NORTH/WEST Families riding buses on Marine Drive and across the Lions Gate Bridge now have a faster, more reliable trip across the North Shore and into Metro Vancouver, thanks to the opening of two new bus-only lanes. Buses will start using the lanes on Monday, June 20, 2011.

These improvements will reduce congestion and enhance the reliability of bus service along this busy route for all commuters who choose public transit.

The bus-only lanes, along with a new transit priority signal on Marine Drive at Taylor Way, will allow buses to move swiftly past traffic congestion, getting commuters where they need to go on schedule and faster than before.

The bus lanes are part of a bigger project to reduce traffic congestion and improve travel times along Marine Drive and the Lions Gate Bridge. Construction continues on the new Capilano River Bridge and the Marine Drive Overpass as well as on bike and pedestrian pathways. The entire project is expected to be finished this summer.

The Province, Government of Canada and TransLink are providing funding for this $34-million project, which is one of the largest transit projects currently underway in Metro Vancouver.

Quick Facts:

• Buses represent two per cent of traffic on the Lions Gate Bridge, but carry 28 per cent of the people who cross it during the morning rush.
• The new westbound bus-only lane from just west of Tatlow Avenue in North Vancouver to southbound Lions Gate Bridge is also a shared cycling lane. The lanes are wider than normal lanes so that bikes and buses can ride side-by-side in the same lane.
• The new eastbound bus-only lane adjacent to Park Royal is from Pound Road in West Vancouver to the Taylor Way intersection. Cyclists are encouraged to use the dedicated bike lane on the Spirit Trail south of Park Royal Shopping Centre.
• Transit priority signal at Taylor Way and Marine Drive allows buses to pull ahead of regular traffic that is stopped at the intersection and proceed to the bus queue jump lane southbound onto the Lions Gate Bridge or across to North Vancouver.
• Sixty or more people on a bus will be able to get across the intersection at Taylor Way and Marine Drive in less than five seconds' time. If all of these passengers were in single occupant vehicles, it could take more than six minutes.
• A new, five-lane Marine Drive Overpass is open to accommodate the westbound buses.
• All buses in the Coast Mountain Bus Company and West Vancouver Transit ("Blue Bus") fleets are fully accessible, and also equipped with bike racks.
• In addition to the bus-only lanes, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure opened the new three-lane Capilano River Bridge to traffic in May and anticipates site reclamation to be complete this summer.
• More than four million trips by transit are taken across Lions Gate Bridge each year.
• The provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is working on the Marine Drive project with the District of North Vancouver, the District of West Vancouver and TransLink.
  
  The following contributions were made toward this $34-million project:
  
  
• Government of Canada's Infrastructure Stimulus Fund: $14.5 million
• Province of British Columbia: $18.5 million
• TransLink: $1 million.

Federal funding for this project was provided through the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund. As part of the Government of Canada's Economic Action Plan, the $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund is providing funding to more than 4,100 infrastructure projects across the country. Since March 2009, a total federal investment of over $506.4 million has been committed to more than 430 projects under this fund across British Columbia.

Learn More:

Visit the project website at: http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/highwayprojects/marine_drive_capilano/

For further information on the Government of Canada's infrastructure investments in British Columbia, visit: www.creatingjobs.gc.ca

To learn more about Canada's Economic Action Plan, visit: www.actionplan.gc.ca

For information on how transit priority operates visit: www.translink.ca/marinedrivetransitpriority

Contacts:

Jeff Knight
Communications Manager
Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure
250 356-7707

Infrastructure Canada
613 948-1148
1 877 250-7154 (toll-free)

Vanessa Schneider
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
613 991-0700

Drew Snider
Public Information Officer
TransLink
604 453-3054