Vancouver eyes permanent traffic changes

Some of the traffic pattern changes made in downtown Vancouver to accommodate the Olympics would become permanent if one city councillor had his way.

Two of the major vehicle routes in and out of the area the Georgia and the Dunsmuir viaducts have been shut down, helping bring about a 30 per cent decrease in traffic. That proves a point for Coun. Geoff Meggs.

"If we could re-purpose [the viaducts], take them right out, we would open up some new transportation opportunities," Meggs told CBC News on Monday. "Especially development opportunities for parks and housing you name it."

Another result of the shutdown of the viaducts and other downtown routes has been a spike in the use of public transit and bicycles, andin people simply choosing to walk instead, alloutcomes that urban planners can usually only dream about.

"[The viaducts] have been closed for the first time in 35 years, and I don't have a single email from someone saying it ruined their life," said Meggs.

Council studies possibilities

Vancouver city council anticipatedthe positive Olympic effects of the viaduct closures, unanimously passing a resolution on Nov. 19, 2009, to ask city staff to study the possibilities of dismantling the structures and using the land they occupy for something else.

Meggs said he also believes that turning a number of major downtown streets into pedestrian-only malls 12 hours a day was a feature worth making permanent, as the city of Turin, Italy, did after it hosted the Winter Olympics in 2006.

Some of the Olympic effects, however, have been supported by temporary, one-time Games transit funding from all levels of government. The expanded budgets that have made possible a third SeaBus between North Vancouver and downtown, extra cars on SkyTrain and 200 more buses on the road end March 1.

Without the extra capacity, even people now enthused about using transit and leaving their vehicles at home could be discouraged by a system that can no longer handle the sudden extra ridership.