Vancouver eyes bridge, tunnel options

The Burrard Inlet Rapid Transit Study has listed five potential crossings.
By David Arminas September 25, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
The technical feasibility study was led by engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald Canada (photo: British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure)

The British Columbia government has identified five potential crossings for the proposed high-capacity rapid transit across the Burrard Inlet from Vancouver to the North Shore.

The technical feasibility study, led by engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald Canada, has come up with three tunnel proposals and two bridge proposals for cars and buses.

The plan will help inform the long-term Transport 2050 planning, led by TransLink and the Mayors’ Council, according to a statement by the BC government’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Possible routes for future planning consideration are:
•     Downtown Vancouver to Lonsdale via First Narrows (tunnel crossing)
•     Downtown Vancouver to Lonsdale via Brockton Point (tunnel crossing)
•     Downtown Vancouver to West Vancouver via Lonsdale (tunnel crossing)
•     Downtown Vancouver to Lonsdale via Second Narrows (new bridge crossing)
•     Burnaby to Lonsdale via Second Narrows (new bridge crossing)

The ministry, the districts of North Vancouver and West Vancouver and the cities of Vancouver and North Vancouver all contributed funding towards the study. TransLink oversaw the technical work.

The technical feasibility study was also the first to be a co-ordinated effort by the BC province in partnership with Indigenous governments, municipalities and TransLink to identify a potential rapid transit solution across the Burrard Inlet.

TransLink is the Vancouver area’s regional transportation authority coordinating transit throughout the lower mainland area – around the Fraser River Valley.

The Mayors' Council, set up by TransLink, is composed of representatives from each of the 21 municipalities within the transportation service region. It also includes Indigenous – native American - groups such as the Tsawwassen First Nation.

Improved transit is part of the BC government’s CleanBC plan that aims to reduce congestion and carbon pollution. CleanBC was developed in collaboration with the BC Green Party, an environmental political party.

Finance & Funding

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Giving four hours back to the day… and much more
    October 7, 2019
    A 20km long elevated expressway in Dhaka will be one of Bangladesh’s first Public Private Partnership transport projects – words and pictures by Ruby Kitching, on behalf of Mott MacDonald.
    Read More
  • Realigning Kenyan bypass to avoid quagmire and ease congestion
    March 22, 2012
    Japanese consultants are planning to realign a Kenyan bypass, as Shem Oirere reports. Japanese consultants are resolving an engineering quagmire involving a 17.5km bypass in Kenya's Coast region. The new design realigning the bypass is underway by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) consultants. The road is an alternative link from the hinterland to the south coast and to the proposed Dongo Kundu Port. The 23m-wide bypass would also serve to reduce traffic congestion across the Likoni Channel.
    Read More
  • Realigning Kenyan bypass to avoid quagmire and ease congestion
    March 21, 2012
    Japanese consultants are planning to realign a Kenyan bypass, as Shem Oirere reports. Japanese consultants are resolving an engineering quagmire involving a 17.5km bypass in Kenya's Coast region. The new design realigning the bypass is underway by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) consultants. The road is an alternative link from the hinterland to the south coast and to the proposed Dongo Kundu Port. The 23m-wide bypass would also serve to reduce traffic congestion across the Likoni Channel t
    Read More
  • Sunderland’s New Wear Crossing takes shape
    February 16, 2017
    The New Wear Crossing will be the first bridge to be built over the River Wear in Sunderland, UK, for more than 40 years Raising the bridge’s 100m-tall pylon promised to be a stunning visual sight, but also a tricky operation dictated by extremely variable local weather. World Highways went to press just before the operation, but not before the pylon had arrived by barge on January 7. It had completed a two-day crossing of the often unpredictable North Sea from the Belgian port of Ghent where it was f
    Read More

Highlighted Content