Mark (he/him)
@markedwardson.com
Civil engineering, transit, active transportation, housing, and Civ 6 shill | @WilfulAlpaca on twitter. | Vancouver/Victoria
And you were telling me the other day that you thought Cypress should be de-signed!
February 14, 2026 at 4:52 AM
And you were telling me the other day that you thought Cypress should be de-signed!
Reposted by Mark (he/him)
The prefab pessimist line seems to be that because a series of prefab firms have failed that the underlying conditions are immutable.
I don't expect venture-backed firms to be able to change fragmented codes and approval processes. That's the job of researchers and advocates.
I don't expect venture-backed firms to be able to change fragmented codes and approval processes. That's the job of researchers and advocates.
February 11, 2026 at 3:51 PM
The prefab pessimist line seems to be that because a series of prefab firms have failed that the underlying conditions are immutable.
I don't expect venture-backed firms to be able to change fragmented codes and approval processes. That's the job of researchers and advocates.
I don't expect venture-backed firms to be able to change fragmented codes and approval processes. That's the job of researchers and advocates.
Reposted by Mark (he/him)
YIMBYs and urbanists often make the point that you should let people live where they want: near jobs, schools and amenities. I'd like to make a special case for Canada: we should let people live where the weather is good!
open.substack.com/pub/carboncr...
open.substack.com/pub/carboncr...
Canada has exactly one city with good weather and it’s too tiny
Or how to cure thousands of Canadians of Seasonal Affective Disorder
open.substack.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:38 AM
YIMBYs and urbanists often make the point that you should let people live where they want: near jobs, schools and amenities. I'd like to make a special case for Canada: we should let people live where the weather is good!
open.substack.com/pub/carboncr...
open.substack.com/pub/carboncr...
The lack of rain protection at the Bute St plaza really sucks, a pergola that lets you get soaked is the epitome of no fun city imo
February 10, 2026 at 6:27 AM
The lack of rain protection at the Bute St plaza really sucks, a pergola that lets you get soaked is the epitome of no fun city imo
til one early plan (2002) for the Canada Line involved boring the whole thing, *under* a future M-Line extension
Also a Nelson station sure would have been nice for me personally
www.projects.eao.gov.bc.ca/p/58851099aa...
Also a Nelson station sure would have been nice for me personally
www.projects.eao.gov.bc.ca/p/58851099aa...
February 8, 2026 at 8:10 AM
til one early plan (2002) for the Canada Line involved boring the whole thing, *under* a future M-Line extension
Also a Nelson station sure would have been nice for me personally
www.projects.eao.gov.bc.ca/p/58851099aa...
Also a Nelson station sure would have been nice for me personally
www.projects.eao.gov.bc.ca/p/58851099aa...
> recreational routes
Which ones?
Which ones?
February 8, 2026 at 1:28 AM
> recreational routes
Which ones?
Which ones?
Reposted by Mark (he/him)
The main span of the Casano-Loutet overpass was installed this week and can be seen on the DriveBC highway camera. The pedestrian and cycling overpass is expected to be completed in July.
#NorthVancouver #BikeYVR
#NorthVancouver #BikeYVR
February 8, 2026 at 12:29 AM
The main span of the Casano-Loutet overpass was installed this week and can be seen on the DriveBC highway camera. The pedestrian and cycling overpass is expected to be completed in July.
#NorthVancouver #BikeYVR
#NorthVancouver #BikeYVR
In theory CAN-BICS excludes these streets
I did a quick poke around the data and it does seem to exclude the most blatant "bike routes" with no safety measures beyond wayfinding (grey lines are labeled non-conforming)
www.arcgis.com/apps/mapview...
I did a quick poke around the data and it does seem to exclude the most blatant "bike routes" with no safety measures beyond wayfinding (grey lines are labeled non-conforming)
www.arcgis.com/apps/mapview...
February 7, 2026 at 7:22 PM
In theory CAN-BICS excludes these streets
I did a quick poke around the data and it does seem to exclude the most blatant "bike routes" with no safety measures beyond wayfinding (grey lines are labeled non-conforming)
www.arcgis.com/apps/mapview...
I did a quick poke around the data and it does seem to exclude the most blatant "bike routes" with no safety measures beyond wayfinding (grey lines are labeled non-conforming)
www.arcgis.com/apps/mapview...
I've been spending more time biking in Burnaby recently and while it's impressive how much more protected infra they've built in the suburbs (compared to Vancouver outside downtown) you definitely also feel the limitations
February 7, 2026 at 7:03 PM
I've been spending more time biking in Burnaby recently and while it's impressive how much more protected infra they've built in the suburbs (compared to Vancouver outside downtown) you definitely also feel the limitations
guy who supports saanich-victoria amalgamation so our CSD is bigger, allowing for more equal comparisons between peer cities
February 7, 2026 at 7:00 PM
guy who supports saanich-victoria amalgamation so our CSD is bigger, allowing for more equal comparisons between peer cities
Not really surprising but in the aggregate this is true for the country; the, err, market share for MUPs has grown
February 7, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Not really surprising but in the aggregate this is true for the country; the, err, market share for MUPs has grown
I think the hand-wringing over voters blaming the Feds for a major, nation-wide crisis is overwrought tbh. If the voters want a strong federal government to solve this issue we should manifest one
February 7, 2026 at 6:26 PM
I think the hand-wringing over voters blaming the Feds for a major, nation-wide crisis is overwrought tbh. If the voters want a strong federal government to solve this issue we should manifest one
Interesting point about value engineering
February 7, 2026 at 5:05 AM
Interesting point about value engineering
Like I honestly can't tell if it's for site grading reasons (at least some of these have level entrances on the rear) or just a weird aesthetic choice CoV is making?
