Monday, July 21, 2008

You can't get there from here

I am glad, as I have previously mentioned, to be back in my beautiful British Columbia.

One of the things I was afraid of, besides being attacked by killer pine beetles, was not remembering how to get around the Lower Mainland.

It wasn't that I was expecting to have no idea how to get from Coquitlam to South Delta, for example (Easy route: Highway 7 West to Port Mann interchange, Highway 1 East to 152nd Street exit, follow 152nd Street South to Highway 10, take Highway 10 East to South Delta. That's not the fastest route, just the easiest if you don't know your way around.), I was worried I might forget shortcuts.

Like, is it faster to take the Burrard Street Bridge into the downtown core when coming from Richmond or the Granville Street Bridge when you are on your way to Stanley Park? And once you are downtown, is Pender faster than Dunsmuir, or should you use Hastings? Does it matter if it is a weekday afternoon as opposed to Saturday night?

Never mind why I would be going to Stanley Park on a Saturday night.

It turns out my old shortcuts are the least of my problems.

Yes, yes I know, I've always had more significant problems than routing.

Anyhoo, the point that I'm getting to, and trust me, I am meandering to a point, is that there is so much construction going on that my former shortcuts, and routes are irrelevant to getting around the Lower Mainland efficiently.

When I left, the most important thing about getting around was which bridge were you going to use, or which major intersection you were going to avoid. I'm looking at you Lougheed and Willingdon! And don't think you're off the hook Boundary and Marine!

There is so much construction going on, in so many places, you have to listen to traffic reports on the radio and even consult websites to see what roads are open, and in which direction.

According to Wikipedia, Vancouver's AM730 was the first radio station in North America to be licensed to broadcast traffic reports 24/7.

You'd think it would have happened in in Los Angeles first.

Vancouver really is world class.

If you can get there from here.

Related Links
AM730
borderlineups.com
BC Ferries
Canada Line Construction
Drive BC
The Road Ahead

Sea-to-Sky Highway Improvement Project

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