We anticipated that some customers would ask “Why not use the Bailey Bridge (United Boulevard to Braid Street)?” There are 17 train crossings at the railway tracks near the Braid Street/Brunette Avenue intersection, so schedule reliability would be jeopardized big time. We will monitor the detoured routes for the first few weeks of the detours.

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I had a chance to find out what happened to the eastbound stop on Lougheed at Coleman. Turns out they built the new exit and entrance with a bus stop in mind as evident with the bus lane and crosswalk leading from Kal-Tire over to it. But during the testing phase, it was found out that the buses had a hard time pulling out of the stop because of traffic rushing by at 70km/h that had no legal requirement to yield. Here’s the thing though, the speed limit drops to 60km/h just after the Coleman on ramp. The solution is simple! All that needed to be done to make that bus stop viable was to move the 60km/h zone back just before Coleman and add a sign alerting drivers to buses pulling out. But as the transit planners in the area don’t seem to get it, (also evidenced by the 158-C35-177 debacle) the area remains with sub-standard bus service and will likely continue to for some time to come.

As for Coquitlam building United Blvd wide because it was to be an arterial route and New West not co-operating because of the tracks at Braid, that’s all true, but if you notice on the SkyTrain near Braid Station there’s a dip in the tracks. That dip was meant to accommodate a United Blvd overpass. However, New Westminster, like Vancouver loathes traffic from the region entering their fiefdom, so it looks like that overpass will never see the light of day. It’s also why Front Street, a street almost tailor made to a counterflow system will never be widened or have a counterflow system put in place.

As for the 177 detour, as I see it, buses turning left from Schoolhouse to Lougheed may not be able to hit the bus stop on the corner after finishing the turn. Am I right in assuming that the 177 will not be serving the stop on Lougheed at Schoolhouse?

There has to be someway to improve the 791. The people coming up with the route plan for the 791 seem to forget that the route was meant for people in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge to get to SkyTrain faster, not service the area in between. During off-peak hours, the 791 should use the Trans-Canada and during peak hours should use Braid Street and United Boulevard. The route would then have the advantage of still offering rush hour service to the United Boulevard area for people working there.

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Coquitlam built United wide as a future highway and arterial. New Westminster did not want the traffic to be cutting through a freight train crossing that has 5 crossings between the bridge and Brunette. In addition for anyone stuck behind one of those long trains, it can take several minutes to clear. New Westminster instead wanted to channel traffic North and East over the trains. However Coquitlam hasn’t really improved the intersection with the border intersections.

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