Quote:
Originally Posted by geoff's two cents
You're both exaggerating, albeit from radically different points of view, but I've come to expect nothing less from this thread. We're apparently a quite polarized bunch here on SSP:Vancouver, but this thread takes the cake in terms of pure mud-slinging.
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First, I don't work for Concord Pacific so please no ad hominem attacks. I do, however, live within a block of where the Viaduct spits out at Main Street, so yes I do have a vested interest, but it is in creating a more livable and economically successful neighborhood.
Second, the current choices on the table are (a) status quo or (b) remove part or all of the viaducts. Removing the viaducts will take a whole lot of money and the only good reason to do so would be to open some real estate - otherwise, there's no payoff for the City (in taxes, development fees, etc) and the status quo would continue.
That said, is the status quo actually working for the City? Not really - it's a stub of a freeway and neither here nor there with regards to their role in traffic flow as they basically dead-end into either residential or commercial neighborhoods (and moving east, it means either going through Strathcona or the Drive). Now if you want to talk about making them real highways with connections out to Hwy 1, that's another thing, but like I said before, those options are not currently on the table.
With regards to developability, Aquilini and Concord are pushing this, so to say that development will never happen doesn't seem to make sense - it just might not happen immediately. But that was never the case with Concord's phasing of NE False Creek. However, just looking at a map of the site, the location of the viaducts severely compromises several blocks: between Taylor Street and Quebec Street, between Quebec and Main and between Main and Gore.
Main Street is an important commercial street and the viaducts currently create a barrier at street level. Continuing the urban fabric up and down Main would help to better integrate CityGate with Strathcona/Chinatown (and in the future SE False Creek as those sites get filled in - one site where DeSerres is already in the works).
Between Taylor and Quebec, the current situation means that development is severely compromised as you have less than 100' clear between the structures - less than most single-family residential lots. Opening up the site would allow for maybe 3 towers plus podium.
From Main to Gore you'd probably want to step down the density to the east to make it more contextual to the lower-scale Strathcona neighborhood, but some density is possible at Main Street. Alternately, this could easily be a real park, rather than a weird patch of grass next to an on-ramp.
Also, someday (hopefully sooner rather than later) Concord will build the seawall and park they've promised at NE False Creek - it would be good to have improved pedestrian connections between Crosstown/International Village and False Creek.
Will removing the viaducts create major traffic problems? My gut is that it will not, particularly if some changes are made to surrounding streets, but that's why there is a report currently being done and let's allow the engineers to run the traffic modelling and we'll see. The Georgia Viaduct is just about a km long, so the difference between moving at say 30km average and 60km for that distance is about 1 minute (I think I'm doing the math right). There's a good chance that you'll hit a light anyways Downtown, so the traffic system is only as efficent as its weakest link - so while you are going faster, you're not necessarily moving more people.
Will pedestrians get run over more? Probably about as much as they currently do at the corner of Georgia and Homer (on a major arterial in Downtown but with traffic moving at a slower speed). In the current situation you're dumping cars off at a higher velocity directly onto Downtown streets, so the status quo isn't helping things either.
There really is no reason to get worked up about things, but making it seem like removing some road will be the end of the world is blowing things out of the water. The point of the study is to seek out a direction for future planning, not necessarily to call for the immediate removal of the structures anyway. You only have to go to see how the buildings beside the Gardiner in Toronto deal with their backyard to see that doesn't make for a quality public realm. Giving some direction would help the community and developers better integrate future development with the surrounding context.
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I don't personally take issue with anything you write here. I take issue specifically with the section I quoted directly above.
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