Kamloops Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge

The long awaited bridge and paths linking the eastern end of downtown with the Rivers trail and the Valleyview are complete. See the bridge and trails on OpenStreetMap. The bridge and trail will do a lot for walking and cycling in Kamloops; linking parts of the city that have been disconnected for decades. The highway interchange (the Trans Canada and the Yellowhead Highway junction) and the Canadian Pacific mainline go through the area. There hasn’t been a safe way to walk between Valleyview and the central area of Kamloops until this new path opened.

Some people complained about the high cost of the trails and bridge, saying that the money would have been better spent building more parking spaces at the hospital. It certainly was expensive and did go over budget, but it was a difficult site with the railway and highway on-ramps in close proximity, and both had to remain open at all times. A lot of retaining walls had to be built to squeeze the trail in between the existing lanes. Poor decisions in the past when the interchanges was built led to this expensive solution today. Why didn’t they build a proper sidewalk at the time? That’s a good question, but I think the idea was that people should be forced into cars or the infrequent bus. Walkers and cyclists were just not thought important enough. We’ve come a long way since those dark days, but it is still an uphill battle to get proper and safe sidewalks, paths and bike lanes so that there are real alternatives to driving. I think Kamloopsians will grow to appreciate this important link on the eastern side of the city.

Coincident with the new bridge and paths is a new designated bike lane through central Kamloops. Aligning along Nicola and St Paul streets, which see less car traffic then nearby roads, it links the new bridge to the west (downtown). The north side of the bridge connects to the River’s Trail and an unpleasant sidewalk on the Yellowhead highway bridge towards Tk’emlups Band territory. The east link connects to on-road bike lanes on Valleyview Drive.

These links will certainly attract a lot of users once they discover it, but the bike route will soon frustrate commuter cyclists due to the number of stop signs and “Stop and Dismount” signs.

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Transport Action BC Praises Investment in Vancouver Island Railway

The government of Canada announced its half of the $15 million to save and rehabilitate the Vancouver Island Railway. The railway owned by the Island Corridor Foundation has been gradually detiorating and VIA Rail passenger service was cancelled last year due to poor track conditions. The other half of the money was committed by the BC government, and $500,000 of that money was used for an inspection of the bridges. The results of the study haven’t been released but sources say that the bridges are generally in good condition have just been released, see below.

Transport Action is pleased to see the governments make investments in rail infrastructure, and is happy that the actions of everyone who contacted their MP or MLA made a difference.

Federal Government Invests in Restoring the Corridor

Story from Nanaimo Daily News

E&N Bridge Assessment Reports
More to follow on this item.

2011 in review and other news

Next meeting is in March

Transport Action BC’s last meeting was in Vancouver on December 14th, 2011. As a change to make it easier for members from south of the Fraser River to attend our next meeting will be in New Westminster on March 6th, 2012. It will be at the Waves Coffee shop near the New Westminster SkyTrain station. 7pm to 9pm. Address:  715 Columbia St (at Begbie)

Western Newsletter

The Winter 2011/2012 newsletter is being produced now. If you have any articles or photos please let us know.

The following is an automatic summary from WordPress

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,500 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 58 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Next Transport Action BC Meeting Dec 14

Meeting of Transport Action BC

Wednesday December 14, 2011
5:45pm to 7:45 pm
Firehall Library

1455 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

Location of meeting. Map from http://openptmap.org

LRT expansion in Surrey

South of Fraser Mayors want for Light Rail Transit in Surrey, and the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure is listening. LRT technology is a better fit for the lower density region consisting of Surrey and Langley many believe.

TransLink is doing a comprehensive study of transit options in Surrey called the Surrey Rapid Transit Study. Phase 1 has been completed and phase 2 is underway with public meetings scheduled for early 2012.

As reported in the last Western Newsletter of Transport Action, Surrey has put together a vision of LRT on its website.

Surrey’s video on YouTube:

CBC Story – Mayors push for new transit line for Surrey and Langley  (Mobile version)

An example of a low floor light rail vehicle in Portland, OR

Using OpenStreetMap to show location of Transport stories

I have been using OpenStreetMap recently a lot. Similar to other web maps such as Google Maps, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, and others, there are key differences. For one OpenStreetMap (OSM)  is editable by anyone, all it takes is a user name and password to start editing. It has been described as the Wikipedia of maps. It is also possible to fix mistakes in the map right away, while the big online maps are updated a lot less frequently. OSM has a lot more bike paths, pedestrian paths, bus stops, train stations that the big guys don’t have.