February 7, 2026 at 5:00 AM
Like I honestly can't tell if it's for site grading reasons (at least some of these have level entrances on the rear) or just a weird aesthetic choice CoV is making?
Something I don't get, why are there a surprising number of townhouses with _porches_ as part of large developments in Vancouver? This seems really bad for accessibility and convenience?
February 7, 2026 at 4:57 AM
Something I don't get, why are there a surprising number of townhouses with _porches_ as part of large developments in Vancouver? This seems really bad for accessibility and convenience?
Also links to a report published by the UITP which claims that automation reduces Opex costs by 15-30%
www.uitp.org/publications...
www.uitp.org/publications...
February 7, 2026 at 4:38 AM
Also links to a report published by the UITP which claims that automation reduces Opex costs by 15-30%
www.uitp.org/publications...
www.uitp.org/publications...
Train specs for the Canada line were less than 10% the length of the specs for the Eglinton Line
February 7, 2026 at 4:35 AM
Train specs for the Canada line were less than 10% the length of the specs for the Eglinton Line
Kinda fascinating claim about NA train crash standards, hadn't read this argument before
February 7, 2026 at 4:32 AM
Kinda fascinating claim about NA train crash standards, hadn't read this argument before
Reposted by Mark (he/him)
Our crew-built work is one big way that we’re delivering the Seattle Transportation Levy.
By using in-house construction crews, we complete improvements that you’ve requested with lower costs and faster timelines.
Here are 9 recently completed projects from our inspector’s camera roll:
By using in-house construction crews, we complete improvements that you’ve requested with lower costs and faster timelines.
Here are 9 recently completed projects from our inspector’s camera roll:
February 4, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Our crew-built work is one big way that we’re delivering the Seattle Transportation Levy.
By using in-house construction crews, we complete improvements that you’ve requested with lower costs and faster timelines.
Here are 9 recently completed projects from our inspector’s camera roll:
By using in-house construction crews, we complete improvements that you’ve requested with lower costs and faster timelines.
Here are 9 recently completed projects from our inspector’s camera roll:
Reposted by Mark (he/him)
Fireworks back at English Bay after Vancouver puts up $2 million vancouversun.com/news/firewor...
February 5, 2026 at 3:30 AM
Fireworks back at English Bay after Vancouver puts up $2 million vancouversun.com/news/firewor...
I know what you mean but the profession could indeed benefit from a greater sense of mortality as well (whom amongst us wouldn't?)
February 4, 2026 at 7:59 AM
I know what you mean but the profession could indeed benefit from a greater sense of mortality as well (whom amongst us wouldn't?)
Reposted by Mark (he/him)
In a big city where people live in apartments it’s not a frivolity that people can come visit and have a place to stay. As my friend @grids.reillywood.com has previously pointed out, an exceptionally egregious example is B.C. Women’s and Children’s Hospital
February 4, 2026 at 2:15 AM
In a big city where people live in apartments it’s not a frivolity that people can come visit and have a place to stay. As my friend @grids.reillywood.com has previously pointed out, an exceptionally egregious example is B.C. Women’s and Children’s Hospital
This is super cool, nicely done
Did notice that for some reason the map of Tirano is missing an entire railway haha, not sure if it's because of how it's encoded in OSM or something about how your script searches for features (or if I'm just using it wrong)
Did notice that for some reason the map of Tirano is missing an entire railway haha, not sure if it's because of how it's encoded in OSM or something about how your script searches for features (or if I'm just using it wrong)
February 2, 2026 at 2:12 AM
This is super cool, nicely done
Did notice that for some reason the map of Tirano is missing an entire railway haha, not sure if it's because of how it's encoded in OSM or something about how your script searches for features (or if I'm just using it wrong)
Did notice that for some reason the map of Tirano is missing an entire railway haha, not sure if it's because of how it's encoded in OSM or something about how your script searches for features (or if I'm just using it wrong)
Reposted by Mark (he/him)
Here is what I've been doing this past week: git.olaren.dev/Olaren/mapto...
A little python program that generates poster for cities! You might have seen stuff like this around lately, but I modified it to put an emphasis on rail infrastructure :3
A little python program that generates poster for cities! You might have seen stuff like this around lately, but I modified it to put an emphasis on rail infrastructure :3
January 25, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Here is what I've been doing this past week: git.olaren.dev/Olaren/mapto...
A little python program that generates poster for cities! You might have seen stuff like this around lately, but I modified it to put an emphasis on rail infrastructure :3
A little python program that generates poster for cities! You might have seen stuff like this around lately, but I modified it to put an emphasis on rail infrastructure :3
uh side note but do you have a copy of the actual plan? Haven't been able to find it online (but thanks @bromptonymous.ca for the map)
January 30, 2026 at 9:02 AM
uh side note but do you have a copy of the actual plan? Haven't been able to find it online (but thanks @bromptonymous.ca for the map)