Here was Georgia Street at 4:15 pm, on the first day when the Georgia Viaduct was limited to only one lane during rush hour:
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And a little later:
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The traffic flowed. How disappointing: no Carmaggedon. Once again.
Given that that Georgia has already been restricted by construction of the Telus Building, that the viaducts had been completely closed off for the Olympics without catastrophe, and that there had been plenty of publicity about the film restrictions in this case, the media wasn’t overhyping the possibility of car chaos. Instead, the angle was whether this made a good test for permanent closure.
From News1130:
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – For years, Vancouver City Council has flirted with the idea. But is closing the Georgia Viaduct for filming of the movie “Deadpool” an accidental test for the possible dismantling of it and the Dunsmuir span?
The City claims it isn’t, but we’re hearing a different perspective:
Transportation expert Gordon Price with SFU says he’d be amazed if this wasn’t seen as a test, adding it’s a great opportunity to see what the reaction would be, what kind of mitigation would need to be done, and what kind of information we’d need to be given.
He thinks it will play a role in deciding whether to take the viaducts down permanently.
“People will remember it because it’s a real-time, real-life experiment. If, say, things go well or badly, or both — I mean, it depends on how each of us is affected by it — then sure, it’ll be part of the decision.”
Price adds the outcome of the transportation plebiscite will also likely play a role.
“Because after all, the expectation was growth could be handled in the region, assuming that we have better transit so that we don’t have to be as reliant on roads and bridges. If that’s not the case, then by default, do we have to maintain and actually expand road capacity? It’s one of these unknowns at this point, but I think it’s part of the consideration that goes into this.”
City Councillor Geoff Meggs argues this isn’t a direct comparison at all to life without the viaducts because there would be an improved road network and a bigger park replacing them.
He expects council will receive a pair of reports before the summer that could determine whether the spans stay or go.
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Still, it’s extraordinary that in face of all the evidence and repeated demonstration (as you can read in the comments), we still think that reducing road space is either an impossibility given our reputation for congestion or just bad for business. But then, how can a city said to have the worst congestion in North America take out capacity of its major arterial without significant impact – unless of course that rating was never true in the first place.
Well, at least a partial-day closure that strategically avoids the outbound peak period will be a tepid approximation of a full closure. Almost as good a test as, say, the one on the Burrard Bridge that was aborted after, what, one week?
Well how surprising. You mean us neanderthal motorists are actually smart enough to plan alternate route. Who would have thought…
Where is the subway heading east .. under Hastings, then to N-Burnaby and then onto N-Van ?
Quick Quiz:
Can the city of Vancouver close off both directions of Powell street without causing major congestion?
A: It can’t.
B: It might result in a bit of chaos.
C: It already did, and nothing happened.
D: Powell street was permanently closed to cars 2 years ago and is now the expansion of the seawall.
Would be a bit more honest to show expo/Pacific, Hastings/Pender/Cordova, 2nd, and the Cambie bridge to come to a conclusion about it. The closure was well publicized. I also don’t know why anyone thinks the state of downtown/Chinatown during the Olympics would be any kind of test. People left town, were told not to drive and downtown was a complete madhouse, as the DTES, to a lesser extent. Actually the rest of the city was surprisingly traffic free. It was like the world stopped, business wise and for those of us outside (even slightly) downtown did not experience any increase in business. They were the slowest two weeks I can ever recall actually.
This sounds similar to the closure of Los Angeles’ I-405 in 2011. Extreme congestion never materialized. Maybe this is a good accidental test to determine the minimum capacity needed on the viaducts’ replacements.