Southbound
LIVEClear
+2 minextra over a clear run
- Clear (current)
- Slow
- Congested
- Heavy
- Severe
About usual for this time
Marine / Capilano to Georgia / Burrard.
Channel updated 8:54 AM Vancouver
Southbound Clear +2 min
Northbound, on the bridge NO_DATA
LIVE
Updated Nov 11, 2026, 8:55 AM Vancouver time
Lions Gate Bridge · Vancouver
Lions Gate Bridge traffic now
Two directions. What is happening right now.
Southbound: Clear, 2 extra minutes. Fresh reading; delays are estimates. Northbound (on the bridge, not the Causeway queue): NO_DATA — no current reading. No active incidents reported in this feed. Centre lane night closure estimate: usual start range 11:30 PM–12:30 AM (Vancouver time). Usual opening of the centre lane after a closure overnight: about 6:00 AM on weekdays (southbound first), 7:40 to 8:50 AM on Saturdays (northbound first), 7:30 to 9:30 AM on Sundays (often northbound) and 7:00 to 8:45 AM on public holidays. This is a historical pattern of the centre lane, not a confirmed closure or a promise. Centre lane runs north: two lanes north, one south. No change expected before 9:25 AM. Updated Nov 11, 2026, 8:55 AM Vancouver time.
Updated
Traffic estimates from the latest feed.
Northbound
NO_DATANo data
—No reading available
- Clear
- Slow
- Congested
- Heavy
- Severe
Usual comparison unavailable
On the bridge · not the Causeway queue.
Channel updated Unknown Vancouver
No incidents reported in this feed.
Prospect Point at dusk · Artist’s impression© Lions Gate Bridge Museum · lionsgatebridge.org
Lanes and queue
Schematic 3D view
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Schematic 3D view. Traffic: ATIS lane signals and detectors, DriveBC, Lions Gate Bridge Museum estimates. Map: roads and coastline © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); heights LidarBC and CDED (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
All times are Vancouver time. Last update: Nov 11, 2026, 8:55 AM Vancouver time.
Cameras
Cameras by DriveBC. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.
Live picture unavailable. Use the DriveBC link below.
Stanley Park Causeway
Image: DriveBC, Province of British Columbia
Live picture unavailable. Use the DriveBC link below.
Bridge north end, looking south
Image: DriveBC, Province of British Columbia
Live picture unavailable. Use the DriveBC link below.
Bridge north end, looking north
Image: DriveBC, Province of British ColumbiaSouthbound
The next 3 hours
The thick line is the most likely delay. The shaded band is the range it is likely to stay in. The dashed line is what is usual at this time.
How accurate are these forecasts?
Most likelyLikely rangeUsual
View the numbers
| Time | Likely low | Most likely | Likely high | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:45 AM | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| 9:00 AM | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| 9:15 AM | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 |
| 9:30 AM | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| 9:45 AM | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| 10:00 AM | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| 10:15 AM | 3 | 5 | 7 | 4 |
| 10:30 AM | 3 | 6 | 8 | 5 |
| 10:45 AM | 4 | 6 | 9 | 6 |
| 11:00 AM | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 |
| 11:15 AM | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 |
| 11:30 AM | 4 | 6 | 9 | 5 |
Southbound
Worst spells today
None so far.
The worst reading today was Slow, +3 min, at 8:30 AM. Congested means 8 or more extra minutes.
Southbound · 2026-11-11 · day so far
Incident notices
LIVEEarlier
- Tue, Nov 3, 6:30 PM – 6:40 PM Police incident · Police incident at Highway 99, In West Vancouver. Centre lane closed. Next update: November 3rd, 2026 at 7:00pm PCT. DriveBC (OGL-BC)
- Sat, Oct 31, 6:17 AM – 7:22 AM Police incident · Police incident at Highway 99, In Vancouver and 49m Northeast of Lions Gate Bridge South Towers. Centre lane closed. Next update: October 31st, 2026 at 8:00am PDT. DriveBC (OGL-BC)
- Fri, Oct 30, 5:17 PM – 5:52 PM Collision · Vehicle incident at Marine Drive, In West Vancouver and Before the Lions Gate Bridge onramp. Left lane blocked. Expect delays. Next update: October 30th, 2026 at 6:00pm PDT. DriveBC (OGL-BC)
- Wed, Oct 28, 6:24 PM – 6:44 PM Vehicle stall · Vehicle stall at Highway 99, In West Vancouver. Right lane blocked. Expect major delays. Next update: October 28th, 2026 at 7:30pm PDT. DriveBC (OGL-BC)
The bridge in a few lines
- A delay is extra minutes. “+5 min” means the trip takes five minutes longer than on a clear run. The five levels, Clear to Severe, are in the table of levels.
