Time for Vancouver to Tear Down Its Viaducts?

[mezzanine]

IIRC, when concord pacific bought the entire BC place lands from the government, both parties agreed that all land remediation costs would be paid for by by victoria.

I am not sure if there are any development plans by the substation, but it might be an area where non-market housing can be built, allowing other civic-owned lands to be freed up for market development.

[Gordon]

Apparently the Viaducts are the city's jurisdiction Translink says they hve no responsibility for them.

[Vestry]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Apparently the Viaducts are the city's jurisdiction Translink says they hve no responsibility for them.

Citation?

[gillty]

The Georgia Viaduct is definitely part of the Translink MRN.
http://www.translink.ca/~/media/Document...ridges/Major%20Road%20Network%20Map.ashx

[go_leafs_go02]

Originally Posted by tGill

The Georgia Viaduct is definitely part of the Translink MRN.
http://www.translink.ca/~/media/Document...ridges/Major%20Road%20Network%20Map.ashx

But it is under the local jurisdiction of the City of Vancouver.

Likewise, King George Hwy and Fraser Hwy are part of the MRN, but are not owned nor operated by Translink, but rather the City of Surrey.

[Metro-One]

I can tell you that translink is not happy about this idea, just what I have heard through the grape vine from connections that work there. (and some direct responses from translink reps when I have talked to them about it)

This is the problem with major road / rail decisions, they should all be in the hands of a regional or provincial authority, because they affect us all.

oh well, at least the port will be sticking it to vancouver with their new viaduct over a km long soon to be built.

[IanS]

How about this: before making any final decisions as to the removal of the viaduct (yes, I appreciate that the final decision was likely made some time ago, but still…), let’s shut it down for a month of two and see what happens. Heck, let’s make it bike only for a while.

If, after that, removal seems like a good idea, then so be it.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by IanS

How about this: before making any final decisions as to the removal of the viaduct (yes, I appreciate that the final decision was likely made some time ago, but still…), let’s shut it down for a month of two and see what happens. Heck, let’s make it bike only for a while.

If, after that, removal seems like a good idea, then so be it.

Both Viaducts were shut down during Feb 2010 for the Olympics.

It would have been a terrific idea to monitor traffic on the streets surrounding the viaducts in the months before, during and after the Olympics so the effect of having these viaducts closed to traffic could be studied. Even with the 'skew' of people purposely avoiding the downtown areas where Olympic events were happening (or people taking "Olympic Vacations" in warmer climates), there would have been some useful numbers to crunch and plug into traffic models.

Nobody wanted to pay for such a study (the Olympics were a higher priority), so now we are left with anecdotal and hearsay 'evidence' of the need for these viaducts.

[Metro-One]

thats funny, because people who are against the street car were just arguing that the olympic numbers were no good for making decisions on that project, so why would they be good for this project?

[IanS]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

thats funny, because people who are against the street car were just arguing that the olympic numbers were no good for making decisions on that project, so why would they be good for this project?

Does anyone really believe that traffic patterns during the Olympics are representative of traffic patterns in Vancouver generally?

[jsbertram]

There was a story on one of the local newscasts yesterday about St. Paul's hospital getting renovated or replaced. It included the nice fly-over animation of the proposed 'New St. Pauls' to be built north of the Via Rail station, which got me thinking ....

Isn't it typical of governments to spend billions on a new hospital on the edge of the downtown core, and at the same time spend millions more to tear down the viaducts that would give the new hospital site direct access to downtown?

The news story went on to say there isn't any provincial desire to spend big bucks on St. Pauls for renovations or new construction.
(this suggests to me that Christy et.al. will have a St. Paul's hospital funding announcement just in time for the Election next year)

[Metro-One]

That was a point I brought up long ago, but again, on deaf ears.

[Pinion]

The disruption to normal life by the Olympics was far too large to use as any sort of data on the viaducts.

[mezzanine]

Originally Posted by IanS

Does anyone really believe that traffic patterns during the Olympics are representative of traffic patterns in Vancouver generally?

True re:olympic trends. Look longer term.

But the longer term trend is interesting: car traffic to downtown in general has remained stable or has decreased in the past 20 years. Truck traffic on the viaducts have remained stable since 1996, and heavy truck traffic has decreased on the viaducts since the 1990s.

[Metro-One]

exactly, so Water street should become pedestrian only and traffic flow should be reduced on Hastings, while encouraging all that displaced traffic to use the viaducts!

So I was at the open house, made sure to have my opinion heard. Surprisingly there were a lot of people there against the viaducts being torn down, and even more people let down by the bland / boring approach being done by the city with what to replace them with.

Od course there were some hardcore "tear down" supporters.

Several of the staff there were very polite but there was one city engineer there, that once you start counter arguing Vision's proposal, just simply ignores you. I could see that really put off a bunch of other people that were listening in at the time as well.

Meggs was there as well.

Again, does anyone actually believe that this entire process has been fair and balanced?

Come on, in all honesty the outcome of this entire process was already a done deal as soon as Meggs brought it up to the media's attention in the first place. What a dog and pony show.

[hollywoodnorth]

Vancouver councillor Meggs confirms bid for B.C. NDP nomination

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Vancouve...ination/6748414/story.html#ixzz1xB3MYP6T

*shudders*

[Metro-One]

hahaha! Awesome, I was just on global news!

Unfortunately it was one of the parts where I stumbled a bit with my facts, but they are still pretty close (and I get the point accross)

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

Vancouver councillor Meggs confirms bid for B.C. NDP nomination

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Vancouve...ination/6748414/story.html#ixzz1xB3MYP6T

*shudders*

Contact everyone you know in Vancouver-Fairview and warn them against the damage he will do, should he ever make it to Victoria.

[Gordon]

Will Dunsmuir & Georgia be connected to the the road system on the expo lands or will they become dead -end streets?

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Will Dunsmuir & Georgia be connected to the the road system on the expo lands or will they become dead -end streets?

Here is the link to the City's website on the Viaducts:
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/currentplanning/fcflats/

Based on the preliminary plans that are being shown at the open houses, Georgia will continue down to a new intersection at Pacific and it will be two-way from that point east. Instead of linking into Terminal, Pacific will head east and have intersections at Quebec and then Main before continuing along as normal on Prior. Dunsmuir will dead end for vehicles at Beatty, pedestrians will still be able to use the sidewalk that runs beside Spectrum and leads to Rogers Arena. A new cycling and pedestrian ramp will extend the Dunsmuir sidewalk and cycle track down to Expo Blvd just past Abbott. All ramps/streets will be 5-degree grade or less.