The 2010 Winter Olympics begin Feb. 12, but road closures start Nov. 1.
That’s when 1st Avenue from Quebec Street stretching to the Cambie Bridge and the seawall outside the Vancouver Olympic Village go behind fences, according to the updated VANOC transport plan published Wednesday.
The rest of the phased road and closures run Jan. 1 to March 1 with bans on parking and stopping in curb lanes on the city’s busiest streets from Feb. 4 to March 1. Those lanes will be restricted to security vehicles, buses and cars with VANOC-issued vehicle access and parking permits.
Major street closures include Abbott from Expo to Keefer (Jan. 4), Quebec Street (Jan. 15), Renfrew from Hastings to McGill (Jan. 24), Canada Place and Waterfront Road (Jan. 27), Expo and Pacific (Jan. 29) and Midlothian near the Vancouver Olympic Centre (Feb. 1). Both viaducts close Feb. 5, a week before opening day.
During the Games, Granville from Smithe to Cordova, Robson from Bute to Beatty, Hamilton and Mainland between David Lam Park and Georgia and Beatty between Smithe and Dunsmuir will become pedestrian-only corridors.
The east end of False Creek will be fenced. The northern half includes B.C. Place Stadium and GM Place. The southern half includes the Vancouver Olympic Village.
Trucks will be steered to temporary routes Feb. 1 to March 21 on Hastings from Main to Burrard, Nelson from Burrard to Cambie and Smithe from Cambie to Burrard. Staff want to make the Granville Bridge the fourth for trucks and motorcoaches. Deliveries are allowed 24 hours a day, but planners want truckers to go midnight to 6 a.m.
No permits are needed in downtown Vancouver, but Whistler residents, landowners, hotel guests, workers, commercial vehicles and through traffic will need passes to travel through an Alice Lake checkpoint on the Sea-to-Sky highway northbound from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 11-28.
Residents of four Whistler neighbourhoods near venues will also need passes to access their homes Feb. 4-28. Two passes are allowed per property.
From Feb. 4 to March 1, two Sea-to-Sky lanes will be northbound and one southbound in the morning. In the afternoon, it’ll be two southbound and one northbound (from Squamish).
A fleet of 32 snow plows will be deployed Feb. 1 to March 2 on the highway. Eight heavy and medium-duty tow trucks and five “incident response units” will be on-call to clear auto wrecks from the Lions Gate and Second Narrows to Whistler.
For ticketholders to snow events, first-come, first-served online bus reservations begin Nov. 24 for the mandatory $25 round-trip to Whistler and $12 round-trip to Cypress. The price doubles Jan. 4.
The first phase of the plan was released in March. The blueprint was originally due at the end of 2007.
Bob Mackin reports for Vancouver 24 hours.
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DPL
2 years ago
What planet are the VANOC
What planet are the VANOC fools coming from? They won't be staisfied till everyone in the area close to Vancouver or Whistler will have to stay at homea couple of months before the circus comes to BC. But we asked for the 5ring event and it looks like its going to hurt a lot of us.
newphorik
2 years ago
Actually BC didn't want
Actually BC didn't want this. It was a few people in Vancouver.
Frank
2 years ago
That's why
That's why the Sun and Province keep complaining that there seems to be no interest in the Olympics in spite of it being just around the corner.
Grumpy
2 years ago
Ha, ha, ha
What happens if it snows VANOC? Do you guys have a SkyTrain plan? Hmmm? Do yah? do yah?
Here is the problem, Vancouver's bus system is so designed to push every bus passenger it can on SkyTrain. TransLink claims that 80% of SkyTrain's passengers first take a bus to the metro. Fine, lots of food for the transitophiles out there.
But what happens if it snows? As everyone knows, in Vancouver 1 cm of snow cause traffic chaos and that includes our infamous metro, SkyTrain.
http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/the-wheezy-skytrain-a-real-snow-job/
Our SkyTrain hates snow, as out finicky metro prefers the warm and safe car barns in Burnaby. SkyTrain has big problems operating in the snow and if SkyTrain packs it in, the VANOC transportation plan packs it in.
VANOC and the other Olympic types must the only Olympic Committee in history that prays for no snow during the event!
crankypants
2 years ago
Enjoy Vancouverites
Let's see! Who was the only jurisdiction that had a referendum to pursue the 2010 winter olympics? That's right, it was the citizens of Vancouver. Did the rest of British Columbia or for that matter Canada have a say? No such luck. In your infinite wisdom, you not only endorsed the olympics for Vancouver, but many outlying areas where many of the events will be held.
Well, you got what you wanted and now you must live with the consequences. I for one am glad that I moved from Vancouver to the burbs thirty plus years ago and can just sit back and watch the proceedings from afar.
While you try to figure out how you will cope with your imposed restrictions, thanks to Vanoc and city council, I will be free to move about as usual. As the saying goes "be careful what you wish for". Party down!
zalm
2 years ago
Easy, bub....
Fewer than 50% of Vancouver voters answered that question on the ballot, and the ballot only passed by 65-35%, so only about one third of Vancouver voters (who are just like you and me, except they're too busy buying into the consumerist paradise vision they were sold along with their 370 sq ft $600,000 condo and the plasma TV) sucked us into it.
Never forget some people still believe what the traditional media tells them, and that was so even in November 2005. And we all know how the media was busy manufacturing consent at that time, in line with what their biggest advertisers, the real estate industry, were telling them to do.
Even City Council wanted to question the need - David Cadman led that charge, but our famous idiot senator from the left coast Larry "I'll-buy-two-condos-to-make-up-for-my-mistake Campbell browbeat his caucus into shutting up for the vote.
Me and mine, with our pitiful flyers and websites put up a good fight - I personally drove three supporters to the polls to make sure they had the chance to vote on that day - but we still lost to the designer-dog-walking, latte-sucking, SUV-driving, ski-bunnying, party animals who dream of working from home so they don't have to mix with the great unwashed....
So I'll be damned if some lout with a mouth is going to pin all the blame on me simply because I happen to live in Vancouver. I didn't hear any voices of protest anywhere else in the province - we were the only ones who held our elected representatives' feet to the fire long enough to make him cry uncle and give us a vote, regardless of how unfair it was. And some voices outside the city would have made some difference - so we would know we were not alone, and the papers could not safely ignore the whole lot of us.
Some of you should just admit it - you originally thought the Big Owelympics was a good excuse for a party too, until you found out the "hands-in-your-pockets" guys wanted you to pay $6.5 billion to host it.
zalm
2 years ago
Not that I'm bitter or anything...
...but if there's a road closure and I can't get to work at Children's Hospital by walking, riding or taking a bus, the boilers are going to shut down and the women and children are going to get pretty cold. Let's just hope the bright lights at the Integrated Counter-Terrorism, Counter-Tramp, Counter-Homeless, Counter-Protester Military-Police Unit have figured that out.