Solutions for North Van’s legendary traffic
Traffic on Marine Drive at a busy time
I really don’t like being stuck in traffic in a car. That motivation led me to buy an e-bike in 2018, and I’ve been delighted with the freedom I feel while using it:
Freedom from having to be stuck in traffic
Freedom from worrying about parking
Freedom to travel up our hills with ease
Before that, in 2014, I wrote my own iPhone app, “HeadsUp Drive,” to help with driving through the Iron Worker’s Memorial Bridge traffic. I still use it every time I drive a car, so I genuinely don’t like being part of vehicle traffic.
People will tell you that adding more lanes to bridges, another bridge, or more lanes to the highway or streets are solutions to congestion. This is an understandable human impulse—to add more. Unfortunately, 75 years of highway building around North America have proven that this approach doesn’t work. It just results in more cars filling up those spaces through induced demand.
Here are some real solutions to traffic in North Vancouver:
1. Address housing affordability
A lot of the daily traffic that backs up North Vancouver consists of people commuting to work on the North Shore from across the bridge. By changing our zoning from 80% single-family homes to a lower number, we will do the most in the long term to improve our traffic issues. We also make it more likely our kids, friends, and friends not met yet will be able to live here - including the people who will provide the many services we enjoy. More on this here: Why Allow Any Development at All. In West Vancouver in 2021, they couldn’t find enough young people to be lifeguards at Ambleside. I see that as a warning to us if we don’t find ways to welcome new people to North Van.
2. Paint bus lanes now
Below is an image that encapsulates how we currently allocate our road space. Our rights of way are wide when you look at them, and collectively, we can make choices about how we allocate that space. A bus can take 50 people where they need to go. An average car caries 1.25 people. We should give buses dedicated space so they don’t have to wait in streets clogged by other vehicles. This will increase the number of people our roads can move, without needing to pave even more of our city.
Lots of space for vehicles. Not a lot for people walking.
3. Roll out bike lanes faster
Bike lanes give people options and freedom to travel even when the roads are clogged, as they also move more people per hour than car lanes. Bike lanes aren’t made for middle-aged men in spandex. They are for people 8 to 80 years old to get around the city and do what they need to do: get groceries, go to school, go to appointments. They often enable mobility for folks with mobility challenges. Let’s make our streets safer for people walking, taking transit, and biking - and let’s do it now!
4. Advocate to North Shore local governments
The good news is, a lot of this is already in process, and a lot of preliminary work has been done. What is needed is pushing our local governments to implement the solutions faster, - which means dedicating more budget to get them done.
The Official Community Plan (OCP) process, the Integrated North Shore Transportation Planning Project (INSTPP) process. and the local government partnership called North Shore Connects are examples of work that is largely done and ready to go. It’s political will that is needed to make it happen faster. Let’s get it done!
Actions You Can Take
Please Join our Mailing List - We're building a group of like-minded people who want to see the vision we've outlined on these pages. Our mailing list is not frequent (generally one per month) and always respectful. You can leave at any time.
Send an email to your city council with a link to this article asking them to allocate more budget to each of the solutions outlined above. Here are the addresses:
- District of North Vancouver: council@dnv.org
- City of North Vancouver: council@cnv.org
- West Vancouver: council@westvancouver.caVote in your municipal elections - the next one is Oct 2026. If you’ve joined our mailing list, we’ll aim to help with that if you want it.
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If this article resonates with you and your values, please sign-up for our mailing list. We're building a group of like-minded people who want to see the vision we've outlined on these pages. Our mailing list is not frequent (generally one per month) and always respectful. You can leave at any time.