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Tsawwassen to Richmond wtf?

6K views 61 replies 29 participants last post by  Penguin 
#1 ·
Did my first run back to Richmond from the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal this afternoon since the road changes to Hwy 17 were completed. OMFG. Would it have killed the idiots who did the signage to put something on the direction signs that actually meant something to the people reading them?
I mean....put "Richmond" or "To Tunnel" on the signs....even temporarily until people figure out how to navigate the mess that they've created.
The confusion displayed by every driver coming off the ferry both in front of and behind me when we reached the new section of road was epic.
I mean really...who is in charge of making these signs? He/She needs a HARD slap upside the head.
 
#5 ·
Well, I don't know what to say, other than good on you, cause so many people don't read signs, most don't, cause they can't read English.

I know what your saying though, I found it really confusing to learn a whole new area, let alone trying to make a living at it!

What made it even worse, is most of the new roads are not even on my GPS.

Then there are those days, where I'm doing the usual route, and they go and change the off ramp, not a huge deal, only that figuring out what to do in the dark and its raining to boot, is a real challange.... well that, and the truck is pulling a 60 foot loaded trailer with 90 thousand pounds on the decks....lol

And they give me the finger!

lol
 
#8 ·
The only confusion is that they made the main thoroughfare the Hwy #17 with two lanes, and if you want the old route to the tunnel, you actually have to exit. It's backwards. Once you figure it out though, its easy enough, and you can still get to the Tunnel if you get it wrong, just takes a bit more gas and time. I would guess you ended up on the 17 OneTrack? hehe

Hwy 17 is fantastic IMO. Cuts the commute to North Delta in half, and you skirt around Surrey instead of suffering through it. Huge improvement.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I live with it daily and it's a steaming pile of shit.

That 17A now exits off 17? Stupid.
That they built that interchange where they did so that it required the building of four or five more overpasses when it's nothing but flat land for miles? Stupid.
The fact that they didn't pic anywhere flat so as to maintain 17A's 4-lane construction instead of reducing the existing highway infrastructure to one lane each way? Stupid.
That the weird HOV lane/River road access lanes they've put in reduced the on-ramp off 17A towards 99 Northbound (into the tunnel) to a single lane at a pre-existing choke point when it had four lanes? Stupid.
The fact that the signage at 99 seems to indicate that going the same direction will take you towards both Vancouver and Seattle? Stupid.
That the signage near Nordel reads "Go this way for Vancouver and this way for Hope" when the neighbouring cities are Richmond and Surrey? Stupid.
That the signage near Nordel says that when both Hope and Vancouver are about equidistant from that point regardless of the direction you take? Stupid.
The fact that the HOV lane north seems to exit towards Ladner/Tsawwassen which results in people diving out of it? Stupid.
That the Tsawwassen exit off 99 Northbound requires you exit across the HOV lane? Stupid.
That a road supposedly designed for heavy truck traffic has a corner that induces understeer in most passenger cars at merely 60? Stupid.
That the road's built with so little camber that container trucks have proven themselves capable of flipping while traversing one which subsequently causes the road to close? Stupid.
That, once the SFPR is closed and traffic has to revert back to the existing infrastructure, the reductions made to existing infrastructure make travelling from North Delta to South Delta a three hour trip? Fucking retarded.

It's a piece of shit, with shit signage, and shit engineering. In fact, the only thing it WOULD be good for is ripping back and forth along like 5thGear suggested, but between the deer strikes and the huge police presence, it's pretty much just a piece of shit.
 
#15 ·
I missed the correct turn at the new overpass and I wasn't texting, turning, or eating. Signage threw me off. I wanted 99 and the tunnel into Van but ended up way the F down the road till I saw the bridge. The signage still sucked but I figured it out. Biggest problem I see is the signage especially if you're an out of towner. From Tswasan(sp) keep to the right land and cross over the highway. Fool me once shame on you fool me twice, shame on me.
 
#16 ·
I've driven it both ways, and all ways and don't find it difficult to understand what so ever.
It's a fabulous improvement over what was before.

..and as frosty said I'm sure there were many land ownership and use issues that shaped exactly where the roads went.
 
#18 ·
missed the turn to the tunnel, ended up on the new highway going to alex fraser... went... wtf?

was a nice little drive.
 
#19 ·
I don't even live there. Came back from Christmas vacation in the dark and managed with no issues to get to the boat.
Going to the bike show, and back, same shit.

I used to think a lot of you were retarded, now I know.

I fucking LOVE that I can avoid those two shit holes and just get to the #1 and get the fuck out of that shit hole and into the stink hole of Chillywhack that smells of raw sweage, YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH.
 
