Most notorious places drivers get stuck when it snows in Metro Vancouver
Claire Fenton Nov 28 2022, 7:09 pm
AAresTT/Shutterstock | Darcy Matheson/Daily Hive | Caley Dimmock/Daily Hive
Navigating Metro Vancouver on a snow day usually follows a pretty predictable pattern.
Whether you’re driving or taking public transit — there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to be a mess.
But before we throw too much shade at drivers themselves, a lot of the frustrations have more to do with terrain and less to do with talent.
See if you can figure out which is which.
We’ve rounded up some spots in Metro Vancouver that have become notorious traps for motorists to get stuck, stranded, or slip when the snow falls in the region.
Vancouver – Granville Street Bridge
Photos like these bring up the question each year, “Why don’t transit buses have snow tires?” as one after another the buses struggle to get up, spin out, and stall at this stretch on the Granville Street Bridge. While the photo of this happening during the January 2020 snowstorm was among the worst, it serves as a chilling reminder to bring a pair of gloves in case you end up having to walk to work as a result of your bus not making it up the hill.
Other honourable mentions: Vancouver’s Oak Street and 70 Street in the Marpole neighbourhood — also a classic stuck-bus spot in the city.
February 10, 2021 (Darcy Matheson/Daily Hive)
Plus, Broadway near Fraser Street.
Port Mann and Alex Fraser bridges
Workers on the Port Mann Bridge, with ice flows on the Fraser River below. (Ministry of Transportation/Twitter)
While the bridges themselves are no more treacherous than other routes, it’s what is falling from above that gives drivers the biggest cause for concern. In recent years there have been a series of ice bomb incidents, prompting expensive ICBC claims, as well as some near-death experiences. You can’t blame the drivers for this one!
Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus
Oh SFU students, you overcome so many obstacles to get to class on a snow day that other students at lower-elevation institutions just don’t have to face.
When it comes to the conditions on this hill, it’s hard to find another one in the region to compare it to. But what makes it even more intense is that when the cars spin out, the buses stall and service is cancelled often times students will still walk the 4+ km route up the mountain in the snow to make it to class.
Surrey/Delta – Highway 10 and Scott Road/120 Street
This massive hill appears to be a place where many drivers learn too late that you shouldn’t slow down when you are driving up a hill in the snow. Momentum is your friend!
On snow days, this backup leads to traffic mess throughout several blocks on and off Highway 10 through Surrey, as well as on Highway 91 and Ladner Trunk Road in Delta.
Burnaby – Burris Street just before Canada Way
This route is a major one for SFU students as the 144 SFU bus goes along that way from Metro Town. We don’t know this to be true, but maybe the SFU gondola was dreamed up while some passenger was stuck on this bus time and time again throughout the winter months on this stretch.
All cities: Side streets
Caley Dimmock/Daily Hive
Side streets are the lower priority routes, meaning that while the highway might be ploughed, your block might not. Lanes are even lower down on the list. Despite this being a pretty constant strategy in the hours following a heavy snow event, some risk it anyway to mixed results.
One example was in 2017 when a total of 10 cars crashed on a steep one-block span on East 29th Avenue, a residential side street, from Nanaimo to Kamloops streets in East Vancouver.
Conditions were so slippery that VPD showed up to close the street and an officer was filmed accidentally going for a skate down the icy road.
Okay, joking aside, these communities are very hilly and are not the place for new winter drivers to test their limits. Areas like Westwood Plateau are also higher up in elevation, so while it might be raining in other cities like White Rock, it might be dumping snow up there – leaving some drivers to be shocked that seasons have practically changed during their hour-long commutes.