Richard Johnson, the planner at City Hall who came up with the concept for the North Granville Loops, sends along some notes:
1. The main motivation and sole original purpose came from the Downtown Transportation Plan and the desire for better pedestrian connections. The redevelopment came from me recognizing that you could redevelop and therefore pay for the improvements. It was never a desire for the City to develop more land. Quite the opposite, senior staff were very reluuctant due to leases and complexity.
2. The traffic lanes on Pacific are actually four in this area if you count the “crossover” bridge access lane. We would be eliminating that lane because it is a). very dangerous for cyclists using the north bike lane, b). not great for cars either, and c). not needed with right angle turns and new intersections.
Re: Point 2
The concept plan clearly shows only two westbound lanes and a bike lane.
“The redevelopment came from me recognizing that you could redevelop and therefore pay for the improvements. It was never a desire for the City to develop more land. Quite the opposite, senior staff were very reluuctant due to leases and complexity.”
Very well, what are the total DCCs the City estimates it will reap from new condo towers on the public lands to be sold to developers?
Hopefully, then, the map is wrong and there will be 3 through lanes retained (I wasn’t counting the merge/crossover lane).