Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco911
I'm actually a long time North Shore resident, and when I first started driving the LGB, the bridge and causeway were way narrower, the road surface was a rough concrete mix rather than asphalt and the speed limit was 60 km/h. Traffic mostly moved at a crawl.
One of the main reasons of looking for a better solution than LGB was due to congestion. Like you, many people wanted more lanes. In the end, the government went the least costly route and refurbished the bridge with the same 3 lanes albeit wider. Everyone thought it was ridiculous at the time that we were spending a lot of money but ending up with the same 3 lane bridge. Along the way a strange thing happened. Congestion actually DECREASED markedly though there are more vehicles that use the LGB than ever.
The reasons is because the bridge became wider, the causeway was paved, and people felt safer to drive FASTER. Hell, they even increased the speed limit by 10 km/h but most people drive 80 or 90. That increased the 'flow' rate through the bridge thus reducing congestion significantly. We also saved having to buy a whole new bridge with 6 lanes as you suggest and having to pay for it by tolling residents.
All the people who are calling for driving at slower speeds (and holding everyone behind them back) are affecting the efficiency of this wonderful crossing. If you cannot keep up with the flow of bridge traffic, take the 2nd narrows or the Seabus or something. Closing the middle lane at night only means that the maximum speed/flow rate on the bridge will never be faster than the slowest vehicle on the bridge at any given time. This is a terrible solution.
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Improvements are great, but we should have better, if we truly are a world class city
And traffic flow may be better, but sitting on Georgia or by park royal for 30-40 mins waiting for traffic to crawl along isn't good enough when it's because of a split 3 lane bridge, especially for the number of north shore residents
I'm not sure why I'm the only one who wants better for this shit whole of a city, maybe it's the English in me - mind you, watch what that did to my country, we fucked that one up real good