"Greenways" Mayor Gregor's New Stupid Idea

[melloman]

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Traffic has been squeezed on the Burrard Bridge and the downtown viaducts by separated bike lanes, and now Vancouver is looking at making the Granville and Cambie bridges friendlier for walking or cycling. That likely means traffic lanes would be taken away.

A concept diagram shows two lanes on the Granville Bridge replaced with a greenway -- a wide promenade fit with trees and benches to take in the view as traffic whizzes by on either side. The city claims there's extra capacity on False Creek bridges to work with and that it fits with the Transportation 2040 plan.



Director Jerry Dobrovolny says the plan aims to get commuters out of their cars.

"It's not about penalizing car drivers," he says. "We always know there will be times when the car is the most viable trip or sometimes the only viable trip, but it's providing options for people to walk, cycle, or take transit."

"We have a 75 per cent increase in population and we have 20 per cent fewer cars coming into the downtown now than we did 10, 15 years ago," Dobrovolny adds.

The greenway idea is only a concept for now and would still leave three northbound lanes and three southbound lanes on the Granville Street Bridge. Further study is needed.

"You'd get on the south side at Sixth Avenue and on the north [side] at Drake," explains Dobrovolny. "There's regular intersections at that point so you'd go across the crosswalk and enter the boulevard at what is the centre of the street today."

He says that would leave the outside lanes for vehicles and those lanes would connect directly to Howe and to Seymour.

"It's not possible to carry eight lanes of traffic on the bridge because it would essentially need to connect to a freeway at either end to fill that capacity."

Vancouver updated its transportation vision yesterday. The city has no plan to increase road capacity, despite admitting there is a congestion problem.

The focus will continue to be on making the city safer and accessible for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users.

I'd like to say that all this "green" bullshit is starting to bother me. Gregor Robertson is trying to make this a more "pedestrian" city at the core, without the infrastructure to support it. If we were to build the infrastructure to support it, we would BANKRUPT the fucking province.

Discuss.

[pastarocket]

Mayor Moonbeam is at it again with another idea that won't work in Vancouver. We have a limited amount of roads already and no funding available to get the infrastructure needed for this green project.

-just another reminder for me about why I didn't vote for this guy or his party in the last civic election.

[Presto]

They should just build a pedestrian/bike bridge between Yaletown and Granville Island. It gives the tourists a nice path to explore some of the city landmarks/sights, like Stanley Park, Granville Island, and Yaletown. Stop fucking with the roads.

[punkwax]

Bridges need more lanes, not less. The concept is great, the reality is Vancouver will be an even worse place to drive for visitors. I deal with a lot of people who travel in from all over the US and they all say that our city is fucked when it comes to driving. I agree 100%.

[blum2001]

I didn't vote for a single Vision Vancouver hippy in the last election because of ideas like this.

[murd0c]

He's a fucken tree hugging hipster that doesn't have a fucken clue about how things should actually work. I'm just pissed living outside of Vancouver I didn't have a change or right to vote for him... If that was the case I think he wouldnt of made it even close to a second term.

[spyker]

As Forrest Gump would say "stupid is as stupid does" our mayor fits this quote well.

[godwin]

That's why he is the mayor not the premier.. note: to people who want to vote NDP/ Adrian Dix next round.. this is what's going to happen to the whole province when they are in power!

Originally Posted by melloman

I'd like to say that all this "green" bullshit is starting to bother me. Gregor Robertson is trying to make this a more "pedestrian" city at the core, without the infrastructure to support it. If we were to build the infrastructure to support it, we would BANKRUPT the fucking province.

Discuss.

[murd0c]

What pisses me out about him is he only cares about whats in the city and nothing about how people get in and the outside of the city. Doesn't that fucken seaweed shake drinking bitch know that it's people that come from out of Vancouver that spend a large portion of money which helps the ecnomy downtown..

[Mr.HappySilp]

LOL this will be good.
You know what's better. If Mr.GreenBS decides to ban all non-comerical vehicles in downtown core coz he wants to convert all the roads to bike lanes to be more "Green"

[rsx]

Why don't they just put the walkway underneath the bridge that way, it can be used when it's raining which is 90% of the goddamn time anyway.

[blum2001]

Originally Posted by Presto

They should just build a pedestrian/bike bridge between Yaletown and Granville Island. It gives the tourists a nice path to explore some of the city landmarks/sights, like Stanley Park, Granville Island, and Yaletown. Stop fucking with the roads.

+1 on this and get rid of the stupid bike lanes on Burrard St bridge.

