Vancouver Viaducts to be torn down

[GS8]

It's official. Say goodbye to the twins...

Vancouver viaducts to be removed, votes council - British Columbia - CBC News

Vote was 5-4, cost of project will be around $300 million. Looks like they'll add more housing, park expansion, a bike bridge and construct an 8 way lane merging Expo & Pacific Boulevards.

Call me cynical, but I can't help but think this whole thing was pre-approved ages ago and the city just carried through an act to make it look like they gave a shit what people thought.

Oh and source of funding is currently undecided

[Ch28]

I don't know how they can approve something that has no source of funding

[kross9]

not to mention whos going to pay for the water/sewage upgrades power and all that jaz on top...

yay looks like we go years of construction to wait through too!

[TypeRNammer]

So when is the next municipal vote?

[MG1]

Wow, I saw the old viaduct being torn down to be replaced with this one that is now going to be torn down.

[Durrann]

funding from rich mainlanders lol

[rslater]

If a new city council changes and Vision is no longer in power, before 2018 can the city change its decision or is it binding?

[Tone Loc]

Originally Posted by GS8

Call me cynical, but I can't help but think this whole thing was pre-approved ages ago and the city just carried through an act to make it look like they gave a shit what people thought.

Oh and source of funding is currently undecided

I don't think you're being cynical. It's a relatively well-known fact that Robertson has been batting for developers since day one, and these same developers have a ton of money to gain by building on viaduct lands. These same developers are my best guess as to where the majority of the funding will come from.

It's cunning really, pander to the greenies/hippies/left-wingers by introducing draconian recycling/trash initiatives and forcing cycling infrastructure down everyone's throats while simultaneously selling out the city to wealthy foreign buyers and developers/real estate brokers who are all too eager to make a profit...

[StylinRed]

what the Aquilini's want the Aquilini's get f'get about it

[meme405]

Lol this has nothing to do with Aquilini, he's about as insignificant as Steven Harper is now.

This project is all part of the Concorde Pacific Master plan, and the area around this project is like their crowning jewel. They have literally been sitting on the land around that area for decades. And now, just as they are starting to look towards completion of the projects on the opposite side of BC place, all of a sudden this area gets fully green lit for development.

The project has an obvious source of funds, Concorde will make a deal with the government to build out the new infrastructure, in return they will get the green light to do whatever the fuck with the land that they own in the rest of that area, which could be worth BILLIONS.

That Creekside park extension will never go through, or once it does it will be HALF the size of what is shown on that map. Literally a bunch of the land it is shown as taking over isn't owned by the city, it's owned by Concorde.

EDIT: Lol you can even see Concorde's display center is located right in the middle of that proposed creekside park expansion.

That park is gonna get axed almost entirely once negotiations around the lands start being discussed. If anything concorde will pull that park entirely inland and keep the lands around the water for new buildings.

I'd love to see their mockups for the area, cause I'm willing to bet those are a thousand times more realistic than the cities grand scheme which is just a pipe dream.

[AWDTurboLuvr]

Originally Posted by Ch28

I don't know how they can approve something that has no source of funding

Well, we all know that developers will be involved...lol

• Sale or lease of city land
• Developer levies
• Community amenity contributions

In any case, they didn't have the funding for upgrading and keeping the viaducts. The costs were estimated to be:

$8-10M to maintain over 15 years
$50-65M for seismic upgrades
$15M for a new pedestrian connection to North East False Creek on Georgia.

With the new St.Pauls Hospital going in the False Creek Flats area, it was either tear down and replace the viaducts or remove them completely. Building new viaducts were deemed too costly.

[The_AK]

Something to take away - the same people that approved this are the same people that created that map legend.

[meme405]

Originally Posted by The_AK

Something to take away - the same people that approved this are the same people that created that map legend.

LOL.

I saw that, so ridiculous. If you just rotate it, it can become whatever you want...

Apparently nobody thought about perhaps using different colours or something. Nope has to be green, cause we need to have it clear those are green spaces...

[melloman]

meme is right on the money.

Concord Pacific has owned this land since Expo 86 closed up and the land was left an abandoned parking lot.

They are the sole developer and the main reason Robertson pushed to get the viaducts demolished. Concord gets more highrises (think it was 6 in the plan) and Robertson gets more bikes lanes and a park.

Personally, I will not be going into downtown from the East now, period. I would rather use Cambie/Granville and Burrard bridges as this will be a shitshow for the next 5 years. All the viaduct traffic will overflow into Hastings & Powell because people will avoid Expo/Pacific during demolition.

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by GS8

Call me cynical, but I can't help but think this whole thing was pre-approved ages ago and the city just carried through an act to make it look like they gave a shit what people thought.

You're cynical - that sort of thing NEVER happens in Vancouver, and has certainly NEVER happened before with Vision.

Originally Posted by kross9

not to mention whos going to pay for the water/sewage upgrades power and all that jaz on top...

What upgrades? You just plug it all into the existing stuff and hope everyone doesn't flush at once.

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by meme405

Lol this has nothing to do with Aquilini, he's about as insignificant as Steven Harper is now.

This project is all part of the Concorde Pacific Master plan, and the area around this project is like their crowning jewel. They have literally been sitting on the land around that area for decades. And now, just as they are starting to look towards completion of the projects on the opposite side of BC place, all of a sudden this area gets fully green lit for development.

The project has an obvious source of funds, Concorde will make a deal with the government to build out the new infrastructure, in return they will get the green light to do whatever the fuck with the land that they own in the rest of that area, which could be worth BILLIONS.

That Creekside park extension will never go through, or once it does it will be HALF the size of what is shown on that map. Literally a bunch of the land it is shown as taking over isn't owned by the city, it's owned by Concorde.

EDIT: Lol you can even see Concorde's display center is located right in the middle of that proposed creekside park expansion.

That park is gonna get axed almost entirely once negotiations around the lands start being discussed. If anything concorde will pull that park entirely inland and keep the lands around the water for new buildings.

I'd love to see their mockups for the area, cause I'm willing to bet those are a thousand times more realistic than the cities grand scheme which is just a pipe dream.

really? that's interesting to know

i just recall very early on, the aquilinis were pushing for a solution for development expansion in the area and then the story died away fairly quickly and a little while later rumblings of the viaducts coming down started happening and grew and grew, figured it was them getting their way

[sdubfid]

hope f1 course is part of the budget

[Hondaracer]

Gregor obviously had motives to let less cars into the downtown core as well.

Was just on them coming into DT at 10:15 it was fucking slammed..yea gonna be great diverting that to other veins.

[320icar]

This just seems like such a waste of time and money and is going to inconvenience so many people for so many years. The bad outweigh the good in my mind

[Wormiez]

Pattison Group has the second majority share of land assets in this area. Their land resides in between and behind the Viaducts. They are probably one of the majority gainers from the demolition of the Viaducts.

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by The_AK

Something to take away - the same people that approved this are the same people that created that map legend.

That map legend...

[twitchyzero]

bring back the Molson Indy

[Liquid_o2]

Here is the new proposed road system from the city engineers. If they are able to ensure that developers cover the project costs, this could work. Having Pacific go both ways and having a major signalized intersection at Pacific and Georgia would ensure that traffic flows properly in both directions in/out from downtown. Georgia and Pender then become the major entryway and exit points from the core. My fear as always, is that developers control this city and end up screwing over the taxpayers.

[unit]

looks like downtown is creeping into chinatown

[Liquid_o2]

Look at the corner of Main and Keefer. It already is.