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There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

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Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#351

Post by jacquesm »

soperj wrote: post #338
jacquesm wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there are quite a number of choke points that are unavoidable in BC. Alberta is pretty much flat with some mild elevation changes and lots of parallel roads. In BC it is the opposite, the z-axis dominates everything.

... there is the Rockies in Alberta, plus the badlands.

Fair enough, I had the more populated parts of Alberta in mind but there is plenty of it that is elevated. Even so, it doesn't dominate the road network to the degree that it does in BC, where you are either in Vancouver or clinging to the side of a mountain (or a glacier).

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#352

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

klyrs wrote: post #196
cf100clunk wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dire for Merritt (evacuated), Princeton (under water), Hope (all highways closed or curtailed), Abbotsford (under water), Chilliwack (under water), Fernie (no highway access) and a host of other places on the mainland and on the Island that are vital transport, agricultural, forestry, tourism, and mining centres. You mentioned prices, so scale it up to international economics level.

If I had a nickel for every time folks have suggested moving out to the country as a solution to the housing crisis...

Onto a floodplain...

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#353

Post by swader999 »

jleyank wrote: post #4

Port Roberts commandos strike. Canada should investigate which Intelligence organs were funding their efforts... This, of course, means that supplies of bread, milk and cat litter have vanished amongst rioting.

Three days is all it takes for the cat litter to deplete. Then civilization's thin veneer crumbles.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#354

Post by Kluny »

lhorie wrote: post #100

For just a bit of context/anecdata, I'm talking to my brother who lives in Vancouver and he wasn't even aware this was a problem. The road closure[0] on hwy 1 near Abbotsford/Chilliwack is a good one hour drive away from Vancouver core[1]. So while it sounds noteworthy for an entire city be technically flooded in, unless you were driving to the boonies, you're probably not actually impacted in any meaningful way. He…

Almost everyone in Vancouver, Vancouver Island, all over BC really, has flooded basements and other stuff to deal with. My school closed down due to power outages, for example. The road to the local landfill has washed out. Half of my classmates were without power last night, and one of them is on the wrong side of a mountain pass and will miss class today. Our teacher has decided not to bother trying to get to campus and we're back to Zoom school.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#355

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

swader999 wrote: post #343
iainctduncan wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, it's not "roads blocked". We're not talking "move the dirt and it'll be ok". The roads are GONE. Bridges and huge sections of the most important highways are now rubble floating down rivers with nothing there anymore . This is in some of the most difficult terrain to rebuild in that you could have. People who know what they are talking about are saying we are short highways through the winter. Here's some chopp…

That section in the Twitter link can be fixed fast is what I'm thinking but then I remember that B.C. is heavily unionized and my optimism fades.

How you managed to convert devastating footage of washed away bridges and roads into an attack on unionisation is something future historians are going to have to work very hard to explain.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#356

Post by swader999 »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #355
swader999 wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That section in the Twitter link can be fixed fast is what I'm thinking but then I remember that B.C. is heavily unionized and my optimism fades.

How you managed to convert devastating footage of washed away bridges and roads into an attack on unionisation is something future historians are going to have to work very hard to explain.

If you lived there you'd understand. It's a common theme.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#357

Post by wheelinsupial »

JPKab wrote: post #231
lhorie wrote: post #100

For just a bit of context/anecdata, I'm talking to my brother who lives in Vancouver and he wasn't even aware this was a problem. The road closure[0] on hwy 1 near Abbotsford/Chilliwack is a good one hour drive away from Vancouver core[1]. So while it sounds noteworthy for an entire city be technically flooded in, unless you were driving to the boonies, you're probably not actually impacted in any meaningful way. He…

Wait a minute now: I've been to Vancouver before, but I"m completely ignorant about the supply chain there. We're talking about a metropolis of 2.5 million people. What's the impact on food supplies, fuel, etc? Very curious. Is it primarily coming up from the US???

