Granville Street Bridge - Granville Connector Project | U/C

[jollyburger]

Here's the report on the next stages to remove two lanes from the Granville Street bridge. If approved detailed design starts in September.

https://council.vancouver.ca/2019013...ents/pspc2.pdf

[Feathered Friend]

https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/granv...n-displays.pdf


https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/granv...n-displays.pdf

Vancouverites Tired of Endless Consultation – Just Fix the Granville Street Bridge Already

Granville Bridge Connector
Anyone who has ever walked or biked across the Granville Street Bridge knows it is perhaps one of the most harrowing experiences one can have in our city. With narrow sidewalks, speed limits of 60 km/h that are often ignored, and lacking even painted bike lanes, it feels unsafe on the best of days. Darren and I have even walked it on a stormy night once, and lived to regret it.

That said, since we do not need to push a stroller or use a wheelchair, we are actually able use the bridge. No matter which direction you travel, you are guaranteed to run into at least two places where you have to go down and back up a set of steps to cross the busy road. Surprisingly, I learned from city staff that no one has been killed here, but it has caused many rear-end collisions.

Granville Bridge Connector Page 5.jpg
–Source (pg 5)

Even though we try to walk the bridge as rarely as possible, the other day Darren happened to run into an intercept survey team from the city. In the time he spent in that discussion, he witnessed a car screech to halt at the Howe Street on ramp, narrowly missing two pedestrians in a crosswalk. This staffer noted they also had a close call earlier when a van came too close and scraped their tires along the sidewalk only a few feet away.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2019/0...ridge-already/

[Dengler Avenue]

The sidewalk's scary. Once my friend and I were walking from Downtown to Granville Island, and cars from the on-ramp had to slow down from 60 km/h to 0 km/h with blinkers on just to let us go.

[Migrant_Coconut]

I find it easier to just wait for a gap (red light at Drake & Howe), then cross. Worst comes to worst, I'd be happy just with a wider sidewalk and an actual railing for the off/on-ramps. Damn things are barely two people wide, so if oncoming couples don't budge, you have to step off into the traffic lane and back on.

Apparently, other staffers have said the Fir Street ramp is seismically unsound - sure hope that does not mean they're getting rid of it.

[osirisboy]

The crosswalks are a death trap. For some reason drivers don't think they need to yield to pedestrians at them

[ilikeredheads]

There shouldn't be crosswalks on the bridge in the first place. They are all placed at the start/end of the on/off ramps which is the worst place to have them.

[Dengler Avenue]

That's Vancouver for you.

On the other hand, in Quebec:
Crossing from Lévis to Quebec City => use the old bridge;
Crossing from Bécancour to Trois-Rivière (Laviolette Bridge) => good luck swimming across St Lawrence River - You can't walk or bike on that bridge.
I don't know if pedestrians and cyclists will be allowed on the new Samuel de Champlain Bridge.

[Klazu]

I hadn't realized that the Granville Bridge Greenway is already under construction. Still unclear how it will connect at both ends?

I was also shocked to see the north end of Nanaimo Street having been shrunk to just 1+1 lanes. Vancouver has finally done it and converted roadway built for 3+3 lanes to just 2 lanes with pointless parking and left turn lanes. Which key arterial will follow this car-hating madness next? Kingsway's western end already lost a drive lane in both directions with the new HOV lane...

There won't be any need for the road toll soon as there won't be any lanes left to drive on!

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by Klazu

any need for the road toll soon as there won't be any lanes left to drive on!

We still got alleyways.

Edited: Actually we got bike lanes too so long as your car has enough clearance to ride the median.

[idunno]

Originally Posted by Klazu

I hadn't realized that the Granville Bridge Greenway is already under construction. Still unclear how it will connect at both ends?

I was also shocked to see the north end of Nanaimo Street having been shrunk to just 1+1 lanes. Vancouver has finally done it and converted roadway built for 3+3 lanes to just 2 lanes with pointless parking and left turn lanes. Which key arterial will follow this car-hating madness next? Kingsway's western end already lost a drive lane in both directions with the new HOV lane...

There won't be any need for the road toll soon as there won't be any lanes left to drive on!

