An update to the post below. Here are some shots of Granville between Drake and Nelson:
The compromise, I presume, was to keep four travel lanes open, still allow for car parking while at the same time widening the sidewalks. The result:
Part of the problem is the design of the bollards: no subtlety here.
They’re now the dominant element on the sidewalks. Worse, with only a few bike racks available, typically at the end of each block, the bollards can’t be used for bikes either: too thick for U-locks, no cap for cables. Without parking meters, there’s almost no place (except for the poor street trees) to rack a bike close to your destination – an unforgivable omission.
But the real problem is the quality of the remaining space for the dominant users of the street: the pedestrians.
And there’s no doubt there will be lot more people walking. 
Already there are changes in the most intransigent block on the street: Helmcken to Davie. New shops and restaurants are opening by the day. The hotels are full, and newcomers are exploring the blocks where previously most Vancouverites feared to tread.
Most conspiculously, renovation is almost complete for a le Chateau. When the corporate chains decide lower Granville is a suitable address, the message goes out to the rest of the retail community.
“bollards” is my new word of the day. Couldn’t they be fitted out with some kind of extension to which bikes could be locked?
To me the big issue is the loss of 30 year old trees that were nearly a foot in diameter. They should have been replaced by something much closer to that size, not these $25 saplings from Art Knapps.
One of the photos points out something that’s been a sore point with me for years. The sandwich boards. Why have they been allowed to proliferate?
If sidewalks are for pedestrians lets keep them free of obstructions.
I can clearly remember reading about a permits and licenses campaign that was going to eliminate sandwich boards. It was clearly tabled never to be revived.
If one business gets a sandwich board other businesses feel they have to have one as well to compete for visibility. Remove them all and get back to a level playing field for everyone, including pedestrians.
I’m dead set against any parking on Granville Mall. We talk a good talk about a more sustainable, bike friendly, pedestrian friendly, transit friendly city. But when it comes to the crunch we still pander to cars and the businesses who claim they’ll disappear off the face of the earth if motorists can’t park within spitting distance of their shop.
I’d prefer hanging signs to sandwich boards, but at least it’s a signal that pedestrians are the major customers on Granville. Most business signage is designed to be visible from a car driving on the street, but the sandwich boards are clearly targeted at pedestrians.
There are a ton of sandwich boards on the block of Robson opposite the Library. At least the sidewalk is wide there.
The bollards are really to protect the trees (and pedestrians) – I wouldn’t advise allowing bikes to be locked to them unless you’re willing to have your bike smashed by a backing up van, truck, SUV or even ordinary car. Some people are pretty bad at parallel parking (without the added difficulty of mounting a shallow curb in the process.)
As for Le Chateau – they came to Yaletown in about 2000 or so – and closed their store a couple of years later when there wasn’t enough business. They were on Mainland in the heart of Yaletown – I think a cosmetic surgery / laser clinic is now there. Ditto for the Boy’s Co. (or was it Mark James?) store that opened up in conjunction with the Yaletown Brewing Company – that space is now a Blenz coffee outlet.
Ahhh, I wondered what those ‘bollards’ were for. What a waste. They build this great walking street with huge sidewalks and then place post after post after post on the street so there is no walking space….or at the very least a real danger to the drunk masses on the weekends 🙂
Plus for the amount of parking spaces those things actually provide it makes zero sense to keep them, the space should be given over to pedestrians. Besides, why does Granville need 4 lanes up to Smithe. if this is a bus route, make it a bus route.
The wasted opportunity in my eyes is they should have moved the bike lane from Burrard to Granville bridge, and instead of the bollards, that part could be a bike lane on each side of the street. A biking, walking and bus street makes more sense on Granville.
The road deck on the Burrard Bridge is 100 ft, and on the Granville Bridge, it is about 225 ft. It is unreasonable to expect cyclists and pedestrians to climb twice the necessary elevation to cross False Creek.
@mpm Just as all bridges have sidewalks and lanes for cars, they should also have protected lanes for people who cycle. The False Creek Bicycle and Pedestrian Study recommended that all the False Creek bridges be improved. Burrard was the priority because of the high numbers of people walking and cycling over it made it dangerous. Improvements to Granville should be next.
The least elevation change over False Creek from Robson (Bute to Beatty) to Broadway (Oak to Arbutus) is via the Granville Bridge and Fir Viaduct. Burrard is lower in elevation, which is best for trips between downtown and the low-lying parts of Kits, but Granville would be much easier for trips between downtown and Central Broadway/Fairview, South Granville, and the higher parts of Kits.