Vancouver, British Columbia; it is the largest city in Western Canada. It’s captivated by diverse culture, and the ‘Western Canadian teenage dream’ wanting to move to Vancouver and smell the ocean air every day. With Vancouver population increases, and people wanting to move into the already dense downtown core, the question presents itself where will all these people live.
But Vancouver City Council is proposing a plan; knock down the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts and replace it with a park, and residential buildings. The Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts are the far from attractive looking big concrete bridges that greet the public to the Vancouver downtown core. A viaduct is a bridge spanning across land that has large arches to support the bridge.
This plan however has received criticism from the public specifically people within that area that are concerned about an increase in traffic. However with the viaducts removal will allow for streets to connect to directly to Georgia, and allow an increased efficiency for transit in that area of the downtown core. With an even greater improvement to the already well-structure transit system in the downtown-core, will encourage the population to take transit over a car. Not only will this street connection to Georgia allow for improvements to transit, but allow for an increase in the accessibility for cycling and foot traffic.
The plan to demolish the viaducts and create green space, and more residential housing in Vancouver’s downtown core is a plan that needs to be taken seriously. This plan is about to go before Vancouver City Council in the next few weeks, and should be a contender for solving the problem of Vancouver’s growing population.
I used to live very close to downtown Vancouver last year and the year before and ever since hearing about this plan I’ve been very torn. On the one hand like you already mentioned there would be an increase in parks and housing in downtown Vancouver which is great. Although on the other hand it’s such an expensive project -200 million- and there is already so many parks and walking areas in Vancouver as it is.
I do however see the appeal of having a park like this right downtown, as well as more room for residences. I just wonder if there are other better uses for that money?
Do you think it’ll help get more people move to Vancouver, or just make the downtown more expensive to live in? I can see the appeal, but living space in Vancouver is at a premium at the best of times. Not to mention the increase in congestion that the downtown really can’t handle at this point, never mind if it keeps growing like it has been. There’s a lot of factors to weigh, it’ll be interesting to see what the council decides.