[wrenegade]

I like the Viaducts. I don't think they pose that much of a hinderance to development. Spectrum, while ugly, is a great concept that works with the viaducts very well. I can only imagine the GM Place office tower would as well.

The whole Keefer place neighbourhood is only just coming together. From what I understand, residents have only recently (last couple weeks) been taking possession of their units. As more do some, Stadium station will become busier.

In the NEFC area plan, there are already plans to turn more of the space under the viaduct into park space in the form of tennis and basketball courts. Combine that with some lighting features and I think the area could look great. Once the east part of Concord Pacific Place is built out, you'll hardly notice half of the viaducts anymore, and then you can plant some trees in Creekside park to hide the other half.

Another thing I was thinking about is the new St. Paul's hospital. The viaducts would provide almost a direct connection from the centre of downtown to the hospital. This isn't something to be overlooked. While part of the old St. Paul's would remain as an emergency only centre, as downtown grows and grows it is important to have a close by hospital.

I think there is a lot than can be done in the area with the viaducts in place. I think removing them would make traffic on on hastings and powell worse, as well as expo and pacific worse (combine that with removal of left hand turn lanes too).