Photo from Michael Francis McCarthy on Flickr through Creative Commons

Vancouver has been serious about greening the Olympics: Medals made out of recycled metal, an agreement with Laird Plastics Inc. to help reduce plastic waste during the events, and using captured energy from wastewater to heat the Olympic Village building. Yet, Vancouver is contemplating taking it one step further by permanently getting rid of two of the City’s viaducts. Hopefully, this will encourage the use of mass transportation and less carbon-emitting methids of travel:

Coun. Geoff Meggs said the swarms of people walking, cycling and taking transit downtown during the Games is proof they can live without the viaducts, which he suggests should be knocked down and replaced with local traffic connector roads.

The City of Vancouver is planning to place a request for the permanent removal of the viaducts in April.

“I think we can create a viable sustainable, beautiful community there without the viaducts. [They] cover several city blocks; that kind of land is not easy to come by,” Meggs said.

Since the beginning of the Winter Olympics on February 12, thousands of game-goers have been pouring into downtown Vancouver. Even with two of the viaducts closed off to public access, the City has experienced a 30 percent drop in vehicle traffic since the opening ceremony.

Photo from SqueakyMarmot on Flickr through Creative Commons

The Canada Line reached a peak of almost 290,000 riders last Friday, while the SeaBus had almost 60,000 boardings on the same day, and the Olympic Streetcar Line had almost 25,000 trips.

Vancouver has also made a hefty profit from transportation revenue generated during the Games. BC Transit estimates it has made more than $3 million so far, according to CEO Doug Kelsey. 

“The goal is to keep people using transit,” he said. “Just by the number of people we’re carrying it’s clear there’s a number of first-time users on the system. I’m hoping there’s a legacy of people who say ‘I’m going to stay on transit.’”

Obviously post Winter Games, traffic will revert to normal levels. But Vancouver City Mayor Gregor Robertson predicts ridership on public transit will continue to rise. This will be an important issue if the City moves ahead with plans to remove the viaducts. “The case-building starts for more funding for TransLink,” says Robertson.

The area has been turned into a Lunar Festival during the Games with statues, artwork and buskers livening it up. Impromptu games of ball hockey are being held on the street.
“It just makes a lot of sense; that’s the way the street was designed,” [says Charles Gauthier, executive director of Vancouver’s Downtown Business Improvement Assocation.] “We need to find a way to resource that.”

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