General Road and Highway Discussion

[danbrotherston]

Maybe it's also time to have a conversation about how to make existing industrial zones more dense? Surely there are ways to create multi-story factories that weren't in the middle of a big green space? Didn't we do that once around here? (he asks tongue firmly in cheek)

You're not going to see many/any multi story factories performing the type of manufacturing that occurs in this region. Machines need to be installed on thick concrete slabs if you want to hold any reasonably tight tolerance (such as auto, aerospace, nuclear and medical manufacturing industries). I'm sure it's possible, but it's much cheaper to move somewhere where the factory can sprawl.

It is always cheaper to sprawl because most of the costs of sprawl are borne not by the developer, but instead by the occupants and society at large. This is true for factories, housing, everything.

As for tight tolerance manufacturing, UW Nanotech centre has a nanometer scale silicon chip fabrication facility on some floor (not the ground floor) of the building. The main obstacle for the facility was not the location in the building or even the high number of people in the building, but simply the vehicle traffic on Ring Rd causing vibrations.