The construction you see on the Granville Bridge is actually a separate seismic upgrade/joint replacement project. Detailed design has likely not even begun for the connector itself.

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by idunno

The construction you see on the Granville Bridge is actually a separate seismic upgrade/joint replacement project. Detailed design has likely not even begun for the connector itself.

Oh, interesting. As said, I was surprised to think that the Greenway having moved forward but they had blocked off four middle lanes across the bridge so I immediately assumed this being it now. This is actually a project I am not against even as it will remove car lanes.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Klazu

I hadn't realized that the Granville Bridge Greenway is already under construction. Still unclear how it will connect at both ends?

I was also shocked to see the north end of Nanaimo Street having been shrunk to just 1+1 lanes. Vancouver has finally done it and converted roadway built for 3+3 lanes to just 2 lanes with pointless parking and left turn lanes. Which key arterial will follow this car-hating madness next? Kingsway's western end already lost a drive lane in both directions with the new HOV lane...

There won't be any need for the road toll soon as there won't be any lanes left to drive on!

I could do without the parking lane, but left turn lanes are badly needed in Vancouver. Traffic seems to flow fine up and down Nanaimo.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I could do without the parking lane, but left turn lanes are badly needed in Vancouver. Traffic seems to flow fine up and down Nanaimo.

Absolutely - with space for left- and right-turning drivers to pull out of traffic the one lane flows smoothly with no problems. The biggest issue I've seen is people who don't understand what the left turn lane is for. And for some obscure reason there are a couple of intersections where left turns are allowed (i.e., there isn't a "No left turn" sign) but they've put a short concrete median in place that blocks people from using the left turn lane.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by idunno

The construction you see on the Granville Bridge is actually a separate seismic upgrade/joint replacement project. Detailed design has likely not even begun for the connector itself.

And even though Kennedy Stewart likes to claim the city is in dire fiscal straits because of Covid, you can bet this pet project will go ahead anyway.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by whatnext

And even though Kennedy Stewart likes to claim the city is in dire fiscal straits because of Covid, you can bet this pet project will go ahead anyway.

It would be great if they could move the project forward as soon as possible. It's badly needed - the sidewalks are currently far too narrow, while the road space is more than needed for current or projected traffic. This is a capital project, so it keeps people employed during economically challenged times, but has very low ongoing revenue requirements once its built. It's revenue that represent the 'dire straits' the City is in - because fees paid for services are down, but costs of providing some services are higher. The rules the City has to operate under say that capital can't be used to fund the city's revenue needs.

[officedweller]

That's because municipalities budget in reverse -
They create their wishlist of a budget, then set the mill rate to raise property taxes to pay for it (they cannot run a deficit).

Everyone else does it normally - predict the amount of revenue coming in, then budget for what you can afford.

[Feathered Friend]

https://bids.vancouver.ca/bidopp/RFP...opsRemoval.PDF


https://bids.vancouver.ca/bidopp/RFP...opsRemoval.PDF

Those looking forward to the Granville Bridge Connector’s mobility upgrades are in for a long wait. Despite the ongoing seismic work, this RFP reveals that project, & the north side H-network won’t open for at least 3 more years
https://t.co/Bhd3kQS7yi?amp=1

https://twitter.com/City_Duo/status/...365514754?s=20

[ecbin]

Originally Posted by Changing City

It would be great if they could move the project forward as soon as possible. It's badly needed - the sidewalks are currently far too narrow, while the road space is more than needed for current or projected traffic. This is a capital project, so it keeps people employed during economically challenged times, but has very low ongoing revenue requirements once its built. It's revenue that represent the 'dire straits' the City is in - because fees paid for services are down, but costs of providing some services are higher. The rules the City has to operate under say that capital can't be used to fund the city's revenue needs.

I happened to walk over the Granville bridge for the first time a few weeks ago and the sidewalks are shockingly narrow. I'm surprised that there haven't been more pedestrian deaths from them falling into traffic.

[MIPS]

I've never really seen a whole lot of foot traffic going over the bridge. The ramps on either end make it hard to reach unless you want to run across traffic so I can only assume people opt for the Burrard or Cambie bridges which are more accessible.

[jollyburger]

Trying to cross at the loops is probably more dangerous since as previously mentioned it's never that busy in terms of foot traffic.