[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.

http://greenradio.rdmmedia.topscms.com/images/3c/5c/34bb8d12470d9686d49d15873942.jpg

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!

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]

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]

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"

+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.

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: :failed:

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]

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

[smoothie.]

question. does this guy bike or drive to work?

[gars]

question. does this guy bike or drive to work?

He bikes

[Mr.HappySilp]

question. does this guy bike or drive to work?

he bikes lol. One time he didn't look both ways and was almost hit by a bus........

[Presto]

He's bikes, but he's one of the douchey bikers (http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100727/bc_redlight_gregor_100727?hub=BritishColumbiaHome)

[RacePace]

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.

The Aquabus system already in place is better anyway, you can go from Yaletown to Granville Island, or to Science world, or south of Cambie Bridge, or Edgewater

[StylinRed]

when i saw the title i was just thinking they were going to construct green walkways/bike lanes along the lines of what Presto suggested

When I saw the pic of Granville bridge i was thinking hmm... are they going to plant some trees/flowers along the rails or add a walkway on to the sides of it?

then i see the after pic!!! -_-

As much as I like Gregor and some of his ideas I think this is absolutely retarded -_-

[boogabooga]

what a fucking hack job

[Great68]

It's rediculous that they can even contemplate reducing lanes on a bridge that's considered part of a highway.

[Great68]

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!

Failed for bullshit conjecture.

It was the Liberals who put in stupid hippie bullshit like the "Carbon Tax". Or have you forgotten?

[Lomac]

Okay, I'm genuinely curious... How do they plan to bring pedestrians into the middle of both bridges? It's not like there are any natural intersections on either end of each bridge where people can just "hop across" without any issues.

:facepalm:

[i-VTEC]

:rukidding: Are you kidding me!

[Duff Beer]

New location for night market :suspicious:

[murd0c]

Food carts in the middle I'm sure

[El Bastardo]

Hooray! The homeless will have a new place to sleep at night that'll be difficult to police because you can't find a natural stopping point there, being a viaduct at all.

I can't wait until someone is traumatized because some junkie runs out into the middle of traffic because hes high as fuck and bounces off of someone's SUV because hes being attacked by imaginary bees or something.



I hate this city

[drunkrussian]

lol at picture of all those ppl walking. no way otd be like that

[Vancouver_M5]

This biking/pedestrian ideea barely works in Europe, where not everyone drives in the 1st place. This is a really bad ideea for vancouver imo.
However i will say that pedestrian coties are the shit and are very cool to walk around in, but more so as a tourist.

[FerrariEnzo]

im sure some idiot drunk driver is gonna plow down some people

[Phozy]

Is it me, or is Vancouver finding newer ways to throw money out, or maybe even keep some in their pockets...

All this "green" talk, just stop fucking with the roads and build it elsewhere

[Alatar]

he bikes lol. One time he didn't look both ways and was almost hit by a bus........

Too bad.

Don't forget, this is the same guy who's advocating increased living density in the form of condos/laneway housing. Yet, lives in a LARGE SINGLE FAMILY HOME near Shaughnessy, himself.

Oh, and as far as his cycling to work, it's not that bad when you only need to go from Oak to Cambie.

I didn't vote for this asshat the last time around. Didn't vote for any Vision members, actually. It irks me quite extensively when I note various roadways in ill repair, poorly repaved (Knight & 54th, there's actually a large dip in the left lane going northbound in the middle of the intersection), and infrastructure issues such as a leak from a water conduit beneath the street at Dumfries & 49th.

They already fixed the leaking water conduit at Knight & 30th, going southbound, but even that took them 4 months and was only "patched" with an asphalt plug.

[iwantaskyline]

I get off I5, get to my hotel in downtown Seattle in a span of 10 mins. Vancouver roads = joke.

[spyker]

question. does this guy bike or drive to work?

Yes the doorknob does bike to work,but only on nice sunny days,so that makes it only a few times a year.

[Akinari]

The last thing we need is some drunk driver losing control and ramming into that proposed hippy tree hugger green lane and have a tragedy unfold.

[gars]

I get off I5, get to my hotel in downtown Seattle in a span of 10 mins. Vancouver roads = joke.

