Portland's "Bridge Market"

[deasine]

Yes it has nothing to do with Vancouver. But I sure do wish we have something like this. Sigh...

Portland's Bridge Market

Posted By Mike Thelin on 06/09/2008


As the built environment goes, there’s nothing quite like a bridge. While buildings fill gaps in skylines, a bridge can become a symbol for an entire city or region. What’s more, the life span of a bridge can be 100 years or more, so getting the design right is crucial.
If approved, Tri-met’s proposed six-mile Orange line will land Downtown Portland its first new crossing since the completion of the Fremont Bridge 1973, so it’s not a surprise that some local developers and architects are thinking big.
Take Ben Kaiser whose firm, Path Architecture, proposes the crossing be more than the planned passage for buses, bikes, pedestrians and MAX trains to travel from shore to shore. Path’s Bridge Market would add 100,000 feet of office and retail space into the mix, creating a modern Portland version of the world’s most famous bridge market, Ponte Vecchio in Florence.
Of course, pulling this off will be challenging. For one, the proposed site near Riverplace is located outside of the city’s retail core. Second, adding office and retail space would certainly add cost to the bridge, whose funding will be sourced from a variety of streams, including federal transportation funds.
Still, the addition of 100,000 square feet (that’s 2.5 Portland city blocks) of commercial space could also create revenue and enliven the waterfront like never before.
Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Source: The Burnside Blog: Portland's Spaces.

Wouldn't it be cool to do something like this in Vancouver? Imagine if we did build a second deck (doesn't even have to be second deck, could be a separate bridge) underneath Granville Street? We could expand Granville Island and better connect the island with StreetCar and Yaletown =O

(yes i've been dreaming big lately)

[officedweller]

Hmm, that bridge is right in the path of the Dragon Boat race course - we were down there this past weekend.

Here's a pic (I-5 (Marquam Bridge approaches) in the background):

[mr.x]

Weren't there plans to have some sort of retail under Cambie Bridge?

[officedweller]

That's probably died.
There will be retail under Granville Bridge (North side)

[deasine]

Wouldn't that be soo cool for Vancouver though. I guess I'm easily amused.

[sono65]

What a cool concept. Never seen something like that before. The idea almost seams tailored for Vancouver.

[Nutterbug]

Bit of a white elephant, isn't it?

Not only do I imagine it would be expensive to build, but I figure the walk between shops would be long, lining them up along a long, narrow strip.

[deasine]

The Williamette River is just 200m in width in the downtown section. If we had something like that in Vacncouver spanning over False Creek, it would be even longer: 300-400m.

They have many bridges like these in Europe.

[Hourglass]

This is the Pulteney Bridge in Bath (England)


(picture from www.ukattraction.com)

Actually, bridges of this type aren't as common as all that -- supposedly there are only four bridges in the world that are lined by shops on both sides.

Would love to see a project like this in Van. Don't think it'd every happen, though. For one thing, with a body of water like False Creek, I'm sure there would be minimum height requirements to allow boats to pass underneath. I don't know whether the width of False Creek would be a challenge.

[twoNeurons]

One of my favorite bridges in the world:

The Forth Rail Bridge.

If you've seen it in person, you'd know what I mean.

[G-Man]

I highly doubt that it will get built in Portland and if built it would not be very successful.

[urbanizer405]

That is a pretty awesome idea...

...but it's pretty unfeasible (at least for that particular area). Any bridge like that would have to connect two densely populated areas. Sure, the future SoWa area will be densly populated, but the Eastside probably not. And then there would be conflicts with river traffic.

As for Vancouver, I think you guys could build some sort of mid-level bridge between Granville Island and Yaletown that could contain a pedestrian mall and a streetcar line. Maybe there could be a similar bridge between the Waterfront Station and Lonsdale Quay.