An advantage to non-profits like Transport Action, is that OSM maps can be published, copied and printed without restriction.

Fig 1. OpenStreetMap rendering of the Mission Bridge area

Figure 1 shows the West Coast Express station in Mission and the two VIA Rail stops in the vicinity, which I suspect aren’t widely known about. The Abbotsford stop (it can’t be called a station since it is just a platform) serves trains bound for Vancouver only, the Mission Harbour stop serves eastbound trains only.

Fig 2. OpenStreetMap image of the same area rendered by Osmarender

Figure 2 is the same area, same data rendered in a different manner. Note that this image doesn’t have the names of the train stops and stations. Other renderers exist for specialised uses such as the Cyclemap renderer that highlights cycling paths. A whole list of renderers is discussed on the OSM Wiki page.

Figure 3. OpenStreetMap image of the Coquitlam Central Station area.

Figure 3 shows the level of detail that is present in some areas. Details include the tunnel under the tracks, the wheelchair ramp, and the various paths to the bus loop and parking lots. The database for OpenStreetMap is useful in routing software like GPS navigation, but has details for trails that other online maps don’t have.

Expect to see many more maps created in OpenStreetMap on these pages in the future.

I’ll Take the Train by Ken Liddell – Book Review

I’ll Take the Train by Ken Liddell
Western Producer Prairie Books,
Saskatoon, SK
1971 (3rd printing)
196 pages;
ISBN 0-919306-06-3

Ken Liddell was a newspaper reporter who worked for several newspapers in the Prairie provinces. This book is a collection of 33 short stories about railroads, their workers, their customers and their role in Canadians’ lives from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. The stories are based on Liddell’s personal experience – he started his career as a teen-aged news agent working a two car, passenger local out of Regina – and tales, gossip, anecdotes and railroad folklore gathered on his many trips as a roving reporter for The Calgary Herald.
The stories are humorous – “The Runaway Caboose” tells of an uncoupled caboose rolling back and forth across a road-rail bridge on a cold winter’s day in Peace River; sombre -“The Funeral Train” is about 21 RCAF pilots final trip in the baggage car after they are killed in a plane crash as they returned home from their last war-time flights; historical -“Radio Rides the Rails” details Sir Henry Thornton’s efforts to bring radio to the CNR, forming the basis of the CBC; and poignant – “The Last Run” describes the last runs of retiring steam locomotive engineers, one of whom helped build the road he ran over on his last trip, 41 years later.
Liddell writes with a light, but descriptive and evocative, style. In “The Boat Train”, the Minto, a CPR stern-wheeler, working south on the Arrow Lakes is described as “hustl[ing] her bustle down the lake like a fussy old lady with a tall white feather in her hat.” The above mentioned runaway caboose “incident would have drifted into the passing track of memories” except for some innocent questions raised at a business dinner.
British Columbia’s PGE passenger service – pre-RDC – is delightfully described in “The Pacific Great Eastern”. How can one not relish Liddell’s picture of a porter in his moccasin slippers waking passengers to view the Fraser Canyon or the dining car steward valiantly trying to serve passengers iced tea with only two tall glasses assigned to his car?
This book was a pleasure to read. As one who came of age well after steam locomotives and mixed trains to everywhere, Liddell’s stories provide a view, possibly rose-coloured, into a different era of railroading and life. In many instances, the railroad side of the story is incidental to the human interest side but this only serves to emphasise how deeply embedded into Canadians’ lives the railroads once were. This book will interest rail fans, armchair historians or those simply looking for a good chuckle over people’s foibles.
Unfortunately, the book is long out-of-print so those interested in reading it will have to check local libraries or thrift stores to locate a copy.
Review by Rick Jelfs, Secretary – Transport Action BC

Western Newsletter Coming

The second issue of the Transport Action Western Newsletter is being mailed now to members of Transport Action BC and Prairie. Those who are signed up for electronic delivery will receive them Monday Aug 22nd.

As always we are looking for contributions for upcoming issues. Please contact us if you have something to contribute.

Seattle-Vancouver Amtrak will continue

The second daily Amtrak train between Seattle and Vancouver will continue. Canadian Border Services has agreed to not charge Amtrak for customs and border inspection services. Unlike past announcements, this one seems to be permanent.

Crosscut has a good summary of the news:

Canada relents on cash demands for late Amtrak run from Seattle

 

Amtrak Cascades sign at Pacific Central

Railway to Grand Forks on last legs

Further information on the Kettle Falls and Grand Forks Railway from Trains magazine.

Kettle Falls International asks to cease operating British Columbia route