:suspicious: You've obviously never experienced rush hour traffic in Seattle.

[iwantaskyline]

:suspicious: You've obviously never experienced rush hour traffic in Seattle.

Can you do that in Vancouver during "no rush hour time"? :concentrate:

[LiquidTurbo]

Haha, there would be 1 guy in the picture walking on the greenway.. not all populated, like they've shown.

[monkeywrench]

Mind as well build a zoo there as well

[UFO]

Are we opposed to the over-spending of money (I am) or the loss of lanes on Granville/Cambie bridge (I'm not)? Those 2 bridges are very wide for what they need to do, esp with the goal of trying to decrease car traffic in the DT core. The DT north end of those bridges have limited lanes and the south end of those bridges have a ton of traffic lights, both of which bottleneck traffic flow. The bridges themselves are usually not congested 3 lanes across as a result which is why cars are often zipping along as people have noted. Burrard St was probably the best flowing bridge prior to the bike lane implementation and things now are *not bad*. Losing the lanes isn't a big deal IMO, but where the money comes to fund it is bothersome. Maybe Mayor Gregor can have his juice company buck up privately in exchange for naming rights.

Okay, I'm genuinely curious... How do they plan to bring pedestrians into the middle of both bridges? It's not like there are any natural intersections on either end of each bridge where people can just "hop across" without any issues.

:facepalm:

As l recall there is currently a pedestrian underpass on the southside of the Granville St. bridge that allows you to cross from sb to nb side of the bridge, so really its not that hard to have the underpass lead to the middle.

[gars]

Are we opposed to the over-spending of money (I am) or the loss of lanes on Granville/Cambie bridge (I'm not)? Those 2 bridges are very wide for what they need to do, esp with the goal of trying to decrease car traffic in the DT core. The DT north end of those bridges have limited lanes and the south end of those bridges have a ton of traffic lights, both of which bottleneck traffic flow. The bridges themselves are usually not congested 3 lanes across as a result which is why cars are often zipping along as people have noted. Burrard St was probably the best flowing bridge prior to the bike lane implementation and things now are *not bad*. Losing the lanes isn't a big deal IMO, but where the money comes to fund it is bothersome. Maybe Mayor Gregor can have his juice company buck up privately in exchange for naming rights.

As l recall there is currently a pedestrian underpass on the southside of the Granville St. bridge that allows you to cross from sb to nb side of the bridge, so really its not that hard to have the underpass lead to the middle.

Yep, I agree. Most of the traffic on the bridge coming off goes onto Seymour, and most of the traffic coming on either comes from Howe, or Pacific. Granville doesn't allow cars a few blocks north of the Bridge.

I don't actually see this impacting traffic that badly.

[Marco911]

Okay, I'm genuinely curious... How do they plan to bring pedestrians into the middle of both bridges? It's not like there are any natural intersections on either end of each bridge where people can just "hop across" without any issues.

:facepalm:

By adding a Traffic light and pedestrian crossing of course!

[kunoman1]

Because obviously the current bike lanes are unbelievably successful...

[spyker]

Mind as well build a zoo there as well

Greenhouse's are more his style.He can cater to all those useless hipster's that live in this city.

[impulseX]

Who voted this douchebag in.

Seriously WTF

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

i can see it now... a big green sign...

PREPARE TO STOP.
PARKADE ON RIGHT IN 1000M.
BIKE RENTALS

WELCOME TO GREENCOUVER

[Everymans]

The granville street bridge is the worst bridge to bike or walk across. It's got such a high elevation compared to the other two and the crosswalks are sketchy as hell, if they were to simply take out a lane on one side to widen the walking path and build some barriers then I'd be in favour(like the burrard bridge). As for taking out lanes of traffic I honestly don't think it would disrupt traffic too badly. Granville street bridge never seems to have any back ups, but it's the best designed of the three because it connects to 3 streets on both sides.I'm getting rather frustrated with all these dipshit moves they're trying to make with the infrastructure in this city. The viaduct being destroyed is another stupid one, same with this new "Raised park and go fees". Way to make public transportation a more viable option! Brilliant! Let's make it more and more expensive so that it will probably be cheaper to fuckin drive to work instead of throwing cash at your shitty infrastructure. Also that bike rental idiocy. Stuff like this makes me miss Edmonton and it's "Fuck you hippies" attitude.