[yray]

the sidewalks on the bridge are wide enough to bike on...

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by rsx

Why don't they just put the walkway underneath the bridge that way, it can be used when it's raining which is 90% of the goddamn time anyway.

Beasue Mr.Green idea is to make is so ppl get piss off waiting in the traffic while driving to dowtown to a point where you will no longer drive to DT other than bike or take the transit. Therefore making DT more "Green"

Originally Posted by blum2001

+1 on this and get rid of the stupid bike lanes on Burrard St bridge.

agree but then Mr.Green won't listen coz he wants DT car free.

[GLOW]

i've walked across that bridge before, some cars blaze by super fast it's kind of scary lol. i don't see it as a nice walkway for people to walk on...but then again with the increased congestion this causes maybe everyone will be rolling across at 40km/hr

[godwin]

Because first they need to buy out Ocean concrete factory first.

Originally Posted by rsx

Why don't they just put the walkway underneath the bridge that way, it can be used when it's raining which is 90% of the goddamn time anyway.

[The_AK]

Why not build the path over existing bridge? It's not supporting vehicles so weight wouldnt be a big issue and it allows for a more scenic view. New York already has this with Brooklyn bridge.

[Manic!]

"We have a 75 per cent increase in population and we have 20 per cent fewer cars coming into the downtown now than we did 10, 15 years ago,"

reason because no one want's to down town because of the traffic. I don't know how people living in the mainland deal with the traffic. I was in Langley for a week and driving just sucked!!!

[PornMaster]

Who voted this douchebag in.

Seriously WTF

Might as well change the new lanes on highway 1 to bike lanes

[PornMaster]

And the illustration is bs, the after picture is the total opposite.

1 Bike in the bike lane

and butt fuck traffic in the other

[CP.AR]

inb4 Vancouver shows up in one of those "top 10 worse cities to drive in!" lists

[tgill]

Meanwhile at your local community centre:

Board wants to cut 900 hours to save $50,000
...

The park board wants to cut 900 hours collectively from 23 centres across the city in order to save $50,000. It asked individual community centre associations to come up with ways to save the money. In response, several community centre associations proposed closing on some, if not all, stat holidays. The new Creekside centre has proposed closing on six stat holidays as a way to save 96 staff hours at $28 an hour, while Hillcrest could close for seven for a savings of 80 staff hours. Meanwhile, Hastings Community Centre could close for the entire week prior to Labour Day, and the Roundhouse is considering closing for the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

Karl Gulbransen, president of the Sunset Community Association, said the associations were directed to consider cutting at slower times of the year. He added that doesn’t make these decisions any easier. Sunset has proposed closing at night for two weeks for a total saving of $2,240.

...

He said the park board never suggested the association pick up the tab to cover the closures, but he added it’s implied. Gulbransen noted $2,240 might not seem like a lot of money, but add it to the $20,000 the Sunset association has already chipped in to keep programs going at the community centre and it begins to add up.

“They’re not calling it cuts, they’re calling it ‘living within the budget,’” said Gulbransen. “But we already had to spend $20,000 just to stay open our regular hours.”

NPA commissioner Melissa De Genova is bringing a motion on notice to the board tonight (June 11) asking staff to find other efficiencies and redirect funds from other areas to restore those 900 hours.
...

[Presto]

Originally Posted by The_AK

Why not build the path over existing bridge? It's not supporting vehicles so weight wouldnt be a big issue and it allows for a more scenic view. New York already has this with Brooklyn bridge.

I think it's important to separate pedestrians from traffic. A path in the middle of the road means there's gonna be pedestrians crossing traffic to get to it, even it it's only at the ends. As if drivers aren't pissed-off enough, already.

A bridge from Yaletown to Granville Island would be great. Construction wouldn't disrupt an arterial route, and infuriate drivers. People would be actually be able to have a seat on a bench, and enjoy the view without the buzz and exhaust of traffic. Really, the only people that wouldn't like the bridge would be the operator of the shuttle boat that ferries people between the island and Yaletown for $3.

[gars]

I've been across the bridges, and it's quite sketchy with traffic zooming by.

A pedestrian bridge going from Granville Island to Yaletown would be nice, but it needs to be pretty tall because a lot of the boat traffic through false creek needs pretty high clearance to go under bridges. Even if you don't build it tall, a short bridge would still be quite expensive to build.

[Bahhbeehhaaaa]

that idea reminds me when Richmond build a Special lane for buses a few years back? Used it for like half a year and they demolished it lmao