Driving was made nearly impossible for many commuters during Tuesday’s first major snowstorm of the season. Photo by Cassidy

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Tuesday’s blizzard destroyed freeways and bypasses around Metro Vancouver in chaos for commuters. Many readers shared their stories of trying to navigate their way home as snow piled up, bridges and major thoroughfares became virtual parking lots and people found themselves stuck in hours-long waits around the Lower Mainland. Here are some of the best (worst):

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Jill Fiddler: Annacis Island in Surrey

My experience was a complete nightmare. I work in Annacis Island and finished work at 4pm. i got home at 2:30 am on Wednesday. What should have been a 20 minute drive turned out to be a 10 ½ hour commute. I have lived here most of my life and have never seen or experienced this. All the bridges were closed at one point and if it hadn’t been for the AM730 radio traffic bulletin I would never have made it home. Their advice to take the Golden Ears Bridge to get to Surrey was the best advice I ever got. The city not preparing and the drivers who decided to face the storm in unprepared cars were definitely the biggest problems. I am home safely now, but my heart goes out to the other commuters who experienced the same trauma. When I got home at 2:30am, there were many drivers still on the road waiting to go home. I hope they all make it home safe and sound.

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Amy Colasi was on an unexpected six-hour drive from downtown Vancouver to Surrey. Got home safe and sound at 11:30pm This is on the Port Mann Bridge where cars were literally parked, not moving most of the time. Absolute chaos. “I really needed to pee, but I couldn’t hold it until I got home.” Photo by Submitted

Mike Redhead: Richmond to New West

My 16km journey took nine hours! I left No. 6 Road at Cambie in Richmond at 4:45 p.m. and tried for 45 minutes to get onto highway 91. But it was stopped, so I turned around and headed along River Road. Big mistake! When they closed the Queensborough Connector, everyone turned away from the Queensborough byways to try to get back to the bridge at Boyd Street. This had eight lanes of traffic from different directions channeled into one lane on the ramp. The road surface up to and over the bridge was ice. Even with ice/snow tires, I was sliding sideways on the road. There is no way that road was salted that day. The bridge was full of twisted buses and semi-trucks (don’t they carry chains anymore?).

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I arrived home in New Westminster at 1:45 am. The utter ineptitude of the city and road maintenance is shocking.

Adrian Glover: Delta to Surrey

My route was from Delta to Surrey. It usually takes less than 20 minutes, if there is minimal traffic it is less than 15. Yesterday it was almost seven hours. I drove up the 10 freeway from Delta and was stopped at the 91 freeway interchange where I sat for several hours. I saw some vehicles that had a chance to go up the hill not make it and fall back, so I put on my chains to make sure I could make it. When I got to the front of the line, I was redirected by Delta Police to get off the 91 freeway and onto 72nd Avenue. When I got down there, the lineup for the 72nd exit was backed up to 64th, so I decided to continue on to Nordel Way, where my wait was much shorter and I was able to get home about 30 minutes after exiting the freeway.

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Annette Kozicki: New West to Richmond

It took my husband and seven-year-old son 12 hours to get home from taekwondo. Was at 4 Elements in Queensboro yesterday, tried to get on Hwy 91 to get home to North Delta and couldn’t, so drove to Richmond to at least fill up the tank. They then sat on 91 from 11 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., and finally arrived home shortly after 6 a.m. Wednesday. They saw dozens of cars abandoned. Elizabeth Lee’s report on her arrival home in Tsawwassen. Average speed: 5 km/h. Photo by Submitted

Elizabeth Lee: Vancouver to Tsawwassen

I drove from Burrard and West 7th Avenue to Tsawwassen. I left at 5:50pm. and got home at 1:02 am. The picture from my dash does not include the time I did not move when the tunnel was closed. Note the average speed for driving 32 km. No food, no drinks, back spasms. No joke.

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Coreen Miller: Burnaby to Vancouver

Driving home from work is usually my favorite part of my day. The anticipation of a hot meal to share with my husband, and kisses and cuddles with my fur babies. Because of my job, I wasn’t able to leave early like some who might have had that luxury. Last night’s commute was far from ordinary. I knew with the snow warning to expect delays, but this time it was outrageous. I left Burnaby at 6 p.m. and pulled into our apartment garage at 1:51 am. Yes, a few minutes before an eight hour drive, on a drive that takes me 40 minutes on average. This experience was unlike any other. It was emotional, tiring and traumatic. The highway was littered with abandoned cars and trucks. The bridge was down to one lane, so you could imagine the chaos of four lanes of frustration and exhausted drivers merging into one. My foot went numb from pressing the gas pedal to the constant braking.

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I was left without water or food and I know I wasn’t alone in this. In seven hours I could barely keep my eyes open. It felt like a bad dream or something you would see in the movies. To say I’m disappointed with the city of Vancouver is an understatement. A snowfall should not make us part.

Geoff Parker: Vancouver to South Surrey

My wife left at 7:15 p.m. from BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. He got home around 3:30 am. in South Surrey. Highway 99 was a parking lot.

Hiroshi Takahashi: Coquitlam to Tsawwassen

Well, it was a very long drive from Princess Auto Coquitlam. I checked out at 4:08pm so I figured I could make a quick stop at the Lowe’s across the street and then head home to Tsawwassen. I sat in a lineup for a couple of hours, only to find out that the Queensborough Bridge was closed. It was now about 7pm. I ended up heading west along Marine Way and stopped in for a quick bite. I watched cars attempting the hill at Boundary: about 40 cars were stuck in the first 50m.

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Crossed Knight Street Bridge, then headed up Bridgeport Street and down No. 5 to Westminster. I had just gotten on the 99 freeway when I heard the tunnel was closed. I would have to get off at Steveston to turn around and then cross the Knight Bridge to get to 49th Avenue to use the freeway to get to 152nd and then get back on the 17 freeway. Until I finally got near Steveston , the tunnel was open with a single lane. Why wasn’t this lane available earlier? Why was the oncoming lane not opened for this emergency? I finally got out to Tsawwassen at about 1:40am. I mapped the trip on Wednesday morning and it says it should take about an hour during rush hour, not 9½ hours. Grrr.

Jianmin Cui: Annacis Island to Richmond

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I live in Richmond and drive to Annacis Island for work at night. I was stuck on Westminster Road near Richmond Auto Mall for about an hour. Then I turned back and tried the 91 freeway and got stuck near the Knight Street bridge for another hour. Finally I gave up and turned back through Knight on Bridgeport Street and made my way home near No. 2. The government had a very slow reaction to this storm and it led to this traffic chaos throughout the night. It was a storm everyone knew was coming.

Richard Ewing: Vancouver in South Surrey

I used to work in Dunbar and live in South Surrey. Google maps said a two hour drive home, so I went to dinner and a movie at a friend’s in Marpole. At 22:45 he said 50 minutes so we headed home. It took two hours to get to a small block in Richmond heading for the Massey Tunnel. After three hours I heard on AM730 that people were waiting up to 10 hours and that a long scenic bypass would be faster.

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