Traffic confusion in Vancouver this summer is a hint of things to come, says community activist
Posted April 6, 2018 10:56 pm.
Last Updated April 6, 2018 11:04 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Earlier this week we told you about a major street closure this summer that will affect commuters who use First Avenue.
That could be a practice run for the drivers who will have to make adjustments once two Vancouver viaducts come down.
Exactly when the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts will be removed is still being worked on.
Pete Fry, a Strathcona neighbourhood community activist, believes it will be years before drivers will be able to use the new Pacific Boulevard.
“So there’s going to be a lot of confusing traffic patterns and changes coming into the downtown core coming in from the east. It’s going to be a ten-year process to remove the viaducts and build the new road.”
Fry says he has received commitments from the city that new routes will be established to take pressure off of Prior – but he says it remains to be seen whether Malkin, which is a small industrial street, will be expanded.
“There’s been push-back on using Malkin. The city is now proposing putting a road through Strathcona Park, which obviously is not going over very well.”
The area just south of Strathcona is home to many food warehouses, that may be forced to relocate.
The traffic patterns are not only being altered by the removal of the viaducts. The city recently released its proposed plans for northeast False Creek, which call for new housing and a new rink.
The new St. Paul’s hospital is also being built east of Main, just north of Pacific Central Station.
