[geoff's two cents]

I'm of two minds on the issue.

On the one hand, the viaducts do constitute a viable means of entry into the downtown core for commercial and trades traffic, which as much as possible should not be hindered.

On the other, the rest of the "working class," who can apparently afford to drive to work every day and live in the suburbs, but apparently cannot afford to live closer to downtown (trust me: If I can afford to live here, most people people who drive into downtown certainly can), should be discouraged from driving and encouraged to use what amounts to pretty excellent transit infrastructure - all the way out to the god-forsaken burbs.

As a preliminary measure, perhaps tolls for non-commercial and -industrial traffic could be instituted on major entry-points to downtown. Given that driving and parking in Vancouver is ridiculously cheap compared to many other large cities, this would give us a more realistic picture as to how badly those viaducts are actually needed.