Hi everyone
We have a chance of a rental in Maple Ridge for 6 months. Can anyone give me:
1. An honest impression of Maple Ridge
2. How long it takes to drive to downtown
3. Are there good public transport links to downtown if needed

Thank you all!

Some info in red

Depends where in M.R. There are some OK rural areas, but it would not be my first (2nd or 3rd come to that) choice.

As has been said, the West Coast Express is the best way downtown. Driving in rush hours can be a nightmare at the best of time.

ooh er thanks for the post...after yours and el richo that kind of answers that then and confirms my suspicions!

I teach put at Pitt Meadows (just before the Ridge) a couple of times a week - I drive from near SFU (Burnaby) and always allow my self an hour - even in rush hour I usually have a 10 minutes to spare - Although if the traffic reports are bad I have been know to force my son to come so that I can use the HOV lane!

The HOV lane is great.

Maple Ridge itself is just a blob of sprawl east of vancouver - it aint pretty. The countryside is very nice though especially the bit between MR and Mission.

Take a look out along highway 7 as far as Mission. Nicer more rural area close to WCE.

<pedant mode>

There isn't a bit between Maple Ridge and Mission. They share a border.

</pedant mode>.

Not that it helps much right now, bit within the next three years, hwy 1 will be much, much better than it is now. the port man is being replaced and will go from two lanes to 5 each way with a dedicated bus lane and options to include light transit in the future.

http://www.pmh1project.com/

the hwy itself is being greatly expanded between vancouver and langley and will have 2 additional lanes each way.

it is also very likely that the evergreen line will be completed within the next 5 years which will also help.

10 years overdue as far as I'm concerned but I'm glad its finally being addressed.

Lets wait an see if it's any better. Highway one was not congested at all except for an hour or so 16 years ago, now getting over the bridge is just the first hurdle. East bound line ups go all the way out to Abbotsford on a bad day (most) and traffic volume is increasing all the time. There never used to be line ups on the weekend, now it is no better than the week days.

As it is going to be a toll route, the other access points may become more congested, such as the Deas Island tunnel + others. Throw in a few accidents, breakdowns and the looky loos.

The Golden Ears bridge to Pitt is great though, hardly anyone uses it!

The highway is only half the problem. Depending on the traffic it can take 45 minutes (or more) to get to the highway from say hastings/burrard and vice-versa. Widening the highway won't solve that problem.

What really need to happen is for the west coast express gets turned into a proper train service along the lines of something like the thames link in london. This will probably happen at some point given that the infrastructure is already there and sprawl will create the demand.

of course it will be better, alrhough I was surprised that it is only being upgraded to as far as Langley, they should take it out to the wack. As for hwy 1 it was bad years ago and i've been using it for 17 years. About 1996 ish was when they built the HOV lane which helped a little at the time. there have been no improvements since then.

Alan is right, the fact that vancouver has no hwy it is time consuming to get to the hwy as is the same for the southern communities. One thing i really like about north van is easy access to hwy

I agree. Allocate a chunk of the spending money to bring about some form of usable public transport through the wider area.

Time will tell.

well, i don't see how it could be any worse??? It will be twice as big as it is now between Langley and Vancouver.

Not the answer to all our problems but an improvement. I will be commuting between north van and surrey and it will benefit me, that much I'm sure.