A really thoughtful email came to me over the summer from Frank Ducote, a former Vancouver planner who now lives in a neighbourhood near the viadcuts, about the proposal to take down them down.
As I’ve said on CKNW in the past, this is a trendy idea that has spread from Seoul, Korea, and San Francisco, to every little burg with a highway on stilts. New York and Paris didn’t take theirs down, just transformed them into city walks. But there are consequences to removing part of the road system, as Frank details here.
He is not a believer, as are Peter Ladner and Gordon Price, that if you remove part of the road system that traffic will just disappear. (See Peter’s column here for more details on this.)
This is what Frank has to say:
I’m of two minds on this subject. First, as an urban designer, I’d like to see them removed completely, but there is a huge caveat involved. There has to be replacement vehicular capacity (i.e., streets) built to offset the loss. This is because there is absolutely no vehicular connectivity between the downtown “plateau” street grid and Northeast False Creek, between Pender and Smythe Streets. This forces surface traffic onto streets not intended for high volumes, like Keefer and my street, Abbott. (Carrall has been effectively removed from the network due to its conversion to a bike-oriented route.)
On the other hand, as a resident of the 500 block of Abbott Street, I witnessed what happened during the Olympics when the viaducts were closed and so were Pacific and Expo Boulevards. We had virtual gridlock 24:7 during that time. This is not a reasonable impact for residents of International Village and Chinatwon to suffer. So, again, if the viaducts were to be fully or partially eliminated, replacement streets (not just transit) will have to be created. Not an easy task given the grade issues noted above.
In additon, the elevted SkyTrain guideway should be reconsidered, since its low dip around Carrall Street is the sole reason Carrall Street had a “fishhook” curve put into its alignment in the 1980s. Ideally this street should be straight, which would require the guideway to be reconfigured somehow, presumably elevated a few feet, to provide clearance for the new (actually original) Carrall Street alignment. I don’t think TransLink will find this a compelling use of limited transit dollars, however.
So, unless something is also done with the guideway, there will continue to be a physical barrier betweeen those who, like me, live north of the viaducts and guideway and the False Creeek waterfront.
Relevantly, as a COV planner I collaborated with traffic engineer Lon LaClaire and fellow planner Richard Johnson to come up with the idea to reconfigure the Granville loops at Pacific. 10 or so years later that work hasn’t yet been achieved because it is to be paid for by recouped development income. I fear the same decision-making will occur with the viaducts – that there will be an unavoidable appetite for high density development to pay for all the infrastructure costs. The net result could be/would be simply be another major barrier (highrise condos) – perhaps even a more symbolically objectionable one – to False Creek for those communities north of the viaducts.
104 responses so far ↓
1 burnt45 // Sep 17, 2011 at 11:50 am
Anyone notice how many of bobbie bees’ posts mention sittiing in a coffee shop? I wonder how the beans got there.. where they were grown… How many miles those poor beans must have been transported by evil transportation. I think all this car/truck traffic is created by coffee drinkers like Bobbie bees. Maybe a five dollar environmental tax on each coffee served DT is required. Hmmm I wonder what other products are consumed by Bobbie….. what a nutbar
2 Bobbie Bees // Sep 17, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Burnt45…… hrrrrrmmmmm, where to start?
First, I’ve never said anything about going after the transport industry. They actually make up a very small percentage of road users. And reducing the number of single seat cars on the road would only translate into much reduced travel times for them.
That alone should also reflect in lower cosst at the store as the trucks and whatnot wouldn’t be burning so much fuel stuck in needless traffic jams.
Second, as I don’t drive I can only wonder how you conclude that I’m creating any traffic. All of the Blenz downtown are within easy walking distance of my apartment. Actually, everything is in easy reach of my apartment, hence the no driving aspect of my life.
3 burnt45 // Sep 18, 2011 at 11:27 am
I live downtown as well. I too, walk, cycle almost everywhere, but you seem to think that the city is some self sustaining bubble that can exist on itself cut off from the evil car.
Every product you buy, use ect. is most likely transported , manufactured and yes..driven from elsewhere. By being an end user, you are a huge part of the problem yourself.
I hate the look of the ugly viaduct also, but when I remember the gridlock during the odor event at Electra, it scares me to think would happen in a real emergency with even more lanes missing. Banning and/or charging tolls on cars entering the City would destroy whats left of the business core….there would be no Blenz left for you buy your coffee at.
Over time, traffic trips downtown are reducing – I am all for that in controlled sensible way; not drastic, poor thought out extreme actions.
4 Mac // Sep 18, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Bobbie Bees, you are pushing mud up-hill sir. How many times your going to accuse people of being addicted to car culture? The one grain of logic you have typed in this mass of ridiculous anger is the mileage based insurance charges. This has some practicality that would be hard for the public to argue with, also the buses you mention run on and ruin the same roads that the private automobile does. Also if you think Vancouver is equal to London and should impose a fee to enter the downtown core, you really must want to hurt the DT cores economy Also the one question I do have for ANYONE is does ICBC not contribute to road and bridge construction?, because if they don’t, we drivers are being burnt financially worse than I thought. So paying over 1500$/yr for insurance +gas, matinence and repairs is out of neccesity for people not because its Oh, such an addictive culture.