Quote:
Originally Posted by FarmerHaight
But that's the whole point of the question I posed. The answer may very well be no, but perhaps Broadway's critical role in the private vehicle and truck transportation networks can be transferred to other roads.
And as for retail, as the Broadway corridor adds thousands of residents and transitions from a low- or mid-density arterial to Vancouver's second downtown, the retail will naturally shift from stores serving as destinations for people living outside of the area to stores serving the needs of the area's residents.
The point of the planning process is that Broadway will not indefinitely be your parents' Broadway. Toys R Us and MEC may leave, but tenants with more downtown centric products will take their place and big box stores may be torn down for smaller retail or office space or residential to take their place.
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Got a suggestion for a road to drive a semi-truck down? 7th? 5th? The rest are rather small local collectors or low quality arterials, and each has some rather poor choke points.
16th is a local connector east of Granville, and isn't really built to handle much capacity. The grade up to Dunbar is also not appropriate for trucks.
12th is pretty narrow in spots, especially around Fraser, and has lane widths that are about as wide as a car which would not accommodate a bus or truck. It's also missing turn lanes along much of it's length. East of Arbutus it's 1 lane each way, which admittedly could be widened if parking is terfed. The City has in general been encouraging a fair bit of housing in that area previously so it would be pretty ironic to move traffic from the less developed areas on Broadway (which is largely 1 floor retail and offices) and put it adjacent to quite a bit more housing, up to Connaught Park anyways.
4th is pretty busy, does not connect on the eastern end, has more elevation changes, has poor connectivity to Arbutus and is arguably a more important retail strip west of Granville.
The city built Broadway as the sole E-W route for trucks and cargo movements. It's pretty stupid to shoehorn it on to another route after 80 years of development oriented around it's current use. For sure the replacement is going to be lower quality and costly from a monetary perspective and a political one. The whole debacle makes about as much sense as some of the proposals to put a linear park on the viaducts.
4 lanes with consistent turn bays was a decent compromise / improvement.
The other alternatives sound a lot like what exists on Prior St. in Strathcona. A truck route shoehorned into a narrow right-of-way, which has had quite a few major accidents, pedestrian fatalities, and is generally a blight on the neighbourhood. The city doesn't know weather to traffic calm it, upgrade it with grade separation from the train tracks, or replace it with a new street. They've been studying its replacement for over a decade with basically no positive outcomes or permanent improvements yet.
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