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Vancouver Traffic Tips |
Vancouver has 2 main freeways leading into it, Hwy 99
comes from the US Border and Richmond BC crossing over the Oak Street bridge and
turning into a city street Oak Street. To get to downtown Vancouver you must
turn left anywhere between 70th and 4th ave and get over to Granville Street
which will take you over the bridge to downtown.
The 2nd freeway Hwy #1 comes in from east the town of Hope, and the interior of
BC, it carries on through Burnaby and Vancouver heading over the Iron Workers
Memorial bridge to North Vancouver, West Vancouver , Horseshoe Bay and
eventually Whistler BC.
Vancouver has a great public transit system with not only buses but a Sky train
system that come in from the east and connects Surrey to New Westminster, Burnaby
and on in to downtown Vancouver. there is also the Canada Line (under
construction till 2009) which comes in from the South at the Vancouver Airport
and Richmond.
One thing you may notice is that Canadians in general are very courteous drivers
often allowing traffic to merge, a quick wave to one of those generous drivers
goes along way and probably a break somewhere else in return.
Traffic like everywhere else is can get congested especially in the early
morning commute or at the end of the work day heading home. Vancouver has a 24
hour traffic station 730 am on your radio to keep drivers headed in the right
direction.
If you are going to drive around in Vancouver then it's a good thing to be aware
of some traffic rules. Unless there is a sign to the contrary, you may turn
right at a RED traffic light. You must always come to a complete stop and check
that the way is clear before making a right turn on a red light. And always
watch out if there are specific right turning traffic lights, then you have to
wait until you can turn.
If you are planning to drive in downtown Vancouver, it might be a good idea to
get a good map and figure out your drive before you are going. Most streets in
downtown Vancouver are one way streets. Keep your eyes open for the white arrows
by the street name signs and traffic light. It will show you which way you can go
or not.
When you park in Vancouver, then make sure where ever you park that you don't
leave any valuable things in sight. The best is to stick everything in your
trunk or just take it in with you. From the moment you leave things in sight,
you might get robbed. So be aware of this and keep everything out of sight.
Parking in the downtown core is to say the least, unpleasant. The closer you are
to important areas of downtown the number of available parking spaces declines
exponentially. My recommendation is to take the bus into downtown or take the
sky train and stop somewhere central (Granville & Robson) and explore the
downtown core by foot. This will save you the headache and frustration of
finding an open spot not to mention more than a few dollars that can be better
spent elsewhere. |
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