There are two areas under discussion here. Vancouver, which goes by a bunch of different names including Metro Vancouver Regional District, is the 2.5 mil that you’re talking about. The second piece is the Fraser Valley Regional District, this is everything else east of Vancouver up to and including Hope. This is another 600k people.

FVRD is where the impacts are so far.

I mentioned in another comment that I’m in Chilliwack and gas stations are empty and grocery stores are also empty. Hoarding happened really fast today. The roads for resupply are shut down.

As far as I know, the main hubs are in MVRD, but probably not City of Vancouver proper. Nothing can get passed Abbotsford going East. There are roads past Hope that have also been destroyed (collapsed bridges and two lane roads completely gone). There might be ways to go north and around, but where I am it’s isolated on both sides.

I am visiting this area and am stuck until things are sorted out.

Previous estimates have said there could be 20-30 billion dollars in economic impact if there is a severe flood in the region.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#358

Post by throwawayswe »

csel wrote: post #309
lhorie wrote: post #100

For just a bit of context/anecdata, I'm talking to my brother who lives in Vancouver and he wasn't even aware this was a problem. The road closure[0] on hwy 1 near Abbotsford/Chilliwack is a good one hour drive away from Vancouver core[1]. So while it sounds noteworthy for an entire city be technically flooded in, unless you were driving to the boonies, you're probably not actually impacted in any meaningful way. He…

Son has a hockey tournament next week in Vernon, BC. Due to road closure, Google Maps is sending me to Washington State and back into Canada. Absolutely wild. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Surrey,+BC/Vernon,+BC/@48.86...

Sorry, that route won't work either. The I-5 in WA had closures last night and could close back again anytime: https://twitter.com/wsdot_traffic/status/1460419932131250177

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#359

Post by sbarre »

version_five wrote: post #266
Scoundreller wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Competitors” sharing networks is such a Canadian tradition. Just like 2 of our 3 big cellular companies (Bell and Telus) sharing a single network.

I'm guessing its your point, but to spell it out, canada has oligopolies or monopolies, it doesnt have competitors at least in telecom and banking. From what I understand (like the recent Kansas? railway acquisition) CN and CP may actually be more in competition than some other industries. There is some complexity because part of the tradeoff for being granted oligo/monopoly status is the requirement to allow others…

> it doesnt have competitors at least in telecom and banking

To be fair, the high regulation that we have in the banking sector insulated us from a lot of the 2008 financial crisis. So it's not all bad.

The big banks spent the early part of the 2000s complaining loudly about being "left out" of the financial boom happening and wanted to internationalize and merge with US banks, and our government said no. America's regular cycle of financial crises and ruin kind of proves that unrestricted competition should not always be the unconditional goal of a given industry.

In terms of rail (and other infrastructure), keep in mind that our country is bigger than the US and we have 10% of the population. A lot of our monopolies/crown-corps exist because if it wasn't for government subsidies/handouts, none would exist at all.

So it's not always a reasonable argument to say there "should" be competition, when it doesn't make financial sense for new entrants to compete. No one would ever fund the startup costs, because it would take decades to make the money back, if you ever did.

That said, our telco sector does absolutely need a shakeup and competition (better rules for CLECs to use ILEC infrastructure etc).

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#360

Post by jacquesm »

version_five wrote: post #266
Scoundreller wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Competitors” sharing networks is such a Canadian tradition. Just like 2 of our 3 big cellular companies (Bell and Telus) sharing a single network.

I'm guessing its your point, but to spell it out, canada has oligopolies or monopolies, it doesnt have competitors at least in telecom and banking. From what I understand (like the recent Kansas? railway acquisition) CN and CP may actually be more in competition than some other industries. There is some complexity because part of the tradeoff for being granted oligo/monopoly status is the requirement to allow others…

Canada is a country sized company with a captive audience. This all goes back to the days of the Hudson Bay Company and how Canada was founded.
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