In Vancouver, we’re talking about tearing down a viaduct. But in other places ….
A $90 million flyover has been chosen as the preferred solution to traffic congestion around Wellington’s Basin Reserve, with the New Zealand Transport Agency dismissing calls for a tunnel as “impractical, disruptive and expensive”.
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Article here. Thanks to Scot Bathgate.
I’ve had the same thought about the Georgia Viaduct debate, why would you create a grand new boulevard cutting in half the large park the city is proposing making? Would it not make more sense to maintain the viaduct going over this new park, so children can run from end to end without needing to cross any roads?
Of course there’s also long been other proposals for using the vacant land under the viaducts, such as a perfect place for a streetcar maintenance facility, no land acquisition needed….
Yeah, the whole basis for tearing down the viaducts is based on the “visual blight” and the “war on the car” – without considering the existing benefits of separating traffic from other adjacent uses.
It’s creating a “stroad” (trying to be all things to everyone) instead of maintaining separate walkable streets (at grade, once built out) and long-haul roads (on the viaduct level above).
Ha, love the concept pictures that these clowns come up with. As if.
@guest
Woah, woah, woah. Since when are Prior, Dunsmuir and Georgia “long haul roads”? Apart from the viaduct rump, they’re urban streets: in a grid, with intersections, sidewalks etc. Here’s the difference between a road and a street http://stroadtoboulevard.tumblr.com/post/27940910862/streets-roads-and-stroads
The point about stroads being unpleasant for all is that they *look* like you should be able to go fast in your car (wide, straight) and sometimes you can for a short couple of blocks (making them unpleasant for peds/bikes/transit) but more often you get stop-start because, heck, you’re in a city. People are parking, turning, cycling and buses are pulling in and out.
The problem with the redesign, is that the viaduct replacement will be thoroughly unpleasant to walk along. http://stroadtoboulevard.tumblr.com/post/30128137850/east-hastings-and-new-pacific-boulevard-again City Engineers should propose a multiway boulevard, and they should definitely propose liner buildings.
@Matt
It sounds trite, but there are many months of the year here when fields aren’t going to be used much, and this site is about as centrally urban as it gets. I see that more as an argument for building (low/mid-rise for the viewcones) on the land, at the very least along New Pacific Boulevard.
I was only talking about the viaduct section (whihc, with Prior and 1st Ave (and Commissioner) is one of the de facto access routes from the TCH).
I agree with you that the area would be better served by building out the lower level (Expo Blvd and Pacific Blvd with buildings to the curb (and on the existing somewhat grid system of streets)) – but I also think that retaining the existing viaducts to separate the “through traffic” would assist in making that lower level (in built-out form) more pedestrian friendly by removing some traffic (as opposed to creating a stroad by piling in everyone onto a mega-boulevard (even if a multi-way bouelvard)).
The viaducts overhead would not prevent a viable pedestrian realm below – look at Granville Island with the bridge and viaducts overhead, or the proposed market precinct under the north end of Granville Bridge with the BIG-designed landmark condo tower and lowrise podium buildings.
the Granville Street Bridge is a much higher bridge than the viaducts, and much less intrusive on the area below it. The two structures are very different, and in the viaduct’s case I don’t think you can get rid of the intrusiveness of that structure. You could, maybe, make it work by building out underneath it, for instance, but it’s still going to be more unpleasant than the alternative of knocking it down.
Well I can say that the general feeling about the Basin Reserve flyover is that it is a terrible plan. Most of the council are opposed to it however the NZTA is going to force it down Wellington’s throat.
Well said Tessa