Big upgrades recommended for North Shore's Upper Levels Highway: government study

Upper Levels Highway (Highway 1/Trans-Canada Highway) improvement study segment from Lynn Valley Road interchange to Horseshoe Bay. (Parsons/Government of BC)

The newly released findings of the North Shore Upper Levels Highway improvements study by the provincial government suggest major upgrades are needed to improve this segment of the Trans-Canada Highway to maintain its reliability over the coming decades.

Work on the analysis was initiated by the provincial government in 2019, and it identifies the current and forecasted issues with the congested highway corridor and makes a range of recommendations for improvements over the short-, medium-, and long-term.

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Traffic demand is expected to increase significantly in the future. The North Shore’s population is expected to grow from about 200,000 today to over 250,000 by 2050. During the same period, employment is forecast to increase from approximately 90,000 jobs to roughly 110,000 jobs.

This study specifically focused on a 20 km long segment of the highway between the Lynn Valley Road interchange and BC Ferries’ Horseshoe Bay terminal. The highway is primarily four lanes — two lanes in each direction.

upper levels highway north shore corridor study

Upper Levels Highway (Highway 1/Trans-Canada Highway) improvement study segment from Lynn Valley Road interchange to Horseshoe Bay. (Parsons/Government of BC)

2017 vehicle traffic demand:

north shore vancouver road traffic demand 2017

2017 road traffic volumes on the North Shore and in Vancouver. (Parsons/Government of BC)

2050 forecasted vehicle traffic demand:

north shore vancouver road traffic demand 2050

2050 forecasted road traffic volumes on the North Shore and in Vancouver. (Parsons/Government of BC)

Short- and medium-term upgrades include a new St. Georges Avenue road overpass, ramp extensions for the Lynn Valley Road interchange, various other interchange improvements at Capilano Road, Westview Drive, Taylor Way, and 21st Street/15th Street, and upgrades to the eastbound merge from the Sea-to-Sky Highway onto Highway 1.

Currently, the greatest interchange ramp capacity challenges are at Taylor Way, Capilano Road, Westview Drive, and Lynn Valley Road. Collisions on the highway are mainly located at or near the interchanges.

The Cypress Bowl Road interchange will also see a very substantial increase in traffic in the future due to the construction of thousands of new homes within British Properties’ new Cypress Village and Rodgers Creek neighbourhoods.

Further to the west, BC Ferries has indicated it does not expect a significant increase in overall vehicle volumes at Horseshoe Bay terminal over the coming decades, but it is considering a second exit ramp as part of its terminal overhaul project to better allow for the simultaneous unloading of multiple ferries, which causes higher traffic surges on the highway at certain times of the day. In addition to the increased frequency of “high-intensity surges,” it is anticipated that traffic volumes to and from the Sea to Sky Highway will increase.

capilano road interchange upper levels highway upgrade concept

Conceptual upgrade for the Capilano Road interchange for Upper Levels Highway. (Parsons/Government of BC)

Over the long term, the study recommends widening the shoulder of the highway to accommodate a bus-only lane, similar to what is planned for the Highway 99 corridor south of the George Massey Tunnel.

“The existing shoulders along much of the Upper Levels Highway corridor are too narrow to accommodate a bus; therefore, this concept would involve widening those shoulders to accommodate buses as well as providing stop locations that facilitate walk access and transfers to cross-corridor bus services,” reads the study.

“Conflicts with on-ramps and off-ramps at interchanges would be mitigated by providing loop detectors and automated warning flashers instructing drivers to yield at on-ramps, and by having the buses merge with traffic exiting the highway upstream of off-ramps.”

The new shoulder bus-only lanes could be used by an expansion of TransLink’s No. 222 bus route, which is a recently implemented limited-stop service between SkyTrain Metrotown Station and Phibbs Exchange via Willingdon Avenue and the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. Analysts examined the possibility of extending the No. 222 route westwards along the highway, with a stop at Lonsdale Avenue and the new western terminus at Capilano Road, where passengers can transfer to local bus routes.

Other long-term recommended works entail twinning the bridge for the Capilano Road interchange, and new east-facing ramps at Westmount Road interchange to enable a direct access to new development areas and a new road connection to Cypress Bowl Road.

Various upgrades to walking and cycling infrastructure are also suggested.

translink bus 222 extension north shore concept

Conceptual route extension of TransLink’s No. 222 express bus route from Phibbs bus exchange to Capilano Road via the Upper Levels Highway. (Parsons/Government of BC)

The recommended improvements are only conceptual, and not a direction for implementation. A detailed breakdown of the estimated construction costs was not made, but the combined cost is within several hundred million dollars, with the Capilano Road interchange upgrades alone estimated at over $100 million.

Transportation engineering consultant Parsons was contracted by the provincial government to perform the study, with TransLink and the municipal governments of North Vancouver City, North Vancouver District, and West Vancouver also offering input.

The list of recommended concepts will be used by the provincial and municipal governments and TransLink to help guide transportation infrastructure projects for the North Shore.

This spring, the provincial government is set to complete the $200-million Highway 1 Lower Lynn Improvements project of overhauling three interchanges near the north end of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.

Currently, intra-regional trips account for about 60% of all trips on the highway, and the eastern portion of the corridor that was studied — between the Capilano Road interchange to the Lynn Valley Road interchange — is busier than the western portion at all times of day, and sees a greater degree of congestion and capacity issues during peak hours. HOV trips currently make up 30% to 50% of person-trips on the corridor, and by 2050 this will grow by 20% to 45%.

Moreover, the eastbound portion of the highway is forecast to “degrade” by 2050, especially in the eastbound direction.

The existing four-lane configuration of the Upper Levels Highway (Trans-Canada Highway/Highway 1) in West Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The study asserts the corridor’s high use is the result of the lack of alternative continuous east-west arterial roads across the North Shore.

“The highway corridor is primarily used for intra-regional or through-trips, which is the intended function of the highway corridor. However, roughly 25% to 33% of trips on the highway are internal to the North Shore; these trip types are not reflective of the intended role of the highway corridor,” reads the study.

“This high share of local trip-making exceeds shares on provincial highways in other parts of the region and is due in part to the lack of a continuous parallel municipal road network. The Capilano River Bridge provides a local/inter-municipal travel function due to limited alternative routes to cross the river.”

The study does not recommend a widening of the highway for general vehicle traffic, but it did explore the concept’s potential impact — based on widening the segment between Lynn Valley Road interchange and Taylor Way interchange from four lanes to six lanes.

For the eastbound PM direction, the end-to-end travel time for the segment from Horseshoe Bay to Ironworkers Memorial Bridge was 27.4 minutes in 2017. This will grow to 35.2 minutes by 2035 without widening, 32.4 minutes by 2035 with widening, 38 minutes by 2050 without widening, and 34.8 minutes by 2050 with widening.

To provide the additional road capacity required, through their North Shore Connects partnership, the North Shore’s three municipal governments are recommending a secondary east-west road connector from Park Royal to West 1st Street across the Capilano River, potentially achieved by a western extension of Lower Level Road. This road extension would help alleviate traffic congestion on Marine Drive, improve the movement of goods from the port, provide improved transit options, and improve walking and cycling connections.

As well, the municipal governments have also been advocating for a rail rapid transit line that provides both new west-east connectivity across the North Shore, and a new additional north-south connectivity across Burrard Inlet to the rest of Metro Vancouver.

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