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Metro bridges make list of B.C.'s worst roads

Congestion, pavement, bad bike lanes among gripes
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Daly Road in north Surrey: the only relatively quiet stretch of road in Metro Vancouver nominated.q

View Worst B.C. Roads: BCAA in a larger map

The 73-year-old Pattullo Bridge has been voted the worst strip of road in the Lower Mainland in a B.C. Automobile Association survey.

Although the bridge is notoriously narrow, it made third place on the list of the province's worst roads for congestion, according to BCAA spokesman Trace Acres.

"It's no surprise that the Pattullo Bridge is on the list. Or that the Massey Tunnel (#10) is on the list," Acres said. "But they're cited for congestion as opposed to being cited for road conditions."

TransLink wants to replace the Pattullo with a new six-lane bridge, but it's not yet clear whether a four-lane replacement will be approved instead, when it will happen and whether the new span will come with tolls.

The Oak Street Bridge came in at number 15 for damaged pavement, while the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge appears at number 11 for poor bike paths.

"When two bikes meet on that bridge the cyclists have to get off and physically jockey the bikes by each other to continue," Acres explained.

Topping the list with 552 votes was a section of Ospika Boulevard in Prince George followed by the Mabel Lake Road near Enderby, both for damaged pavement. Silver Star Road near Vernon and the Pacific Rim Highway on Vancouver Island also made the list for pavement damage.

"I don't think there's any question that every road on this list could use some attention," Acres said.

Some little known stretches of asphalt caused some head-scratching at BCAA.

Daly Road in Surrey, in a quiet area near Barnston Island, was voted into 14th place for damaged pavement.

Even more respondents propelled Harris Road on Saturna Island into third place.

"Obviously people in that area got the word out," he said.

Acres admits the survey wasn't scientific – anyone could vote and round up their neighbours to help shame authorities into improving their local road.

And social media websites were likely used to help spread the word, he said.

A total of 4,000 people voted on the survey conducted in May.

 

Worst Roads Survey Results

1. Ospika Boulevard South – Prince George. Damaged pavement

2. Enderby-Mabel Lake Road – Enderby. Damaged pavement

3. Pattullo Bridge – Surrey-New West. Congestion

4. Harris Road – Saturna Island. Damaged pavement

5. Silver Star Road – Vernon. Damaged pavement

6. Pacific Rim Highway – Vancouver Island. Damaged pavement

7. Hope Princeton Highway – Southern B.C. Damaged pavement

8. Westside Road – Falkland. Damaged pavement

9. Coalmont Road – Princeton. Damaged pavement

10. George Massey Tunnel – Richmond-Delta. Congestion

11. Iron Workers Memorial Bridge – Vancouver-N.Van. Poor/no bike paths

12. Trans-Canada Hwy – Revelstoke. Damaged pavement

13. North Nechako Road – Prince George. Congestion

14. Daly Road – Surrey. Damaged pavement

15. Oak Street Bridge – Vancouver-Richmond. Damaged pavement

16. West Coast Road – Shirley (Van. Island). Damaged pavement

17. Domano Boulevard – Prince George. Damaged pavement

18. Westside Road – Kelowna-Vernon. Damaged pavement

19. Bamfield Road – Port Alberni. Damaged pavement

20. Balfour-Kaslo-Galena Bay Hwy – West Kootenay. Poor/no bike paths

– BCAA