Archive for the ‘Lower Mainland’ Category


Cut And Cover?

Sunday, April 16th, 2006

There is an interesting post about the Canada Line on Beyond Robson that feeds my hunger in terms of more information about the project. As with anything that is constructed in this magnitude, politics is always the story.

There is no doubt that additional SkyTrain service is going to be beneficial to the Vancouver area. I think we all agree that mass transit is a great benefit to any, major metropolitan city and its surrounding communities. What’s hard for everyone to agree upon is how it’s done, who will be responsible for it, and where the money will come from.

It is incredibly interesting that for a long time, the building of the underground portions of the Canada Line was going to be done by bored tunnel. Unless you were paying attention, the project has switched to a cut-and-cover operation, shutting down portions of Granville for approximately two years, starting at the end of April.

And you think that area was struggling for business before?

Spending Sunday in Fort Langley

Tuesday, March 28th, 2006

Planet Java's ceilingThere isn’t a whole lot in Fort Langley, but sometimes that’s just what you need. A place where there isn’t a lot of hustle and bustle to get away from the city for a while. We were able to check it out a little more than just the drive through that I have experienced before. And if you are driving through, that doesn’t take too long.

Needless to say, it’s a small town with some character. Reminds me a lot of the small towns from where I grew up, but I think it’s a lot harder to get soy in your lattes back home than it is in Fort Langley. Even though there isn’t a Starbucks or Blenz in sight of downtown, there certainly is no shortage of coffee related establishments. You’ll have to wander past the numerous antique shops to get to them.

Autographed Tori Spelling photo at Planet JavaYou can tell that the town gets more traffic in the summer. People head out from the city to do the exact same thing that we did on Sunday. And if you do get the chance to get there, check out the little 50′s diner for a bite to eat, Planet Java 50′s Soda Fountain CafĂ©. They don’t do fries as a side to your sandwich of choice. The potato salad is just as good though, perhaps even better than the fried alternative. And it still tastes good for at least two to three hours after. How can you beat that?

And there have been movies film in this little downtown area as well. What kind of B.C. town would this be if it wasn’t used as a film set? It’s getting to the point where the game is spotting the place that has yet to be in a movie.

The Risk of a Bridge

Thursday, March 9th, 2006

Already this year, five people have died in vehicle accidents on the Pattullo Bridge. This is a fact that is simply staggering to me as one of the first things I recall Rebecca teaching me about this structure was its history of being notorious for car collisions. And just yesterday, another person died in a head-on crash with an oncoming vehicle.

This takes the number of people who have lost their lives from similar accidents on the Pattullo to 15 since 2001. Further up the river, the Port Mann is about to be twinned in order to solve congestion issues with traffic. It’s obvious that people want to get to destinations faster than they can now, but at some point, I would think that you have to weigh the value of life over the value of time.

I mentioned this in a podcast with Rebecca some time ago, and today I released a video podcast that has a brief segment going over the Pattullo. The timing is erie, but perhaps you can see a little of this for yourself.