While I was staying in Vancouver last week I was able to check out some of the streetscape improvements being made due to a large public transit project.
Vancouver has been building an underground LRT route, known as the Canada Line (due to the federal government’s funding), that connects the airport to downtown along the north-south artery of Cambie Street. The line is set to open in the fall of 2009 just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I stayed at 49th Ave and Cambie in a house right beside a new station. Late at night I could hear trains go by as workers tested the line.
Closer to midtown, around 20th and Cambie, is a rather tony area known as Cambie Village. Its only a few blocks from Vancouver City Hall and has become the epicentre of opposition to the Canada Line’s construction. It seems that TransLink, the local transit authority, said they were going to tunnel the underground route in order to avoid disruption at street level. But only weeks before construction began, TransLink announced they would use the disruptive cut-and-cover method, which forced a number of local businesses to go under. A group of businesses are in the midst of suing TransLink for lose of revenue, among other things.
Probably in order to placate irate store owners, Cambie Village is one of the few places along the Canada Line where streetscape improvements have been fully completed.
The image at the top of this post shows the new street signs in the neighbourhood. The icon on the right of the sign in a symbol of Vancouver’s city hall. Many of Vancouver’s neighbourhoods sport an icon on the street signs which often breaks out of the rectangular template. I like this approach much more so than Toronto’s new street signs.
Like any recently rebuilt street, the sidewalk and boulevard are clearly indicated with street furniture nicely organized. I particularly like the bench and the bike rack in the distance. The rack can hold many more bikes than Toronto’s ring-and-posts — I would prefer to see these used more widely on Toronto streets.
A close-up of the bench.
Outside of restaurants, an food icon was placed into the sidewalk. This could be an interesting legacy as retail stores often have a variety of tenants. In 5, 10 or 20 years who knows what will exist at these specific locations.
The manhole covers in the area have a water theme. This cover is one of a handful of finalists from a City of Vancouver-run design competition. The designs are now used throughout the city.
Despite Vancouver’s reputation as a green city, the city has lacked on-street recycling bins until recently. The design is certainly understated and appears nothing like Toronto’s recent garbage can addition.
All photos by Matthew Blackett
18 comments
Looks way nicer than toronto’s “Street Furniture.” I especially like how all of the furniture is neatly arranged close to the road to give the sidewalk space and placed in very nice brick path.
NYC has similar bike racks, and they hold 4-5 bikes instead of the 2 held by ring-and-post racks; but on the other hand, they are significantly wider, which is a pedestrian concern. I think you could probably have 2 ring-and-post racks (so 4 bikes) with the same width as that rack, and achieve almost the same effect.
“But only weeks before construction began, TransLink announced they would use the disruptive cut-and-cover method”
It’s hard to believe that would have been decided only weeks before construction began. That should have to have been decided a year in advance to do all the necessary planning to do it one way or the other.
That’s the pointâ€â€they knew what they were going to do all along. It’s not really Translink so much as the private contractor who won the bid.
That’s not a recycling bin. It’s for garbage, and there is only one hole. It’s understated because so far as I can tell it’s actually a solar powered trash compactor. One think about Vancouver is that it doesn’t have as many bins (or street furniture) as Torontoâ€â€you can walk for 5 long blocks, even on a busy street, and not find one. When you do, they’re likely to have a little rack on the outside for bottles (so scavengers don’t go digging in the garbage), unless you’re in a tourist areas (to discourage scavengers, who go digging in the garbage anyway). Neither has a slot for paper (you have to separate here).
I’m not sure if those planted trees will survive past 2010!
Aesthetics certainly have their place but the arm rests on those benches look mighty uncomfortable. I think I’d feel pretty boxed in if I sat down there. Not a fan of the bike racks either. The street signs, however, look very elegant.
Certainly an interesting arm rest on the benches. If a homeless person is skinny enough to fit through the hoop, he will have the perfect bed.
just a comment re: the bike rack.
While the rack illustrated appears to hold more bikes than the two the TOrings hold, they are quite useless for bikes with front baskets (or ‘toasters’ like mine) as they will not fit, and cannot be locked safely. And while baskets are not ‘cool’ they are very handy!
But the ring-and-posts are iconic TO.
Nice street signs. I’m sure the benches have those uncomfortable looking arms to discourage sleepers.
I should be more clear — I wasn’t suggesting that we get rid of Toronto’s ring-and-posts, just have a variety of bike racks in use. Different places demand more cycling parking and often the racks shown above can do that better than the ring-and-posts.
The street signs are interesting, they look kind of art deco-ish. Interesting contrast to the Toronto ones.
Not a fan of the arms on the benches. I agree, they look uncomfortable, and they look out of place as well.
Also, why would they go to the trouble of creating some urban braille (the “FIFTEENTH”) and then hide it between a garbage can and a post office box?
Small thing: the Canada line is not LRT. It’s more or less grade separated (separated from street by tunnels or bridges traffic along its entire length) and stops at proper stations. It’s not heavy rail, but it’s much heavier than light rail.
Here’s to hoping that the Eglinton Line ends up something like the Canada Line.
Those do look like the solar-powered compactors, which are really quite awesome little devices:
http://www.bigbellysolar.com/products/
I much prefer the ring posts to that sort of rack. Ring posts are very easy to use with a bike of any shape and a standard u-lock. That sort of rack, OTOH, expects a certain shape of bike and doesn’t work well with others.
Love the street signs. Much more classic colour and lines than our terrible silver and blue.
leonard – LRT doesn’t just mean streetcars. Calgary’s C-Train, for example, is considered LRT, even though it operates in its own ROW, is sometimes grade separated, and has self-contained cars.
By any technical measure that is currently accepted, the Canada Line is LRT.
Like others who posted, I also prefer our own bike rings to those kinds of racks, which take up too much space. I also find those ones rather awkward if the outside spaces are taken, getting your bike into the middle slot and locking it is more difficult (even if only slightly).
I also prefer our street signs. The example shown looks cheap to me. I guess that’s a graphic of city hall? Not a very pleasant one, in my view.
However, I like the look of the benches, the brick, and the symbols for restaurants (I’ve seen other things implanted in Vancouver sidewalks, like designs of leaves, and also liked that). Most of all, the manhole covers are great.
I like the design’s on the sidewalk they are really smart although it wouldnt work in places with snow because part of the year you wouldnt see them.
Why is the centre arm on the benches a different colour it makes them look a little cheap and out of place.
The bike racks in Toronto that have been made to go onto light standards are really smart. They look good and give more walking space. They are structured to not be intrusive unlike these ones. If someone puts a bike on the end, like they always do, chances of walking past and hitting that bike are better.
Vancouver should look at the ring posts that are done to incorporate into the light standards. I think a Canadian company makes them.