It was a celebration, although I'm not so sure it warranted one.
Last Wednesday in Burnaby, politicians got together with SkyTrain officials to mark the 25th anniversary of rapid transit in the Lower Mainland. Grace McCarthy, a cabinet minister in Bill Bennett's Social Credit government that brought us SkyTrain, was on hand for the occasion, remarking, "Opening SkyTrain in 1986 was a defining moment for Metro Vancouver."
I tend to agree with her, although not necessarily in a good way.
A quarter of a century later, we have a measly three rapid transit lines in Greater Vancouver that provide a grand total a 68 kilometres of track. That's roughly the distance between Tsawwassen and the Abbotsford Airport, provided you take the 16th Avenue route and not the longer way via Highway 1.
In other words, it's not a lot to show for 25 years and billions of dollars worth of rapid transit construction.
It's obvious the model chosen for Greater Vancouver is prohibitively expensive, and although there's no denying the service SkyTrain provides is fantastic, the issue is with its limited scope.
It seems to me that after a quarter of a century we should have more than 68 kilometres worth of rapid transit, but perhaps I'm just too impatient and good things come to those who wait. After all, big projects like this don't get done overnight.
Figuring that's likely the case, I looked at the timelines of some of the most significant infrastructure work just to make myself feel better.
It took five long years to expand the Canadian Pacific Railway from Ontario to B.C., but that was back in the 1880s, so you've got to think the technology was better and the only real obstacle they had to deal with were those pesky Rockies.
It took a whopping 10 years to build the Panama Canal, but again, that was a century ago, so I'm sure moving earth was a snap at that time. The four years it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge probably isn't a fair comparison because it was done as recently as the 1930s and the two decades it took to construct the Great Pyramid in 2570 BC likely seemed a lot longer because a person's lifespan was so much shorter then.
As for present-day Greater Vancouverites, well, we've got the Evergreen Line to look forward to -- as long as we can figure out a way to pay for it. And who knows, 25 years from now, when SkyTrain celebrates its golden anniversary, we just might have another 68 kilometres in the system.