- The middle lane changes direction about 30 times a day. A stretch in one direction usually lasts 12 minutes. The lane is closed most nights and opens again at about 6:00 AM on weekdays.
- The longest delays in our records were on Saturday at 5:00 PM, 30.0 minutes on average. That is the sign’s delay, not a measured journey time.
Traffic questions
Is Lions Gate Bridge backed up right now?
Latest reading (Nov 11, 2026, 8:55 AM Vancouver time): southbound is Clear (2 extra minutes), and there is no northbound reading. It depends on the hour and the day: in our 2026-02-18 to 2026-10-22 data the highest weekly-hour average sign delay was Saturday at 5:00 PM, 30.0 minutes. The status at the top of this page shows the queue level for each direction from the latest reading, with its time. Northbound is measured on the bridge only, not the Causeway queue. Sign delay is not measured journey time.
Is Lions Gate Bridge closed today?
Latest reading (Nov 11, 2026, 8:55 AM Vancouver time): no closure is reported in this page's feed. A closure would be announced by DriveBC, the official source for closures and road conditions; the status at the top of this page repeats the closures and incidents it reports. What our data records at night is the centre lane closing: from 2026-02-18 to 2026-10-22 there were 301 closures of the centre lane lasting 20 minutes or longer, averaging 281 minutes, and 223 of them started between 9:00 PM and 2:00 AM. With the centre lane closed, each direction has one lane.
Which way is the centre lane going right now?
Latest reading (Nov 11, 2026, 8:55 AM Vancouver time): the centre lane runs northbound (two lanes north, one south). It changes direction often: in our 2026-02-18 to 2026-10-22 data the direction changed 29.9 times a day on average, and a stretch in one direction lasted a median of 12 minutes. The centre lane is also closed at times, usually overnight. The Centre lane card on the home page and the 3D view on this page show the direction from the latest lane reading, with its time.
When will the centre lane switch next?
Latest reading (Nov 11, 2026, 8:55 AM Vancouver time): our model expects no change of the centre lane before 9:25 AM Vancouver time on Nov 11, 2026. There is no fixed timetable: in our 2026-02-18 to 2026-10-22 data a stretch in one direction lasted a median of 12 minutes (6,881 stretches), and 95 of every 100 lasted 6 minutes or more (the 5th percentile). The live figure is our model's median estimate for the next change, an estimate and not an official time; the Next switch card on the home page shows it when the lane reading is fresh. When the model has no time to give but expects the lane to stay as it is for at least half an hour, the card says “not before” a time instead.
How does the centre lane work?
The centre lane is the middle of the bridge's three lanes, and it carries traffic in either direction: operators change its direction to manage traffic and also clear it for emergency vehicles. How often: across 206 complete days from 2026-02-18 to 2026-10-22 we counted 29.9 changes of direction a day on average (a change is a switch between two lanes south and two lanes north; changes after a long closure of the centre lane are not counted). CBC News reported on 25 July 2025 that staff typically “switch the lane direction between 35 and 40 times a day” (CBC News, archived report).
Why is the centre lane closed at night?
So that emergency vehicles can cross the bridge without waiting for the lane to be switched. TranBC, the province’s transport ministry, explained it in 2019 in How the Lions Gate Bridge Counterflow Works (the page has since gone; this is the archived copy): on weekdays the centre lane is closed from midnight to 6 am “so emergency services can easily cross the bridge without having to wait on operators”, and with so little traffic the closure causes no delays. At 6 am the bridge gives two lanes to southbound traffic. Our own records fit: in the 227 nights from 18 February to 8 November 2026, 221 had a closure overnight; it began around midnight (on 8 nights in 10, between 11:30 PM and 1:00 AM), and on weekdays the lane opened again at about 6:00 AM, southbound first. TranBC describes the weekday night only; for weekends its page says the lane is run according to the traffic, and in our records it opened again at about 8 AM at weekends. The usual opening time for each kind of day is on the method page.
