The Vancouver Island fixed link is any of various proposals to construct a fixed link by bridges, tunnels, and/or causeways across the Strait of Georgia, which connects Vancouver Island to the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The strait has a minimum width of 19.4 km (12.05 mi) between Galiano Island and the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal. [1]
The idea of constructing a fixed link has existed since the late 1800s.[ citation needed ]
Public support for a fixed link resurfaced following a strike by employees of CP Steamships and the Black Ball Line in 1958 and the subsequent establishment of BC Ferries in 1960. Support again resurfaced after controversial fare hikes in 1976. [2] This led to a variety of studies to be published examining the feasibility of constructing a fixed link. [3]
A series of controversial fare hikes during the financial crisis of 2007–2008 again stoked calls for a fixed link. [2] [3]
Various studies were conducted throughout the 1980s and the 1990s to assess the feasibility of constructing a fixed link between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland across the strait. Proposals varied greatly in length and used one or more of the northern Gulf Islands as an anchorage point. Fixed link designs have included a bored tunnel, a submerged floating tunnel, a floating bridge, or a cable-stayed bridge. [1]
Challenges to establishing a fixed link include the presence of large cargo ships in the area; the depth of the Georgia Strait (up to 365 m deep); the depth of soft sediments found on the ocean bed (up to 450 m thick); potential marine slope instabilities along the eastern side of the strait; extreme wave conditions (4-7 m waves, with 6 m tides and 2-knot current), extreme wind speeds (up to 115 km/h, with gusts up to 180 km/h); seasonal fog, snow, and ice accumulation on the structure; and the high seismic activity of the region. No fixed bridges or tunnels exist in the world that meet those challenging conditions. [1]
Supporters see a fixed-link as an opportunity to boost tourism and stimulate economic growth on Vancouver Island. Depending on the specific alignment, a fixed-link would shorten travel times by replacing one or more of BC Ferries' routes between the island and Lower Mainland. Former B.C. cabinet minister Dr. Patrick McGeer (1927-2022) was an outspoken supporter of a fixed link. [3] [4]
Opponents argue that improving the speed and reliability of BC Ferries service across the strait would eliminate the need for a fixed link. There are also concerns that the construction of a fixed link will result in further urbanization of the island and that the area's environment will be negatively affected by construction and increased tourism. The idea of a fixed link has formal opposition in the form of an Islands Trust policy banning the building of any bridges or tunnels connecting the Gulf Islands to the Lower Mainland or Vancouver Island. [5]
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 456 km (283 mi) in length, 100 km (62 mi) in width at its widest point, and 32,100 km2 (12,400 sq mi) in total area, while 31,285 km2 (12,079 sq mi) are of land. The island is the largest by area and the most populous along the west coasts of the Americas.
The Strait of Belle Isle is a waterway in eastern Canada that separates the Labrador Peninsula from the island of Newfoundland, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Confederation Bridge is a box girder bridge carrying the Trans-Canada Highway across the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait, linking the province of Prince Edward Island with the mainland province of New Brunswick. Opened May 31, 1997, the 12.9-kilometre (8.0 mi) bridge is Canada's longest bridge and the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water.
The Palk Strait is a strait between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Jaffna District of the Northern Province of the island nation of Sri Lanka. It connects the Bay of Bengal in the northeast with Palk Bay in the southwest. It is 40 to 85 miles wide and 85 miles long. Several rivers flow into it, including the Vaigai River of Tamil Nadu. The strait is named after Robert Palk, who was a governor of Madras (1755–1763) during the Company Raj period.
The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada, and the extreme northwestern mainland coast of Washington, United States. It is approximately 240 kilometres (150 mi) long and varies in width from 20 to 58 kilometres. Along with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, it is a constituent part of the Salish Sea.
The Gulf Islands is a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia.
Highway 17 is a provincial highway in British Columbia, Canada. It comprises two separate sections connected by a ferry link. The Vancouver Island section is known as the Patricia Bay Highway and connects Victoria to the Swartz Bay ferry terminal in North Saanich. The Lower Mainland section is known as the South Fraser Perimeter Road and connects the Tsawwassen ferry terminal to Delta and Surrey, terminating at an interchange with Highway 1 in the Fraser Valley.
British Columbia Highway 101, also known as the Sunshine Coast Highway, is the main north–south thoroughfare on the Sunshine Coast, British Columbia, Canada.
Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, which is part of the larger Georgia Strait between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. With two intervening long, steep-sided fjords inhibiting the construction of a contiguous road connection with Vancouver to the south, geographical surroundings explain Powell River's remoteness as a community, despite relative proximity to Vancouver and other populous areas of the BC Coast. The city is the location of the head office of the qathet Regional District.
The Sunshine Coast is a geographic subregion of the British Columbia Coast that generally comprises the regional districts of qathet and Sunshine Coast.
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The Newfoundland–Labrador fixed link is any of various proposals for constructing a fixed link consisting of a combination of bridges, tunnels, or causeways across the Strait of Belle Isle, connecting the province of Newfoundland and Labrador's mainland Labrador region with the island of Newfoundland. This strait has a minimum width of 17.4 km.
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The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada along the Pacific Ocean is in the province, it is synonymous with being the West Coast of Canada.
An underwater tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under the sea or a river. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is unviable, or to provide competition or relief for existing bridges or ferry links. While short tunnels are often road tunnels which may admit motorized traffic, unmotorized traffic or both, concerns with ventilation lead to the longest tunnels being electrified rail tunnels.
Tsawwassen is a ferry terminal and a major transportation facility in Delta, British Columbia, part of the BC Ferries system and Highway 17. Positioned less than 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the 49th parallel along the Canada–United States border, it is located at the southwestern end of a 2-kilometre (1 mi) causeway that juts out into the Strait of Georgia off the mainland at the community of Tsawwassen. With an approximate size of 23 hectares, it is the largest ferry terminal in North America.
A fixed link or fixed crossing is a permanent, unbroken road or rail connection across water that uses some combination of bridges, tunnels, and causeways and does not involve intermittent connections such as drawbridges or ferries. A bridge–tunnel combination is commonly used for major fixed links.
There are a number of proposed fixed connections—road or rail, bridge or tunnel—designed to connect the islands of Ireland and Great Britain, connect the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe, as well as to build other connections amongst the smaller islands in the British Islands.
The Sakhalin Tunnel is an incomplete and currently indefinitely postponed construction project, which after completion would have connected the island of Sakhalin with mainland Russia via a tunnel of approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) under the Nevelskoy Strait.