The new Granville Street

The more times I walk down the refurbished Granville Street here in Vancouver, the more I like some aspects and dislike others. The lighting is great as are the materials used for the sidewalks and street furniture. The extra wide sidewalks and bus-only sections on the northern half are wonderful. But the decision to park cars the way they have between Nelson and Drake is, well, dumb. Part of the goal of this refurbishment was to widen the sidewalks, and because of the parking the way it is, I think it has failed.


Granville Street Redesign: City of Vancouver



The idea was right in principle: that cars could park on half the sidewalk most of the time, and be banned for special events or busier times, leaving four clear lanes of traffic. In reality though, when the cars are removed, all the posts and plantings that are there to define the parking spots make it hardly walkable, adding no additional space to the sidewalks. In simple terms: FAIL.

Fortunately there is an easy solution: put the cars back on the road! Granville Street doesn't even seem to have the volume of traffic that warrants 4 full lanes, particularly with the one-way couplet of Seymour and Howe on each side. In addition, Granville ends at Smithe for cars, (only buses can go north beyond that point), so it's not a street that is used to get anywhere. So let's fix this: put the parking onto the roadway where it makes sense, and clear up all the clutter that is there for parking cars to make the southern-end sidewalks as great as the rest of the street.