Because Seattle and Boston are not getting rid of their freeways, they are simply replacing their mistakes now with how how their freeways should have been built in the first place.
And this is the problem with Vancouver is their balc and white appraoch to highways.
Vancouver mindset all highways / expressways / connectors = the devil.
Highway lovers = all highways, any form, are our saviors!
The truth = the middle
Vancouver would actually benefit from 1 or 2 well implemented (in respect to the urban fabric) 4 lane tolled expressways. Such expressways though would have to built akin to a Japanese or European expressway with narrow shoulders (small footprint) and 60 to 70 km hour design speeds. None of these ridiculous American urban expressways with 100 km h speeds + with huge footprints.
That is why it is good project 200 and t he other 60's era freeways were not built in Vancouver, but building nothing road wise has only made things worse in the city.
I just completed a built environment GIS study (I will share the website on here soon) and the top 5 locations for serious injury vehicle accidents in the entire lower mainland are all along Granville, Knight street and Marine in Vancouver proper with 50kmh speed limits
This is because these streets, with the lack of true heavy road artery, have become de facto freeways / expressways. The traffic is still there, and it wont go away, especially the commercial and industrial traffic. It is actually madness for "local" residential roads. And putting up more traffic calming only makes these main routes worse through some of our findings.
Again, a north south 4 lane tolled expressway (free for commercial and industrial traffic) would do wonders for streets such as Granville, Knight, Cambie, etc...
Such an artery would not have to go downtown either, but maybe meet up around Main street and connect to a future North Shore Bridge crossing when the Lion's gate is retired.