City releases concept plans for post-viaduct Northeast False Creek
The City of Vancouver and Vancouver park board have revealed conceptual plans for the future of Northeast False Creek, including a new park and the removal of viaducts.
In 2015, city council approved a $200-million plan to remove the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts, which connect False Creek with downtown Vancouver.
The plan’s early draft includes a new park and the replacement of the viaducts with an at-grade street network.
“The early draft plan for Northeast False Creek is based on some of the most extensive public consultation that the City has ever done,” said Gil Kelley, Vancouver’s general manager of planning.
“We are excited by the opportunities for a really active waterfront area, design ideas for a dynamic urban village that we have worked on with landowners in the area, how the new park is shaping up and the replacement plan for the viaducts.”
A key feature of the concept is an elevated Dunsmuir Park — dotted with places to enjoy mountain and ocean views — which will allow cyclists and pedestrians to travel from downtown to east Vancouver.
The plan includes open spaces in Northeast False Creek.
City engineers insist the new plan — which includes a new Georgia Street extension from the height of land by Beatty Street down to Pacific Boulevard — will “accommodate 100 per cent of toady’s traffic volumes.”
Pacific would become a two-way street and would carry traffic from Georgia out of downtown.
The plan also calls for retaining part of the Dunsmuir viaduct from Beatty Street to Abbott Street and turning it into an elevated park.
The city hopes to secure funds from the provincial government for a new arterial route running east, which would follow either National Avenue or Malkin Avenue and connect with Clark Drive.
The full draft plan and the concept design for the new park will be shared at a June 10 open house on Carrall Street (between Keefer Street and Expo Boulevard), where residents can review the plan in detail and provide feedback.