As you may recall, back in January, I wrote a blog/letter to Mayor Robertson asking him to examine removing the Georgia and Dunsmuir St. viaducts. As I explained, they were a physical barrier in the long term development of a livable Northeast False Creek, and if removed could provide tremendous opportunities for the City to leverage its land and fund projects such as social housing or the Downtown Streetcar. To me, switching an old section of freeway that doesn’t actually connect Downtown with anything, and replacing it with housing, parks, amenities, and a streetcar – well, it just makes logical sense.
Apparently, it did to Bing Thom as well. According to a guest post on The Tyee by Vancouver City Councillor Geoff Meggs, the eminent planner/architect has commenced studies examining the feasibility of such a concept, including traffic impacts and potential revenues from development of the land.
Another interesting piece in this puzzle is the announcement that the viaducts will in fact be closed during the Olympics. While we all know that the Olympics will be a great time to test new, more sustainable methods of transport, I did not at all anticipate that it would also provide us with an opportunity to evaluate whether Vancouverites could live without the viaducts.
The case was made, and now the movement has begun.
Tweet this, share it on facebook, blog about it – pass on the news. Let’s make this happen!
Tags: 2010, cars, City of Vancouver, development, downtown, downtown eastside, dunsmuir, freeway, georgia, livability, northeast false creek, olympics, pedestrian, people, streetcar, sustainability, Transportation, viaduct
Seattle is removing the Alaskan Vidaduct, which is a physical and visual obstruction that cuts off the heart of seattle, belltown and pike place, from its waterfront.
http://www.king5.com/video/?z=y&nvid=321389
And here another example from San Francisco, the removal of the Embarcadero Freeway
http://blog.brianquan.com/index.php?entry=entry090301-110315