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Asphalt shakes, Hardi siding, metal or composite fascia, takes a lot to burn a structure like that.

Of course all of those materials are substantially more expensive than the alternative and also not completely fireproof

Isn't the prize home always in butt fuck no where? So unless you already have a house, it's kinda a liability cuz you gotta drop at least $20000 a year on property tax, maintenance, insurance from now on. So unless you can retire, and live there, or rent out your current place for income it doesn't really work.

But then how much of a discount is the cash option though?

Another thought that came to mind is -- we really shouldn't encourage -- and in some cases, allow -- people to build where fire (and flood) risks are high.

A standout case that really irks me is Lytton. It is consistently one of the hottest place in all of Canada in the summer months, and yet there are still plans to rebuild the town despite it being nearly completely burned down in the 2021 wildfire.

My personal hunch is -- the rebuilding plans have not been shot down yet because there is a First Nations / indigineous factor involved, and the provincial gov doesn't want to ruffle any feathers by shutting them down.

I have a good family friend who’s been in the construction industry forever and when we were out hunting he made a great point

He’s like, Canada, BC, and most of western society builds in -all- the wrong places. Like the worst place for everything lol and it’s largely true

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hondaracer (Post 9160755)

I’m sure reports are always incredibly accurate given the interests involved. The the people facilitating those reports..

My dad who’s worked downtown for 30 years commuting from Surrey has taken the viaduct for 90% that time. I’d say the vast majority of people who work east of Granville and north of Yale town likely utilize the viaducts fairly frequently.

No doubt whatever interest the group has it is biased towards that in order to prove a point and push their agenda through.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpine (Post 9160758)

I think this concept that we can build a "fire-proof" home is preposterous. Is any home going to be livable with all that fire + smoke damage?

You can build them, back in 2005 there was a few built already that survived, the problem was looters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDMDreams (Post 9160760)

Isn't the prize home always in butt fuck no where? So unless you already have a house, it's kinda a liability cuz you gotta drop at least $20000 a year on property tax, maintenance, insurance from now on. So unless you can retire, and live there, or rent out your current place for income it doesn't really work.

But then how much of a discount is the cash option though?

Yeah, it's in Langley: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2024...nterior-photos

https://images.dailyhive.com/2024062...e-location.jpg

Yea that's pretty small 3500sq for $2.35 million for Langley. That's just like an average new build there. The ones I've seen before I remember was on the island or Okanagan. Langley at least is drivable back into Van.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvoFire (Post 9160746)

I don't know how the numbers are arrived at, but the viaducts are more often than not backed up to the merge point of where Main Street ramp comes on.

They do data collection, here's the 2011 report showing traffic volumes and origins: https://fraseropolis.com/wp-content/...dy-summary.pdf They use license plates to find origins. This report doesn't show the 6% figure I quoted as that's for every road into downtown - the math for that shouldn't be at all surprising (count up the number of lanes going into downtown and no one - about 22 by count and 6% sounds about right)

The data shows only about 7% of trips originate from Surrey or Langley while 44% of them come from within Vancouver (22% from Burnaby/New West)

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvoFire (Post 9160746)

The Viaduct itself is rarely ever the problem, but instead it's the feeders and exit that causes the issue.

Venables cannot flow that many cars, with it being single lane, set to 30km/h (not that anyone observes this), the extremely broken pavement, and the multitudes of lights flowing on and off.

Dunsmuir is regularly backed up because of the lights and the lack of a dedicated right turn lane which many times ends up limiting it to a 1 lane road as well, and also the taxis/ubers that insist on boarding and unboarding where they aren't supposed to.

Georgia and out is the only route which it can sustain the rate that the viaduct can flow, and that side also has 3 lanes unlike the constricted 2 lanes on the entry side. The bike lane is cool, I've used it a few times, but I don't know if it actually flows that many commuters.

This is one of the better reasons for getting rid of the viaducts - the existing road network around it was never designed (and never will be) to support highway volumes which is what the viaduct was built for (like the Granville Bridge it was designed for a highway system that never got built). If the surrounding network can't use the capacity that's there and there's no way there ever will be capacity to support it why do we keep it?

That said, the proposed replacement road is actually larger than the viaduct so it should flow better. It's just that you'll hit a couple traffic lights because it's part of ground level.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvoFire (Post 9160746)

You are probably right that it may only add 5-10 mins to the commute. But my commute to DT is only 15-20mins if I drive, 5-10min is a lot of time. Call it NIMBYism, but due to pick up and drop off, I would tend to drive if I commute into DT.

The reports I've read say the removal would increase commutes by a maximum of 3 mins. That also sounds about right as the replacement road will be larger but with a couple lights in place. Even if they're wrong by a factor of 2 that's still just 6 mins for a maximum of 6% of the trips being made into downtown. In exchange we get 33 acres of new park space, lands we can develop on and we can reconnect the two sides of Main Street again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvoFire (Post 9160746)

EDIT: just briefly skimmed that PDF, it was penned a decade ago, and the data gathering is older than that. The viaduct now is definitely busier than back in 2013.

