Time for Vancouver to Tear Down Its Viaducts?

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

No one is having a debate whether or not it's technically feasible to build a condo tower next to a Skytrain guideway/road viaduct. I mean if the city decides to fully rehabilitate the viaducts then obviously Concord will have no choice and just max out their buildout to the area conditions.

The only direct impact the viaducts remaining on their proposed Concord Landing concept was the three towers on the NE corner that would face the new Pacific Blvd.

Question. Even if they spent $100-200 million to fully rehabilitate the bridge would the actual post-tensioned concrete decks etc still need to get replaced in 20-30 years after that?

The 2018 Council Report said "The Northeast False Creek Plan assumes the removal and replacement of the viaducts with a new complete street network that better supports the future neighbourhood. The Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts are seismically vulnerable and need to be replaced at some time in the future. At a minimum, an extensive and costly upgrade (approximately $90 million) would be required under the City’s seismic capital program and full replacement of the structures would be necessary in approximately 50 years."

The 2016 estimates that are in the link you posted above were $52m to replace the Dunsmuir viaduct and $59m for the Georgia viaduct. Those are way out of date, and will easily be double that now. Meanwhile the seismic risks haven't changed.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I think those numbers are low. I'd put it more at $1B built out, $500M with the viaducts even seems low but let's use that. 1M sf at $1000/sf seems easily doable on that land even with the large parks plan.

Why 0.33% mill rate? I live in a SEFC condo and my mill rate for the CoV General Levy is 1.93%. Not to mention any commercial property will be taxed significantly higher.

Anyway let's say 1% of the $500M difference is $5M/year. That pays for a fair amount of capital borrowing the City might need, plus the excess maintenance of the current viaducts vs. the future solution. I think it's easily a wash and they should just get it over with.

The rates sheets I'm looking at are dollars per $1000 assessed value. It lines up with the taxes I just paid on my house. If you have a $1M condo, your taxes aren't $19,000, they're maybe $2-3K. My house is under $10K including city utilities, property taxes and zero home owner's grant.

The $300M assessed value is roughly what Rogers Arena with two towers is assessed at next door. I doubt the development potential is more than double that.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

What would you change about it?

Mostly that it's not very space efficient at the ends and really compromised that layout of the streets. It also used to be a worse layout, but it's mostly just kind of a cluster.

There's certainly worse out there. I think the Lougheed Hwy bike lanes near Gilmour have 6-8 different configurations in the span of like 4 blocks. There, it's just like they couldn't figure out what they like for the road layout, so they just tried every single option in a short area, ignoring that consistency is a good thing from a traffic safety perspective. Cambie has the same problem between 33rd and 49th now as well.


Anyways, back to Dunsmuir / Union...

Back in 2011 - Who thought this random sidewalk was good for a bike lane?

Why so much random sidewalk?

Could this merge be longer, as to allow a light cycle worth of cars to exit before merging?

WTF is this? Followed by this?

Compromised site lines here lead to a fiend getting t-boned and concussed.

Food staff have to cross the bike lane?

Constantly this, because just paint doesn't work.

[jollyburger]

Some of the money for the viaduct demolition might be connected to the participation mortgage money to the province (the contaminated soil costs would be paid out of that money)

2025

On Thursday, he issued a more conciliatory statement via e-mail to The Globe and Mail: “The Province, City of Vancouver and Concord have agreed to sit together over the coming months to resolve outstanding challenges for housing to advance on the remaining Expo lands. We look forward to working together to find ways to advance housing in Northeast False Creek.”

Mr. LaClaire said things would move along a lot faster if the province would provide some solid numbers about how much money from the participation mortgage the city could get for the road changes and for the low-cost housing that is expected to be part of the development.

“A lot of the value is going to the province. Unless they direct that back to this location, I don’t see how anything happens,” he said.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/a...oped-vancouver-waterfront-gets-new-plan/

[whatnext]

Seems like the city is going ahead with repairs now so Allam's campaign pledge is kind of pointless:

Georgia Viaduct's Main Street exit to close for three months for construction
Kenneth Chan
Oct 1 2026, 4:05 pm

Drivers heading east out of Downtown Vancouver face months of vehicle traffic disruptions on the Georgia Viaduct, beginning with the closure of its Main Street off-ramp on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.

The City of Vancouver issued a bulletin today announcing the off-ramp from the Georgia Viaduct’s eastbound vehicle lanes onto Main Street will be closed to vehicles for approximately three months as part of a repair project scheduled to continue until Spring 2027....

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/georgia-viaduct-main-street-construction-closure#google_vignette

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Seems like the city is going ahead with repairs now so Allam's campaign pledge is kind of pointless:

The City has to replace the expansion joints now. If they don't it's likely to cause damage to the bridge, and to vehicles using the bridge. They're not patching up any of the other problems, or dealing with any of the seismic inadequacies.

Allam isn't likely to become mayor (for what it's worth Polymarket says he has a 2.7% probability of winning). Even if he did, or whover wins and a majority of Council moved immediately to demolish the viaducts, they have to find a couple of hundred million dollars (plus), and then build the replacement road infrastructure before they can start dismantling the viaducts.

[kikin]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Yeah there’s not exactly a huge demand for condos right now. The whole rationale behind this is very 2009.

that will turn around soon, even Carney is hinting at ramping up immigration again, it is inevitable

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by kikin

that will turn around soon, even Carney is hinting at ramping up immigration again, it is inevitable

Immigration is essential for Canada's economic survival because our birth rate is below replacement level. We're in the very fortunate position of being a desirable destination - that gives us the ability to choose who we admit to garner the most benefit. Admitting students on education visas is a smart strategy because it shows foreigners the benefits of living here and gives us a potential supply of Canada-educated talent.

But getting the numbers right is a bit of a balancing act.

[jollyburger]

The Main Street off ramp is closed for 3 months for joint repairs.