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The night of the 11-hour commute: Snow traps Metro Vancouver drivers on roads

Megan Devlin
Megan Devlin
|
Nov 30 2022, 6:58 pm
The night of the 11-hour commute: Snow traps Metro Vancouver drivers on roads
@JasJohalBC/Twitter | @iambharanisai/Twitter

Tuesday evening’s drive home was hellish for many Metro Vancouverites leaving the city for the suburbs as a winter storm closed major bridges and turned roads into ice rinks.

Many drivers spent eight hours on the road — or more — trying to get home. Some reported heavy traffic jams into the early hours of the morning.

Jas Johal, radio host on CKNW and former MLA, spent 8.5 hours driving from Vancouver to Tsawwassen last night. He said the awful commute shows BC’s lack of investment in infrastructure — particularly at traffic chokepoints, in collision clearing, and in snow management.

“In my time as a reporter, I’ve seen a lot of snowstorms in the Lower Mainland. But eight hours in traffic?” he told Daily Hive. “This is not just an inconvenience. It’s a huge impact on our economy and our quality of life.”

The accomplished journalist has worked as bureau chief in Beijing and New Delhi, and said last night’s drive eclipsed his previous record for longest commute — which was a five-hour afternoon drive in Mumbai (a city of more than 20 million).

Johal took the Massey Tunnel home to Tsawwassen, an ageing piece of infrastructure that the BC Liberals planned to replace with a 10-late bridge, until the NDP scrapped that plan to go with a replacement tunnel instead. Construction has not yet started.

“I hope every elected official takes a hard look in the mirror and, and spends less time squabbling, and more time finding solutions to these challenges,” Johal said. “Because if we don’t, it’s going to get worse.”

Johal kept mostly positive during the experience, sharing some moments on Twitter and talking with friends in different time zones. He counts himself lucky he ate dinner before leaving Vancouver, and that he picked up a takeout pizza for his son — so he had enough to eat.

After three hours of sleep, he was back on the road returning to work — saying the roads were much better Wednesday.

Bharanisai Madhusudhan left Metrotown Mall at 3 pm, and it took him 11.5 hours to reach home in South Surrey.

Madhusudhan saw a lack of preparedness despite warnings about the storm — he said few road maintenance workers were out and little salt was on the road.

“It was frustrating with tons and tons of vehicles jammed up and not moving,” he told Daily Hive. “I was caught up and at point that there was no turning back.”

Kelsey Woof spent more than 12 hours driving from Vancouver to North Delta after trying three bridges and the Massey Tunnel. She first tried to get over the Alex Fraser, but she got low on gas while watching others stop their cars and get out. She turned around and tried the Massey Tunnel after stopping for gas in Richmond, only for Steveston Highway to become blocked.

After that, she followed a road parallel to the river to go over the Queensborough Bridge, but got stopped by a gate. Then she tried getting to the Patullo Bridge via Marine Drive, but she heard an update that parts of her route were closed — including every way to access the Patullo.

Her last option was the Port Mann Bridge. She inched along the Trans Canada Highway, took Gaglardi to Lougheed, and finally crawled over the Bridge.

bridge snow traffic

Kelsey Woof/Submitted

She finally made it home at 2:56 am exactly.

“I’ll never forget such a day,” she told Daily Hive. ” I saw buses stuck and backwards, several cars abandoned, people sleeping in their cars, and people spinning around everywhere.”

Ishdeep Singh also had a horrible commute, leaving Vancouver at 2:30 pm and reaching home in Surrey at 1 am. He didn’t have any food or water but counts himself lucky his hybrid didn’t need much gas to get him home safely.

“[I] saw so many vehicles that probably ran out of gas and were just left in the middle of the Highway 91,” he told Daily Hive.

Traffic reporter Trish Jewison went back to work at 11 pm because she couldn’t get home at all.

The Insurance Corporation of BC doesn’t have collision statistics for the stormy day yet, but spokesperson Lindsay Wilkins said they’re experiencing a “big increase in calls this morning.”

Things weren’t good for transit users either. The wet snow made hills impassable for many buses.

bus stuck snow

Terry/Submitted

The storm dumped between 10 and 20 centimetres of snow on the Lower Mainland, according to Environment Canada. High winds also blew the snow around, making for a mess on many of the region’s roads.

Some Good Samaritans delivered cookies to stuck drivers, while a woman in New Westminster donned a reflective vest to become an impromptu traffic controller during the mayhem.

Many schools around Metro Vancouver are closed Wednesday, and more snow is expected Friday.

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