Anyone who’s spent time on the North Shore knows that traffic is bad. But have you ever felt it was so bad it belongs in a museum?
The past, present and future of the region’s traffic is currently the subject of an exhibition at the Museum and Archives of North Vancouver dubbed “Are We There Yet,” diving into the future of sustainable travel.
Museum director Zoe Mackoff de Miranda said the North Shore’s transportation troubles are a result of the region’s desirability and its geography — with just two bridges to the rest of the mainland.
They’re also nothing new, as the exhibit proves.
“We also have a series of sort of political cartoons … from the 1970s that were in the local paper, really talking about the issue of congestion at that time, and you look at the cartoons, I mean, they could have been written yesterday,” she said.
“Getting that sort of perspective of how long this really has been a topic of conversation is really interesting, and it sort of puts a finer point on why we’re really reaching that inflection point of what are we all going to do to contribute to reducing congestion and make moving around more sustainable?”
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If you ask the North Vancouver RCMP, they’d probably agree those old cartoons are as relevant as ever.
Last week, the detachment set up at Keith and Lillooet roads, a notorious intersection feeding the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, where they doled out 60 traffic tickets in just five hours.
More than half of those tickets were to frustrated drivers pulling illegal U-turns in the hopes of getting on the bridge faster, said Const. Mansoor Sahak.
“We’re quite aware of the problems that congestion causes during rush hour, but people still have to be mindful that they are bound by the rules of the road and they still have to follow the rules, the signs,” he said.
“You could be stopped by our officers and be issued a fine. And that is what happened here, where they issued 60 tickets at just that one intersection in a span of five hours.”
There’s no quick fix or easy solution to the region’s transportation woes, but Mackoff de Miranda said part of the museum exhibit is to get people thinking and talking about a better future.
“There’s a combination of potential solutions, some of them will come through infrastructure, which different levels, both municipal and other levels of government, are really advocating for, whether that is either a third crossing, if that is additional rapid transit,” she said.
The exhibit includes a look at plans from the 1990s to twin the Lions Gate Bridge, a plan that obviously never came to fruition.
TransLink is currently planning to add a Bus Rapid Transit line to the North Shore, a specialized express bus line with traffic signal priority and station-style boarding platforms — but the project remains unfunded.
The prospect of a future SkyTrain line to the region is also frequently discussed, though it remains a dream at this point.
The three North Shore municipalities, along with its two First Nations, continue to work on the transit issue.
“With the amount of growth we’re seeing in the region, we haven’t been able to keep up with those investments,” City of North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan said.
Buchanan is also advocating for the aging Ironworkers bridge to be replaced.
“It’s not easy to build large bridges, but it’s time,” she said.
Mackoff de Miranda, meanwhile, said the challenges with infrastructure highlight the other half of the equation.
“Which is also, you know, the choices that we all make individually,” she said.
“That’s another part of what the exhibition really touches on is, you know, even if we do increase the infrastructure, it’s about the choices that people make of how we can move around consciously and sustainably,” she said.
“Are We There Yet? The Sustainable Transportation Journey” runs at the Museum and Archives of North Vancouver until Feb. 28, 2026.
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