When is Lions Gate Bridge busiest?
Saturday at 5:00 PM has the highest weekly-hour average sign delay in our 2026-02-18 to 2026-10-22 data, 30.0 minutes, followed by Sunday at 4:00 PM (27.8) and Saturday at 4:00 PM (26.3). The single highest window was on 2026-07-16, 6:50 PM–7:45 PM, at 69.2 minutes average sign delay. These are sign delays, not journey times, vehicle counts or a forecast.
What’s the best time to cross Lions Gate Bridge to avoid traffic?
Avoid these weekly hours, which have the longest average sign delays in our 2026-02-18 to 2026-10-22 data: Saturday at 5:00 PM (30.0 minutes), Sunday at 4:00 PM (27.8 minutes), Saturday at 4:00 PM (26.3 minutes), Saturday at 6:00 PM (24.9 minutes) and Saturday at 3:00 PM (24.3 minutes). Our data ranks the longest-delay hours, not the shortest, so it does not name a best time to cross. Sign delay is not measured journey time; the status at the top of this page shows the latest reading for each direction.
Where can I see live cameras of Lions Gate Bridge?
This site’s cameras page shows the bridge cameras from DriveBC, and DriveBC lists each one: Stanley Park Causeway; Georgia Street at Chilco; Bridge north end, looking south; Bridge north end, looking north; Marine Drive at Taylor Way; Taylor Way at Marine Drive.
All the numbersThe levels, the longest delays, the centre lane, the cameras, the sources
Five levels, in context
| Level | Southbound | Northbound, on the bridge |
|---|---|---|
| Clear | under 3 min | under 1 min |
| Slow | 3 to under 8 min | 1 to under 2 min |
| Congested | 8 to under 15 min | 2 to under 4 min |
| Heavy | 15 to under 25 min | 4 to under 8 min |
| Severe | 25 min or more | 8 min or more |
When the delay is longest
Historical sign delay, not measured journey time. Dataset period: to . Times are local to Vancouver.
| Measure | When | Sign delay (minutes) |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly-hour average | Saturday · 5:00 PM | 30 |
| Weekly-hour average | Sunday · 4:00 PM | 27.8 |
| Weekly-hour average | Saturday · 4:00 PM | 26.3 |
| Weekly-hour average | Saturday · 6:00 PM | 24.9 |
| Weekly-hour average | Saturday · 3:00 PM | 24.3 |
| Highest window average | 2026-07-16 · 6:50 PM–7:45 PM | 69.2 |
| Maximum sign reading | 2026-02-18 to 2026-10-22 | 90 |
The sign shows fixed steps; 90 minutes may be its top step (not confirmed).
How the centre lane works
The centre lane is a counterflow lane that can carry traffic in either direction. Operators change its direction to manage traffic and also clear it for emergency vehicles.
CBC News reported on 25 July 2025 that staff typically switch the lane direction between 35 and 40 times a day
(CBC News, archived report).
Cameras, closures and conditions
See the bridge cameras. For closures and road conditions, check DriveBC.
Sources & licences
LIVE means fresh input; the delays are still estimates. ESTIMATE means a fallback or usual pattern. NO_DATA means unavailable, never zero. After 15 minutes without a fresh feed, every channel becomes NO_DATA.
- Southbound · Lions Gate Bridge Museum estimate (detector loops)
Licence pending · no reuse permission granted · LIVE · channel updated 8:54 AM - Northbound · ATIS vehicle detector (bridge deck)
Access only · no open reuse licence · NO_DATA · channel updated Unknown - Forecast · Lions Gate Bridge Museum model
Licence pending · no reuse permission granted · LIVE · channel updated 8:54 AM - Incidents · DriveBC Open511, ATIS sign and our statistics
DriveBC notices: Open Government Licence – British Columbia (OGL-BC); ATIS sign notices: access only, no open reuse licence; our statistics: licence pending, no reuse permission granted · LIVE · channel updated 8:54 AM
DriveBC notices: Open Government Licence – British Columbia (OGL-BC). DMS and lane notices show only the incident kind and times. Other readings are for display on this site only; pending and access-only data carry no open reuse permission.
Data & methods
What each number is, how fresh it is and what it may be used for are on the Data page.
Published Updated