Time for Vancouver to Tear Down Its Viaducts?

[CurtisVerbatim]

This is my dream for the Flats area. If the viaducts HAVE to come down I think it'd be best to replace them with one that doesn't use up as much of a footprint to allow for more develop-able land and a more pedestrian friendly environment underneath.

[officedweller]

Since Dunsmuir Viaduct is only 2 vehicle lanes - if you are building a new viaduct, you could get away with just a 2-way Georgia Viaduct.
But the SkyTrain guideway would still constrain development.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by nefc

The City's False Creek Flats planning page now has presentation boards and an online questionnaire to obtain feedback on the east-west connector options (i.e., Malkin or National). The online questionnaire will only be active until Monday, April 18. Here are the links:

False Creek Flats Planning Website: http://vancouver.ca/home-property-de...eek-flats.aspx

Presentation Boards: http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/false-...n-displays.pdf

Questionnaire: http://vancouver.fluidsurveys.com/su...ement-feedback

I went in and answerd the question "How could these impacts be mitigated?"
this way:

"By keeping the viaducts"

[Vin]

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/04/v...e-creek-flats/


This would have been a way better project than spending so much to take down the viaducts.

[trofirhen]

You're right, Vin. A lot of projects would be better invested in than taking down the viaducts, but it's pretty much a foregone conclusion, and we have to get past lamentations.

[WarrenC12]

CoV is looking for community input to help guide the future of NEFC:

http://vancouver.ca/your-government/...ommittees.aspx

[Vin]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

You're right, Vin. A lot of projects would be better invested in than taking down the viaducts, but it's pretty much a foregone conclusion, and we have to get past lamentations.

Maybe, but who knows things could change if Vision get booted out from City Hall.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Vin

Maybe, but who knows things could change if Vision get booted out from City Hall.

The next election is November 2018. It's like saying the NDP could cancel Site C if they get elected in 2017. Anything is possible, but the plan would already be in progress.

[officedweller]

From 24 hrs newspaper:

Vancouver viaduct plan threatens Produce Row

By Eric MacKenzie
Tuesday, May 24, 2016 5:20:48 PDT PM

...

“Produce Row,” an unofficial moniker for the street, is busy with as many as 700 trucks coming and going daily.

But Malkin Avenue stands to get a lot busier if the City of Vancouver makes it the new arterial route in place of Prior Street — as part of plans to bring down the viaducts — and Produce Row companies are worried their businesses will suffer, or be forced to move or close altogether.

“The 25,000 cars that the city says travel on Prior and Venables each day, moving even a portion of that traffic onto Malkin Avenue would severely impact the businesses on Produce Row and how we’re able to get our tractors and trailers into the loading bays,” said Bryan Uyesugi, regional VP for produce distributor Freshpoint.

That’s why Produce Row businesses are lobbying for National Avenue to be the new east-west link with downtown. The city is considering both as arterial route options by connecting one to Clark Drive with an overpass.

Info boards at open houses hosted by the city acknowledged that, for Produce Row businesses, “current operations are incompatible with arterial use of Malkin” due to truck movement. However, the estimated cost of turning Malkin into an arterial route ($80 to $130 million) is about half compared to those for National ($150 to $230 million).
...

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2016/05/24...ns-produce-row

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by officedweller

From 24 hrs newspaper:

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2016/05/24...ns-produce-row

that would be tragic, and a real and legitimite loss. However, I sadly doubt it would have any effect. The city will tell' em to find another spot, and bzzzzt, there she goes!!

[officedweller]

Couple more articles on Produce Row and the Malkin Connector:

City’s Produce Row born on the wrong side of the tracks
By Nelson Bennett
June 7, 2016
https://www.biv.com/article/2016/6/c...g-side-tracks/

Vancouver’s new food insecurity problem as Produce Row threatened
By Nelson Bennett
June 7, 2016
...

The City of Vancouver has identified Malkin Avenue as one of two preferred routes for a new arterial road to replace Prior and Venables streets.

At least four of the six larger wholesalers may have no choice but to move to Surrey or even farther afield – presuming they can find suitable light industrial land – because there is no way the semi trucks that deliver produce will be able to back in off the street in heavy arterial car traffic.

If the produce wholesale and distribution cluster is broken up, there could be a domino effect that could drive up food prices, warns Damien Bryan, general manager of Discovery Organics, which moved to Malkin Avenue a year ago but now faces the prospect of having to relocate again.

Buyers typically pick up their fruit and vegetables every morning before grocery stores and restaurants open. Malkin Avenue is so central that it allows them to purchase produce not just from one wholesaler, but from several, and get their produce on the shelves before opening each day.

“Let’s just say now that that business is in Cloverdale or Abbotsford or Langley,” Bryan said. “You’re driving an extra hour – and sometimes an hour and a half – to do that process.

“What that means is … more trucks on the road. It’s always going to be in peak hour because people need produce delivered first thing in the morning, and the price of food will go up – it just has to.”
...

https://www.biv.com/article/2016/6/v...urity-problem/

[Alex Mackinnon]

Perhaps they should put a viaduct through produce row.

[Smooth]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

Perhaps they should put a viaduct through produce row.

This made me laugh more than it should have.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by Smooth

This made me laugh more than it should have.

It is funny because it is true.

[officedweller]

Agreed.
If the viaducts were extended through Produce Row to a Malkin Viaduct to Clark Drive,
trucks could maneuver under the viaduct, and voila! - problem solved!

[Vin]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Agreed.
If the viaducts were extended through Produce Row to a Malkin Viaduct to Clark Drive,
trucks could maneuver under the viaduct, and voila! - problem solved!

That would be rocket science logic to the City. Don't think they can comprehend that....

The City would start suggesting produce be brought in by bicycles with trailer wagons: no nasty polluting SU-9 trucks or even semi-trailers needed. Eventually, chicken coops and vegetable gardens downtown also mean that it is no more necessary to bring in outside produce.

[s211]

Originally Posted by Vin

The City would start suggesting produce be brought in by bicycles with trailer wagons: no nasty polluting SU-9 trucks or even semi-trailers needed. Eventually, chicken coops and vegetable gardens downtown also mean that it is no more necessary to bring in outside produce.

For the love of all things holy, please don't give them ideas.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by CurtisVerbatim

This is my dream for the Flats area. If the viaducts HAVE to come down I think it'd be best to replace them with one that doesn't use up as much of a footprint to allow for more develop-able land and a more pedestrian friendly environment underneath.

It's funny when you see that aerial at how little land was actually cleared for the viaducts. Two small blocks, yet if you believe Vision and their supporters it's some horrible scar on the city.

[officedweller]

June 1, 2016

From the Rogers South Tower crane operator


https://twitter.com/lesterclj64

[WarrenC12]

Cool shot. I can see the top of the south tower now from the other side of BC Place.