Posted Feb 26, 2007, 4:44 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Hamilton
Posts: 6,380
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Re: Vancouver Freeways
Re: Freeways
There are no freeways to the downtown core of Vancouver. I should add that Vancouver is just one of 21 cities that make up Greater Vancouver, outwardly known collectively as Vancouver. There is a single major freeway, Highway 1, that runs at approximately NW-SE through Greater Vancouver and a small part of that runs along the City of Vancouver's extreme eastern border before the highway crosses a bridge to the north shore. This freeway is currently 4-6 lanes wide (total, not each direction), and is due to be widened slightly in the coming years to accelerate the movement for freight from the port of Vancouver south to the USA and east to the rest of the country (Highway 1 is Canada's only Federal transcontinental highway)
Vancouver did intend to have a series of freeways criss-crossing the city and leading downtown but the first of these hit a political minefield when it was planned to demolish a low income neighbourhood and the city's historic precinct of Gastown. This was in the early 70s, shortly after Jane Jacobs had successfully helped stop freeways from going through neighbourhoods in both New York and Toronto. The freeway advocates found themselves up against some powerful community opposition and a surprisingly small pro-freeway constituency. A change in Federal and Provincial government meant funding evaporated and the whole thing was called off.
The consensus in Vancouver is that we're doing just fine without a freeway and that killing the project was one of the best things the city ever did. Our downtown never died and we never had suburban (white) flight. The streetcar suburbs of Vancouver are as lively now as ever before and property values are universally skyrocketing. The downtown core is fifteen years into a condo boom that is still going strong, projects sell out in a day, and there are now approximately 90,000 people living in the downtown core. Half of all trips into the downtown core are by transit, walking, and biking. Car traffic downtown is declining, despite the influx of 40,000 people in the last decade. There is a baby boom downtown as well, the new elementary school is full with hundreds of kids on a waiting list, that is a decade ahead of schedule. A second elementary school that wasn't expected to be needed for decades is now top priority for the school board. The demand for condos and townhouses downtown is so great that the city has had to act to protect office buildings from being converted and had drawn residential boundaries around the CBD to preserve room for office growth. Office vacancy is now down to 1% and yet developers are still not interested in building new office towers because they can make 5X as much off of condos.
Vancouver's construction boom isn't confined to the downtown core, though that is certainly the most evident place to observe it. There are projects throughout the city with dozens of buildings under construction along the main arterials alone, not to mention the mega projects like the Olympic Village neighbourhood that will house 10,000 people in the next five years, the East Fraser Lands neighbourhood which will house another 10-15,000 over the next ten. Single family homes are being build throughout the city, many with secondary suites or infill coach houses/granny suites. Townhouses and row houses seem to be popping up around every corner.
It would be specious reasoning to say that this is all because Vancouver doesn't have a freeway into downtown. But it has been crucial to Vancouver's current success and growth that all of the city be kept viable, viability that is destroyed by freeways, interchanges, and collector streets. The magic thirty-minute commute puts the whole city in reach of the core for those with cars, bikes, and transit riders. Investment in public transit has been substantial of late. A regional mass transit system using high speed automated subway/metro cars was introduced in 1986. A second route in 2001. A third is under construction and a fourth, a light rail line linking the northeast part of the region to the rapid transit network should begin construction shortly.
In Urban Planning circles Vancouver receives attention because it has been successful without a freeway, but also because the city and its planners, developers, and architects have figured out a model for urban residential housing that works. The street is the most important plane of reference for a city. The pedestrian experience is everything. Towering high-rises can make a street feel like a canyon. The Vancouver Model pulls the towers back from the street edge and features a continuous street wall of townhouses or retail in a three to four storey podium. The tower itself is slim, no more than 6500 - 7500 sq ft. floor plates to minimize the shadowing on the street and maximize views for the building's neighbours. The towers are almost fully glazed to reduce their apparent bulk, increase views for from the suites, and reflect the changing light in the sky. The towers are kept at least 80 feet from one another to increase privacy and further reduce shadowing on the street. Some amenities are mandated, such as an indoor and outdoor common area for the residents, extensive bicycle storage facilities are required, and all parking is underground and regulated (though not enough).
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