This is my bridge. For most of my life, coming over Second Narrows let me know that I am home. After every long car trip (and even now, just driving to visit the folks), just over the hump of the bridge it would all come into view - the mountains and greenery and houses and familiar landmarks and the vista of Burrard Inlet. Reaching the bridge was gliding into home territory, a sigh of relief.
So why not five stars? Though I am sentimental about my bridge, certain parts of Second Narrows are far from perfect. (It's now officially the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, but I've always called it Second Narrows, no disrespect to the 19 men who died building the bridge.) I sure as hell won't bike over it: the sidewalks are terrifying - very narrow, with low handrails relative to the bike. I feel as though my handlebars might get caught in the railing while going downhill, potentially pitching me from the bike. It's a long way down! I see people biking on the bridge all the time, though, so I am probably paranoid. I have walked over the bridge a couple of times and found that almost pleasant.
The present bridge and most of its approaches were finished in 1960, so the entrances and exits are shorter than more modern highway design. They can be tricky, such as the yield at the on-ramp from Dollarton Highway where my mother just about had a heart attack when my sister, when learning to drive, merged straight into the speeding traffic, just barely averting tragedy.
That's another thing - if something major, like an accident, does happen on the bridge, it can bottle up traffic across the nearly the whole of North Van. That, I don't miss. But I love it when it works and I love it despite its quirks. read more