The linked report (which is from 2011) shows trips into downtown were down 15% between 1996-2011. I don't have current data handy but I have seen it and data consistently shows that trips are DOWN into downtown, not up. This is generally true for most of our roads (the Massey tunnel is an example of this that I've seen the data on).

Even in places where volume is up, it's not by as much as we think. It's things like construction (roadwork, housing), and different timing of the volume that are causing congestion that we're seeing (like the mess at Brentwood).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hondaracer (Post 9160755)

I’m sure reports are always incredibly accurate given the interests involved. The the people facilitating those reports..

"The data doesn't match my opinion so therefore it's false and I will make no effort to look into it to either prove or disprove my opinion."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hondaracer (Post 9160755)

My dad who’s worked downtown for 30 years commuting from Surrey has taken the viaduct for 90% that time. I’d say the vast majority of people who work east of Granville and north of Yale town likely utilize the viaducts fairly frequently.

They do not.

https://i.imgur.com/guG3GeJ.png

https://i.imgur.com/RvOrc7u.png

https://fraseropolis.com/wp-content/...dy-summary.pdf

Feel free to point out how the data has been falsified, misrepresented or wokeified by Trudeau.

^^ yes but the 30 years that they will take to build that your traffic congestion is gonna go up more than 3 min. Just look at how bad Broadway cambie, Brentwood is. Remember this is Canada not China

Both those charts support exactly what I just said? The majority of traffic of the viaducts are originating east when you add all those besides Richmond up as the current users of the viaduct?

3 minutes is like a 1 light wait at terminal and main, you think removing two viaducts and replacing them with numerous lights is only going to add 3 minutes? What is this Sim City?

Nice little butt hurt Turd comment btw bro, you in mourning or something? lol fuck

I wouldnt mind a congestion toll into downtown on weekdays to cut down traffic like london.

Optimist Take
City of London downtown is sooooo quiet.
Even if the NYC $9 congestion charge doesn't calm traffic, a lot of transit fixes got funded.

Snarky Take
NJ plates don't just pollute the city with their awful fashion, they park in bus lanes on arterials, rack up $6k in tickets they never pay, super incompetent and aggressive.
With congestion charge, NY finally has incentive to pull these fucks over and make them pay.

Here are 2 that road raged at me on citibike:
https://i.imgur.com/8ygYgHX.png
https://i.imgur.com/5zcfwU8.png

Going down there is already enough of a pain for a non local, that's just going to make it worse.

Even with all those restrictions city centre of London is one of my least favourite places I’ve ever been. Largely because of the vehicle traffic still present there

Another thing I noticed that works is toll booths into the airport at dallas texas. Stops people clogging up departures/arrivals.

Or they could be savage like toronto pearson and just ticket you as soon as you stop longer than 3 minutes lol

^^ they should ticket the hobos who camp at the parks after 9am or sell things on Hastings. Take it right off their welfare cheques, that will teach them

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDMDreams (Post 9160791)

^^ they should ticket the hobos who camp at the parks after 9am or sell things on Hastings. Take it right off their welfare cheques, that will teach them

Florida had a policy where you had to do a drug test to be eligible for welfare but it got cancelled cause it was cruel or something

Quote:

Originally Posted by noclue (Post 9160802)

Florida had a policy where you had to do a drug test to be eligible for welfare but it got cancelled cause it was cruel or something

Very surprising coming from florida.......

Honda, is there something you don't complain about? Or even have praise for?

Like really... removing the viaducts will cause traffic to be fucked and add 20 minutes to all Surrey peoples' commute into downtown...

I'm sure if the viaducts were being built today, you'd be the first one complaining that the Liberals are wasting money.

Accomplish literally anything without a cost overrun or political hangups and I’ll give you credit, absolutely.

My property taxes went up 10% just now, and literally the day after I pay them, I get a notification about how my green bin will now only get picked up every other week.

Like.. when it comes to taxes and shit my money goes towards in this city, there isn’t much to be happy about to be honest. Piss poorly managed at all levels, pay more to get less.

IMO I’m right to be pessimistic when it comes to things like this because it’s never for anyone’s benefit other than padding developers pockets and making life worse for the general population.

I also think commenting here and corresponding about these issues here probably make it sound like I care a lot more than I actually do.

Your property taxes in Vancouver are comically low compared to other comparable cities in Canada (or the USA for that matter) and become even moreso when you consider how much your home is worth.

That’s due to the density though, it should be low. I can see my neighbours pubes on their toilets though my window

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hondaracer (Post 9160822)

That’s due to the density though, it should be low. I can see my neighbours pubes on their toilets though my window

As much as I disagree, that's hilarious :lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hondaracer (Post 9160819)

My property taxes went up 10% just now, and literally the day after I pay them, I get a notification about how my green bin will now only get picked up every other week.

Boohoo, $12.25 more per every $100k of assessed value on a property that's probably up 30-40% in the last 5 years (for my East Van detached house parents $500k tax free).

Property taxes are ridiculously low in the GVRD - the mill rate in 2024 for Vancouver was 2.96 per $1k of assessed value which compares to 6.28 back in 2000. Vancouver property tax rates are actually half what they were 25 years ago when adjusted for changes in assessed value. It's been a huge giveaway to land owners year after year.