Granville Street Bridge - Granville Connector Project | U/C

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by whatnext

If you look at the second image it is pretty disappointing to see that the sidewalks on the ramps don't seem to be widened as part of the project. They're barely adequate for two people passing now. Looking at the Seymour ramp it obvious the traffic lanes are overwidth already, so why not expand the sidealks into them? Not everyone wants to go down Granville.

The Howe ramp sidewalk opens out to a freeway on both sides, and the main sidewalk itself isn't very busy; guess the city wants everybody to use Granville and the new streets instead. They already shrunk the car lanes in favour of a buffer, which'll have to be enough.

[Zepfancouver]

I was unsuccessful in finding an elevated area to capture.
Next time I'll try to pass as a student at the University Canada West, top floor would have an ideal view of the progress.

This afternoon, making quick work of it.



Panorama

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

The Howe ramp sidewalk opens out to a freeway on both sides, and the main sidewalk itself isn't very busy; guess the city wants everybody to use Granville and the new streets instead. They already shrunk the car lanes in favour of a buffer, which'll have to be enough.

It’s not as bad as a freeway. It’s a one way street and Howe to Pacific is really just a narrow lane. Easy to cross. I can’t recall if it has the same unusually wide lanes as the Seymour off ramp though.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by whatnext

It’s not as bad as a freeway. It’s a one way street and Howe to Pacific is really just a narrow lane. Easy to cross. I can’t recall if it has the same unusually wide lanes as the Seymour off ramp though.

I'm guessing you haven't actually tried to get across it - that one-way's a bleeding solid wall of cars at times, and there's no good place to put lights or a proper crossing.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

I'm guessing you haven't actually tried to get across it - that one-way's a bleeding solid wall of cars at times, and there's no good place to put lights or a proper crossing.

Yes I’ve crossed there. Frankly I’d feel more comfortable crossing there than the current crosswalks that go across the two lanes on the south or North ramps.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Yes I’ve crossed there. Frankly I’d feel more comfortable crossing there than the current crosswalks that go across the two lanes on the south or North ramps.

Only because those two are rock bottom - that's why they're getting the traffic lights. IMO we're not going to see a massive uptick in Howe/Seymour pedestrian activity.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Only because those two are rock bottom - that's why they're getting the traffic lights. IMO we're not going to see a massive uptick in Howe/Seymour pedestrian activity.

I think we may see less people choosing the ramps, as the Granville route, with a safer crossing onto Granville, will be more attractive. Right now, even when I'm going to Granville, I sometimes use the ramp sidewalk just because crossing the ramp seems unsafe (whenever the road conditions are poor, for example, or the traffic heavier than usual).

[jollyburger]

Does Granville Bridge have the lowest pedestrian traffic compared to Cambie and Burrard? I think that's the only saving grace for the narrow sidewalks on the ramps.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Does Granville Bridge have the lowest pedestrian traffic compared to Cambie and Burrard? I think that's the only saving grace for the narrow sidewalks on the ramps.

I would think so given the current horrendous pedestrian experience on Granville. Of course the point of the project is to make it better and vastly increase those numbers, which is why I am surprised they weren't widening the Seymour offramp. Like I said there's plenty of room to do so. Maybe it s a weight issue?

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by whatnext

I would think so given the current horrendous pedestrian experience on Granville. Of course the point of the project is to make it better and vastly increase those numbers, which is why I am surprised they weren't widening the Seymour offramp. Like I said there's plenty of room to do so. Maybe it s a weight issue?

This is the first phase of the Granville Bridge work. It was altered because the budget didn't stretch to carry out the full extent of planned changes. "This work will transform the way we use the bridge by creating safer, more convenient access to active transportation and transit while enabling future improvements."

There should be a fence installed, like the Burrard Bridge improvements added, but the budget wouldn't cover it.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Also note that we ended up going with West Side Plus, which doesn't involve touching Seymour at all.

[officedweller]

When I walk across Granville bridge from the office I take Howe (because the TD Tower is closer to Howe) and I don't really like the current pedestrian atmosphere on Granville St.,
plus taking Granville means you have to cross the full volume of the Howe St. ramp. (at present).

I find the one lane off-ramp from Howe to Pacific (in front of 1335 Howe) easy to cross to get to the sidewalk on the Howe St. ramp.

