stuck going 50 because I was.

Quote:

Originally Posted by murd0c (Post 7226968)

all I know I thought the government is unable to toll a #1 hwy?

i thought the same thing

Quote:

Originally Posted by murd0c (Post 7226968)

all I know I thought the government is unable to toll a #1 hwy?

Quote:

Originally Posted by RouRK (Post 7227838)

i thought the same thing

www.justfuckinggoogleit.com

Quote:

How much is the toll on the Trans-Canada Highway?

A: I have travelled over every inch of the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) and the only toll locations I can think of are the Cobequid Pass in Nova Scotia and the Confederation Bridge which links New Brunswick with Prince Edward Island (PEI).

The passenger car toll for the Cobequid Pass is around $5.00. For the Confederation Bridge, there is no toll to go to PEI; it is only charged when leaving PEI. For passenger cars, the toll when leaving is around $50.00.

There is no toll to pass through Banff National Park, but there is a park fee if you intend to do anything other than drive straight through (which takes about an hour). I believe a short 'pit stop' is allowed, but check at the park gate for details.

There are other costs as one approaches the eastern and western extremities of the TCH, because it is necessary to travel by ferry to both the island of Newfoundland and Vancouver Island, where the two 'mile zero' markers of the TCH are located.

Neither extremety wanted to be at the 'end' of the TCH, so both Victoria, British Columbia, and St. John's, Newfoundland, have 'mile zero' markers indicating the beginning of the TCH. Officially, therefore, the TCH is 'endless.'

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_i...#ixzz189F13GSX

This make a good point: the TCH is already tolled in BC, if you count the cost of the Nanaimo/Horseshoe Bay ferry.

LOL at Confederation Bridge. It must be their attempt to increase population of Newfoundland. Seeing it as a 25 buck toll each way makes it sound better. Cheap Asians will find a way to somehow float their cars back to the mainland, LOL. Maybe the Newfies have ferry service for half price.

One of the things on my bucket list is to drive across Canada and that bridge.

Not looking forward to the toll I'll have to pay once it's all said and done...

Gonna add up on top of my gas bill woohoo. Wonder what the ticket is for "getting around" a toll bridge like that...

So, something reminded me about this thread..............

Construction is going pretty smoothly. I'm pretty surprised at the speed of progress. Nowhere near the speed of construction in places like Japan or China, but for this part of the world, it is good.

Tolls are a fact of life back east. I paid tolls on every stretch of the highway between Buffalo and New York and then up to Canadian border along the east coast. $4 is pretty cheap, IMHO.

The Port Mann/Goldenears toll is the highest that I could find in Canada for a bridge (other than confederation, which is unique) and any others that come close take you to a different country, not a suburb.

I don't mind a toll-but $8 bucks a trip is steep.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gridlock (Post 7618724)

It's more than just the bridge, isn't it? The whole Hwy 1 stretch that feeds onto the bridge (to and from).

Some say they will bypass it by going onto the Pattullo. Whatever, it's a cost we all have to share. I drive it daily, but I'm not complaining. It better be worth it though, as in, get me to and from work in no time flat, LOLOLOLOLOL.

Honestly, it has to be paid for, one way or another.

Maybe we should hold a rally or protest. Even better, riot!!!!!! :D

I remember when the project started they were thinking of twin-ing the bridge for 10 lanes. The bridge isn't very old I wonder why they decided to take it down. I heard a rumor that they can't toll a twin project but they can toll a new bridge.

Oh yeah, I'm a little bitter on the subject, but I'm a good little BC resident, and I'll take another increased cost and suck it up.

Definitely not going to go and camp over it.