The Pitt Meadows bus stop voted the ‘sorriest’ in North America is getting fixed on Wednesday morning.
In an online voting contest, the Lougheed Highway bus stop located in the westbound lane just before the highway crosses the Pitt River Bridge was voted the worst. It serves Translink’s 701 and 791 buses.
Now there will be a new bus stop pad to remove passengers from traffic, and allow them to “safely wait for, board from and disembark on a protected sidewalk,” said Mainroad Group, the contractor in charge of maintaining that stretch of highway.
The contest styled the bus stop “a scary situation on the outskirts of Vancouver,” and it was deemed worse than three other finalist sorry bus stops in the U.S. when the contest ended in September 2018.
“There was something about Vancouver’s abomination that stood out. Maybe it was the sad guy in the white shirt. Maybe it was the ugly jersey barrier. Maybe it was just the desolation,” wrote Gersh Kuntzman of Streetsblog.org when the annual contest ended in September. Streetsblog promotes improved walking, biking and transit.
The Pitt Meadows bus stop location is the property of BC’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, and TransLink worked with the ministry to address the problems.
The work on the site is taking place until 2 p.m. on Wednesday, closing the westbound HOV lane of the Lougheed Highway near Old Dewdney Trunk Road.
The existing bus stop will be temporarily relocated approximately 100 metres west of the current location. The bike and pedestrian path will be closed with a detour in place.