Vancouver Viaduct Essay

Vancouver, British Columbia has become an emerging leader of urban innovation for metropolitan centers all around the globe. Vancouver’s incredible array of vast natural and urban landscapes incorporated throughout the city, makes it distinctive among western urban centers. This unique aesthetic could possibly be attributed to Vancouver's lack of a multi-lane highway running through the city's downtown core, a popular practice during the urbanization and automobile boom after the Second World War (Kenworthy). The City of Vancouver decided to find a compromise in the form of a viaduct system on the streets of Dunsmuir and Georgia. The purpose, to move eastbound and westbound traffic flow efficiently in and out of the swelling downtown core(Kenworthy).

The City of Vancouver,according to their website, will be making the final decision for the proposed demolition of the viaducts, in a meeting “tentatively scheduled,” for October 20th, 2015. The newly liberated space is proposed to undergo development of 3,500 new housing units, including affordable or low income housing (Frances). The plan also includes, large expanses of community park space, and a cycling specific bridge entering the city in the area which the viaducts previously occupied (Frances). According to the City of Vancouver, the entire viaduct demolition project, and the reconfiguration of roadways is estimated at a cost of 200 million dollars (Frances). In conjunction with the demolition of the Viaducts, the barren remainder of the Expo 86 lands, owned by Concord Pacific, will finally be developed. Breathing new life into a currently unutilized area of the city