[drunkrussian]

Mind as well build a zoo there as well

are u being sarcastic? cause a free zoo in the middle of a bridge would be a fucking amazing thing to be honest lol

[murd0c]

Mind as well build a zoo there as well

and fill it with crackers from Hastings :ilied:

[dyan]

In my opinion.. bike lanes are getting WAY out of hand. There is now a new bike lane up agyle and marine drive.. (for those that don't know.. it's a very steep hill). Now who would like to bike up the hill?.. even so it is a very wide road so with the bike lane, it has shrunk from 2 lanes to 1.

OT: Who would want to bike across granville bridge? There hasn't been any problems with it.. and shrinking the bridge to add a bike lane would cause backups..

I hate this bike lane infrastructure changing shit.

[spyker]

and fill it with crackers from Hastings :ilied:

You mean crackheads,not crackers.

[MG1]

I don't live in Vancouver, so I can't do anything about this goof of a mayor.

[murd0c]

You mean crackheads,not crackers.

same shit

[SiRV]

not sure if mentioned yet... but this concept is missing a canopy for the rain we get 50% of the time

[Yodamaster]

FIX THE FUCKING ROADS FIRST YOU SHITHEADS.

The state of our roads is on par with a third world country, for fucks sake, and then they find the nerve to build an open walkway open to our eight months of rain.

:die:

[Everymans]

FIX THE FUCKING ROADS FIRST YOU SHITHEADS.

The state of our roads is on par with a third world country, for fucks sake, and then they find the nerve to build an open walkway open to our eight months of rain.

:die:
I agree. Tackle the issues that matter and stop wasting time on this bike infrastructure nonsense. Everytime the city does underground work they leave the road is such a horrid condition that I end up avoiding the street at all cost. Some of the streets in this city are worse then small towns in saskatchewen. Hell, even the wealthy neighborhoods out in kits have aweful roads. Some of them don't even have curbs!

[gars]

Hell, even the wealthy neighborhoods out in kits have aweful roads. Some of them don't even have curbs!

Don't blame that on the city. Same with the alleyways that aren't paved. That's totally up to the owners that live on that block. If they would like the curb paved or the alley paved, they need to pay for it.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Went to downtown today and I see no bikes using the bike lanes while the roads there is a traffic jam....... and they want to build more bike lanes..........

[jack3d]

whos really gonna walk across a bridge?

[4444]

i can see it now... a big green sign...

PREPARE TO STOP.
PARKADE ON RIGHT IN 1000M.
BIKE RENTALS

WELCOME TO GREGORCOUVER

Fixed for you (moonbeam has such an ego)

[Gridlock]

whos really gonna walk across a bridge?

I never walked Granville, but I was working on a condo at the foot of the Cambie and had to go to Home Depot. Figured screw it(literally, I needed screws) I'll just walk...OMG, that bridge is deceptively long. Then to walk back...with cargo(because I bought more than screws)

No, this idea is fucked.

[luibei]

my work requires me to go in an out of downtown throughout the day and i use all bridges. Granville bridge at any given times run very smoothly. It's only when you reach the end of it where there are some lights where you may experience a minor jam (not even). Burrard (even with the bike lanes) runs smoothly as well most the time albeit with more traffic but i've seen jams both ways but during the summer time and even spring I do see many pedestrians and cyclists utilising the bridge. As for the bike lanes, during good weather i observe many cyclists using them but almost noone rides in them during the winter months. I do remember people saying noone will use the burard bike lanes and how traffic will come to a standstill on burrard bridge but the truth is far from the truth. the only thing that did come true though was that businesses downtown along hornby were indeed affected due to the lessened amount of parking space.

[nns]

I agree. Tackle the issues that matter and stop wasting time on this bike infrastructure nonsense. Everytime the city does underground work they leave the road is such a horrid condition that I end up avoiding the street at all cost. Some of the streets in this city are worse then small towns in saskatchewen. Hell, even the wealthy neighborhoods out in kits have aweful roads. Some of them don't even have curbs!

Check out Drake in downtown. The road is extremely bumpy and scarred.