The Georgia Viaduct is a twinned bridge that acts as a flyover-like overpass in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, Canada. It passes between

Rogers Arena Rogers Arena, (formerly General Motors Place), is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, arena at 800 Griffiths Way in the Downtown Vancouver, downtown area of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Opened in 1995, the arena was known as General ...

and

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and connects

Downtown Vancouver Downtown Vancouver is the central business district and the city centre list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada, on the northwestern shore of the Burrard Peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. ...

with Main Street and Strathcona.

History

The first Georgia Street Viaduct was built between 1913 and 1915, crossing over the expanding CPR rail yards and a small portion of False Creek. The narrow structure included streetcar tracks that were never used. At one point, every second lamppost was removed to reduce weight. It was replaced between 1971 and 1972 by the current viaduct, in which the two directions of traffic are structurally separated. The current Georgia Viaduct was envisioned in the early 1970s as replacing the original structure, continuing to overpass the CPR rail yards while forming part of an extensive

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

system for Vancouver. Although communities were opposed to demolition and the expanded freeway plan was scrapped, the replacement viaduct project proceeded. The freeways would have required demolishing buildings in neighbourhoods including Strathcona, the Downtown Eastside and

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. A predominantly

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community called Hogan's Alley was bulldozed in building the viaduct. The first phase (Georgia) of the new viaduct opened to traffic on June 28, 1971, and the second phase (Dunsmuir) opened on Jan. 9, 1972, amid protests which attempted to block mayor Tom Campbell's limousine from reaching the western end.

Traffic flow

The viaduct's eastbound traffic is fed from

Georgia Street Georgia Street is an east–west street in the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Its section in Downtown Vancouver, designated West Georgia Street, serves as one of the primary streets for the financial and central busi ...

and leads vehicles to Prior Street and Main Street. The viaduct's westbound lanes—often referred to as Dunsmuir Viaduct because they connect to Dunsmuir Street—pass to the north of Rogers Arena. The westbound traffic comes from Prior Street and Main Street, and carries vehicles and pedestrians to Dunsmuir Street, downtown which feeds into Melville Street and eventually Pender Street.

''Deadpool'' filming

On April 5, 2015, the viaduct was closed for two weeks to allow filming of the movie ''

Deadpool Deadpool is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #98 (December 1990). In his comic book appearances, Deadpool is ...

'', which was released on February 12, 2016.

Demolition

On October 27, 2015, Vancouver City Council voted to demolish the twin viaducts. A new six-lane road configuration that merges Expo and Pacific boulevards is in the planning stages.

References

{{Vancouver landmarks Bridges in Greater Vancouver Viaducts in Canada Bridges completed in 1972 Road bridges in British Columbia Buildings and structures in Vancouver

History

Traffic flow

''Deadpool'' filming

Demolition

See also

References