5 Reasons to say "Goodbye Vancouver Viaducts!"

Major news about the Vancouver urban landscape last week. In the last few months there's been a lot of hand-wringing and criticism directed at City Hall for proposing to say goodbye to the viaducts at Georgia Street and Dunsmuir Street. Naturally, many people were worried about traffic congestion, their commute and the costs associated with this huge project. Some were unhappy that they didn't feel there was enough public input into the decision. Nevertheless, two weeks ago City Council voted 5-4 to go ahead with the demolition.This is a great decision for many reasons! Obviously, the main reason being, those things are hideous concrete eyesores from a bygone era, when misguided city planners felt it would be a fantastic idea to throw a freeway right through the middle of the city. Fortunately, communities on the East Side organized a powerful and ultimately successful opposition to this plan, but not before the viaducts and the Granville Street Bridge were built with the freeway in mind. As a result, the surrounding streets were never upgraded to allow the viaducts to accommodate the amount of traffic they were built for: with a capacity to carry up to 1,800 vehicles an hour, they only actually carry 750, which is less than 10 per cent of traffic going into the downtown core.

This leads to the second reason: the Prior/Venables roadway leading off the Georgia viaduct is an extremely dangerous roadway for both bikes and pedestrian traffic, and the proposal for combining the Current Expo and Pacific Boulevards to allow for almost the same amount of vehicle traffic downtown will be safer, and more efficient than the current road configuration. The small percentage of traffic that would have to be re-routed could be accommodated by existing east-west streets like Hastings and Broadway.Thirdly, the demolition would add a further three acres of park land to the existing park proposal that will add to the creation of an exceptional urban waterfront park. The plans for this park have been in the works with Concord Pacific for many years, the final proposal is contingent upon what the city decided to do with the viaducts.

Getting rid of the outmoded and ugly viaducts is also a step forward in the City's Greenest City Initiative, as well as the 2040 Transportation Plan, both of which ail to keep a steady rate of car and truck traffic into the downtown core, despite a growing population, via convenient and efficient transit, pedestrian and bike access to the city.The last reason this is a good plan, is that getting rid of the viaducts will make use of under-utilized land, and create connectivity between the historical districts of the downtown core, the Downtown East Side, Chinatown and False Creek. As the False Creek Flats are continually developing into an extension of downtown, this park, transit and public space will connect all those important parts of the city, open up view corridors, and contribute to Vancouver's growth while maintaining its status as one of the world's most livable cities. Goodbye viaducts!