Pedestrian traffic is low and I've only ever passed a couple people on that ramp stretch and it has a full jersey barrier (maybe the cost of removing it is the impediment).
At the 4th Ave ramp on the south side there isn't much protection (but pedestrians are on the inside of the curve, so out-of-control cars are more likely to hit the other side).

The improvements to Granville will be better for crossing the full Howe ramp volume (ie there'll be a light to stop traffic), so in future, I might cut from Howe to Granville at Drake to access the wider sidewalk.

[s211]

Could this whole demo/rebuild of the Granville Street ramp been avoided if the overall plan for the area didn't include Neon Street? I fail to see the need for it.

[Jimbo604]

Originally Posted by s211

Could this whole demo/rebuild of the Granville Street ramp been avoided if the overall plan for the area didn't include Neon Street? I fail to see the need for it.

Interesting question, I would say maybe Neon is extraneous, Pacific to Drake is the same block length as the other downtown blocks on Granville (e.g. Drake to Davie, Davie to Helmcken, Helmcken to Nelson, etc.) and you don't see any of these other blocks split up with a street half way in-between them.

That being said between Neon and Pacific they will have new buildings directly up against Granville street and they would make it harder to access the bridge for maintenance, the increased maintenance costs of a bridge versus a regular road and so on. (Granville bridge maintenance has been in the news lately).

[idunno]

I think the whole point of the loops demo and "H" network is the development opportunity.

[Jimbo604]

Originally Posted by officedweller

When I walk across Granville bridge from the office I take Howe (because the TD Tower is closer to Howe) and I don't really like the current pedestrian atmosphere on Granville St.,
plus taking Granville means you have to cross the full volume of the Howe St. ramp. (at present).

I find the one lane off-ramp from Howe to Pacific (in front of 1335 Howe) easy to cross to get to the sidewalk on the Howe St. ramp.

Pedestrian traffic is low and I've only ever passed a couple people on that ramp stretch and it has a full jersey barrier (maybe the cost of removing it is the impediment).
At the 4th Ave ramp on the south side there isn't much protection (but pedestrians are on the inside of the curve, so out-of-control cars are more likely to hit the other side).

The improvements to Granville will be better for crossing the full Howe ramp volume (ie there'll be a light to stop traffic), so in future, I might cut from Howe to Granville at Drake to access the wider sidewalk.

I've found Granville north to Seymour St ramp and Granville south ramp to Fir St/4th Ave are worse than the other two crossings (eg the Granville heading south from Howe that you mention) as the cars have gotten up to a good speed crossing the bridge and then come to the crossing. Well they're all pretty bad - cars just don't stop and enforcement is zero.

Sometimes it is a quite a volume of cars. So one might think the thing to do is wait for a gap... maybe, but sometimes one driver stops and then other geniuses go around that driver waiting. Huge potential for auto or pedestrian accident.

While I'm not a big supporter of some "improvements" like going down to one car thru lane on some sections of Richards St, imho, an inordinately high number of pedestrian crossings on this stretch of Granville were with people risking their lives.

[Jimbo604]

Originally Posted by Zepfancouver

I was unsuccessful in finding an elevated area to capture.
Next time I'll try to pass as a student at the University Canada West, top floor would have an ideal view of the progress.

This afternoon, making quick work of it.

Thanks for the update, Zep!

Maybe the hotel on Howe there has an upper hallway with a window that a surreptitious SSP'er could use.

[Zepfancouver]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

...Maybe the hotel on Howe there has an upper hallway with a window that a surreptitious SSP'er could use.

Maybe I can pay for a room for a couple of hours or am I in the wrong neighborhood for that kind of hotel arrangement ,
25 years ago, Granville and Drake was a red-light district, the good old days, how times have changed.

[Jimbo604]

Photo src: me

Good progress, may be all gone in another week. Sorry about the quality, camera switched to potato quality mode for some reason and I didn't notice until afterwards.

[Jimbo604]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Yes, I am complaining about the temporary impact from construction. It would have been simple for the city to eliminate two blocks of meter parking to help ensure traffic can flow into downtown without backing up almost completely across the bridge.

City hates cars but is ironically terribly addicted to parking revenue.