Posted Jan 11, 2008, 10:19 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 41,798
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Interesting.
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Update on Granville Street Renovations - no mention of what is happening to the existing mature trees (i.e. whether they are still going to cut them all down).
City gussying up Granville Street
'Wall of white light' will set corridor apart
Cheryl Rossi, Vancouver Courier
Published: Friday, January 11, 2008
It's difficult to imagine Granville Street downtown free of construction and alive with light, but that's what the city wants Vancouverites to do at an upcoming open house.
"We're going with something different," said Andreea Toma, project manager of the city's Granville Street redesign project. "Something that brands Granville. Granville is the spinal cord for transit and pedestrian use."
The refurbishment of Granville Street from Drake to Cordova is expected to start in August. South of Nelson Street to the bridge, sidewalks will be widened by the width of the parking lane to six metres. Instead of parking on the street, vehicles will park between trees on the sidewalk during the day. Leafy trees more transparent than dense will line both sides of Granville while the number of parking spots along the street will remain intact.
In 2006, council considered moving traffic restrictions on Granville, allowing only buses and commercial vehicles from Smithe to Hastings, one block south. But it left traffic patterns unchanged to appease businesses. The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association supports the proposed designs.
After the buses return, a permit system for private cars to travel on Granville south of Smithe could be considered, but only after transit efficiency has been assessed.
The city is considering establishing a bollard system, a short post in the middle of the street that would be removable or could come up from the roadbed, to block off the entertainment district.
"It may not be only for police use but it could be for such things as the CelticFest," she said.
The new design would straighten curved sidewalks north of Smithe Street to provide a sidewalk consistently 8.5 metres wide. Toma said this will help accommodate busy pedestrian traffic entering and exiting the two future Canada Line stations on Granville near Sears at Georgia and at Hastings and Granville.
The intersection of Granville and Georgia would receive special treatment. The city is considering using high-quality materials, possibly granite, to set it apart and to use the same materials from property lines to the street so there's no visual break in the sidewalk and roadway. The city's interested in creating a space that can be closed down to host festivals from Georgia to Robson.
To tie the business, entertainment and transit exchange sections of the corridor together, the city is considering installing vertical white lights down its length.
Arms jutting from posts would hold the long lights 12 feet from the ground. The lights would be 10 to 30 feet tall. In the 1930s and '40s, Granville Street was known as the "Great White Way" and aglow with neon signs. The city hopes to reference the past with a wall of white light that will set the corridor apart from other city streets lit with yellow lights.
Toma said construction will be organized to cause the least disruption to businesses as possible. Minor utility work will happen in late spring, and street reconstruction should start in August and be completed by fall 2009.
The city and TransLink budgeted $11 million for the project. Public reaction at the open house will help the city decide on design elements.
The open house is Jan. 23 at the Pacific Centre Atrium at the corner of Georgia and Howe from 12 to 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. For more information, see vancouver.ca/granvilleredesign.
© Vancouver Courier 2008
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