#29 · (Edited)
I fucking LOVE that I can avoid those two shit holes and just get to the #1 and get the fuck out of that shit hole
EXACTLY!... i havent driven it, but looking at the maps it seems a great way for folks off the island to get where they're really going...

They are building a bridge.
:thumbup

tunnel blows... :banghead

As far as the price, you tell me which road project HAS NOT gone at least 75% over budget these days? Government involvement, and strong arm union involvement pretty well guarantee cost overruns in anything they are involved in. Ecological groups crying murder for putting it through some fucking swamp, delays in the courts because some ethnic groups buried grampa there 300 yrs ago, delays because some idiots are bocking the bulldozers, decide it will block their view of some cedar mill across the river.
aye, gotta agree with you there.... mind you they also said the new PortMann bridge could not be built 'cause it would not be ready until 2021,
thats assuming they started building it in 2009 or some stupid shit like that.... BAM!... full toll rates now apply on the newly built bridge... last
i checked my calendar its 2014... truth be told i only know that 'cause the new 1290 is out :bowdown :alien

you never have a clue how long projects like this are gonna take, I would assume working right in fvcking delta so close to existing infrastructure
and trying to make sure everything lines up at the end is a little tougher (more hands to grease) and more expensive than just upgrading the
damn sea to sky... not like they cut it out of the bloody mountain just for the olympics.. and re-occurring traffic in the area was nothing while being built..

either way, it sounds like a clusterfvck Land Roving, i've had a bit of a close look at the on ramp / off ramp BS and you're right, thats a bloody mess..
reminds me of trying to get to Glendale california the 1st time we visited in 1981!!... coming from a 3rd world country... wtf is this!??? hahahha... i swear
we went round 'n round a couple of times, looking at the signs trying to figure out where china was, until I recognized one of the over head signs, we had
just passed by the same damn spot not 25 minutes prior... nobody else was looking up the 1st time... was that an on-ramp or off? look down below,
where are those people going.. christ i feel like the Jetsons!! where's the eject button... :evil :happysq

They are building a bridge.
:imwithstu
Now that I have successfully pressed your button,
:rant :laughing
 
#22 ·
While i have not been on this new SFPR yet, i do like that you can use this to by-pass the Port Mann Bridge toll.
Tho the tunnel is a bit of a FUBAR mess at rush hours. Can't figure out why they have to close 1 lane so the evening or
morning rush has 3 lanes. Great if you going that way i guess but the opposite (say evenings to Vancouver) is a gong show
with 6 lanes merging into 1.
and i think its about time they build an overpass on hwy 91 @ 72..traffic lights on a highway? WTF!!!
 
#24 ·
Fire bad, road bad.

I drove that area in the summer during construction and it was signage clusterfuck then.

In fact it's traditional that any new mega project in the lower mainland have vague signage that will only make sense if you were traversing the road at the same walking pace that the guy who puts the signs up did. Or if as some of these folks are wont to do "keep going straight till you hit ocean".

So it really is LR's own fault for driving on that stretch with his optimist hat on.
 
#30 ·
..... have vague signage that will only make sense if you were traversing the road at the same walking pace that the guy who puts the signs up did. ...
I reached same conclusion every time I tried to figure out reason behind their (MoT) art work. The signage problem is not limited to this single road or metro area, ON has similar issues. To a visitor it kinda project image of city as under developed.
 
#33 ·
land rover you make lots of good points. the first time i drove the new highway was at night and i took the wrong exit and ended up in ladner instead of taking it back to the patullo. But my BIGGEST gripe is the fact there is no direct connection to the port mann. i live in poco and the wifes sister lives in tsawassan. i have to either go to 176, or through surrey or new west to connect to the SFPR. its f ing ridiculous.
my 2 cents.
 
#34 ·
geography, cost and keeping truck traffic out of a residential area are probably the reasons for that.

for the most part the SFPR is a truck route so there's no real need to have a direct connector to the PM for traffic coming out of tswassen or delta to head west over the PM - that traffic would take the tunnel or alex fraser. there are existing roads available that you could take up to 108 to get onto the PM, but then you're sending a lot of traffic through residential areas. the added cost of building a new route up to the PM (construction and land acquisiton) would be prohibitive in the scope of the overall project.

if you did build that route up to 108 it wouldn't save much time vs going over the patullo and along lougheed to poco. besides, people wouldn't use it anyway for the most part because of the toll.
 
#45 ·
My co worker lives in Ladner and commutes every day to our office on 104th Ave close to King George Blvd. The new road has taken his commute time down from 35 minutes to 20 minutes.
 
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