NEWS RELEASE - September 23, 1997
Ministry of Transportation and Highways
TRANS CANADA HIGHWAY NO.1 - HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE (HOV) PROJECT BACKGROUNDER
The Trans Canada Highway No.1 HOV Project will provide an additional lane for east and
westbound HOVs on the existing 16 kilometre route from the Grandview Highway in Burnaby to
Cape Horn in Coquitlam. These lanes will be for use 24 hours a day every day of the week for
vehicles which contain three or more people.
Pre-construction of the $60 million project has been completed. The pre-loading process,
which stabilizes and compacts the soil has been underway for more than a year. Major
construction involving paving of the HOV lanes and lighting of the highway is now starting.
The HOV project's scheduled completion date is for October, 1998, when the new lanes are to
be opened to vehicle traffic. It is estimated that the construction will require at least
115,000 tonnes of asphalt and pavement plus up to 7,200 concrete roadside median barriers.
The major challenge on the project is to build the lanes while minimizing the impact on the
120,000 vehicles per day using the Trans Canada Highway route. The project will require both
day-time and night-time construction and BA Blacktop, the contractor, will look after
informing vehicle drivers daily of delays, traffic pattern changes and congestion problems.
Two lanes will be maintained for traffic in each direction during the daytime while off-road
work construction is being done.
The construction, which will generally occur between 10:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. at night, will
include the widening of five freeway bridges, with several being seismically upgraded along
the Trans Canada Highway.
It is estimated that those drivers and passengers using the HOV lanes in peak periods along
the Trans Canada Highway route will save up to 10 minutes in travel time each way. There will
be immediate benefits for HOV users of reduced travel expenses due to sharing of vehicle
expenses and reduced stress through the sharing of driving duties.
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NEWS RELEASE - September 23, 1997
Ministry of Transportation and Highways
HOV NETWORK PLAN
The Trans Canada Highway High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Project is an integral component of
the provincial government's efforts to ease future traffic congestion in the Greater
Vancouver region.
The HOV Network program will have new and additional lanes constructed and/or dedicated for
use only by HOVs (High Occupancy Vehicles) on main arterial roads and highways. The Network
promotes the use of HOVs over single-occupant vehicles (SOVs), thereby reducing the demand
for the building of expensive highway infrastructure. Special HOV measures such as bus queue
jumper lanes and signal priorities are in place at several main roadways. In addition,
programs which encourage ridesharing are being supported by government.
Some HOV facilities already operating in Greater Vancouver are:
- Barnet/Hastings Express HOV lanes from Port Moody to Vancouver
- Vanpool/bus lanes on Highway 99 and Highway 17
- Carpool/bus lanes on Georgia Street in Vancouver
The major HOV facility now under construction is:
- Trans Canada Highway from the Cape Horn Interchange in Coquitlam to the Grandview Highway
Interchange in Vancouver, a route of 16 kilometres.
Future HOV facilities will be considered in accordance with the Strategic planning work
presently underway for completion this fall.
The travelling public is encouraged to consider ridesharing in private vehicles or
forming/joining a vanpool group for both during and after construction of the Trans Canada
HOV route from Cape Horn to Grandview. For information on these programs, motorists can
phone the Jack Bell Foundation in Vancouver at
879-7433.
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