Freeway Section Closes, No One Misses It

In Vancouver, B.C., a stretch of elevated freeway was closed during the 2010 Winter Olympics for safety reasons. Turned out it wasn't missed, and locals are advocating to have it removed.

1 minute read

July 24, 2011, 1:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur


City Councillor Geoff Meggs commissioned a study last year to determine the feasibility of removing the section of freeway on the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts. The study concluded that the freeway is "no longer crucial."

Phillip Langdon reports:

"The report from [Planning Director Brent Toderian and transportation engineer Jerry Dobrovolny] says the number of heavy trucks using the viaducts has dropped by half since 1996. In that 15-year-span, the report says, "the total number of people entering the downtown has increased but the number of vehicles has decreased."

The Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts were the only pieces of a major freeway project for Vancouver that was never built, due to a "freeway revolt" in the 1960s.

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