Granville Bridge's 1950s-built main span now severed by demolition work

Demolition process of Granville Bridge's main span between Pacific and Drake streets, as of March 24, 2024. (Tricia Barker)

Just three weeks after the main span of the Granville Street Bridge between Pacific Street and Drake Street fully closed to all traffic, this original segment of the bridge dating back to 1954 is now severed.

This is the northernmost segment of the bridge that directly leads on and off Granville Street in downtown Vancouver.

The jarring sight of the severed bridge has caught some passersby by surprise, including former Vancouver Park Board commissioner Tricia Barker.

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All vehicles and pedestrian traffic on the north end of the bridge are currently being detoured onto the bridge’s Howe Street on-ramp and Seymour Street off-ramp, with major delays. This includes the detour of TransLink’s Granville Street buses via Drake Street for accessing the on- and off-ramps.

Demolition process of Granville Bridge’s main span between Pacific and Drake streets, as of March 24, 2024. (Tricia Barker)

The temporary closure first began on March 2, and this main span segment of the bridge is not expected to reopen until Fall 2024, when the replacement ground-level, grid-based street network at the north end of the bridge reaches completion — replacing the previous looping ramps that directly linked the bridge’s vehicle lanes with Pacific Street below.

The new replacement bridge segment will be designed to link to the new ground-level streets on either side of the bridge.

The City of Vancouver is creating 1.9 acres of new building development parcels on the former footprint of the looping ramps, which are on City-owned land. The new ground-level street network will re-establish the connections with Pacific Street through new signalized intersections.

Current demolition process:

Temporary traffic impacts for the removal of Granville Bridge’s north loops, with orange indicating the now-demolished loops, and yellow indicating the main span of bridge now being demolished. (City of Vancouver)

New replacement street-level network by Fall 2024:

625-777 pacific street 1390 granville street granville loops vancouver

Concept for 625-777 Pacific Street and 1390 Granville Street, replacing the north loops of the Granville Bridge in downtown. (City of Vancouver)

Based on a July 2022 approved rezoning application, the former footprint of the ramps will be redeveloped into six buildings up to 40 storeys containing 930,000 sq ft of total building floor area — primarily space for over 1,000 homes, with a mix of condominium, rental housing, and social housing. Last week, the provincial government announced it will provide funding support for a social housing component on the small parcel of 625 Pacific Street, where More Than a Roof Housing Society will operate a future new building with 194 social housing units.

The residential uses within this mixed-use development will be mostly market condominiums due in large part to help cover the over $28 million cost of bridge demolition and the construction of the new street network, but it remains to be seen how exactly the overall 1.9-acre project will be executed.

Concept for 625-777 Pacific Street and 1390 Granville Street, replacing the north loops of the Granville Bridge in downtown. (City of Vancouver)

Concept for 625-777 Pacific Street and 1390 Granville Street, replacing the north loops of the Granville Bridge in downtown. (City of Vancouver)

In Fall 2024, coinciding with the completion of the new bridge segment reaching the ground-level street network, the bridge’s “Granville Connector” of fully separated pedestrian and cyclist pathways will also open. The bridge deck’s previous eight vehicle lanes are being reconfigured into six narrower lanes for vehicles (three vehicle lanes in each direction) to accommodate wide pedestrian and cycling pathways on the west side of the bridge.

As part of the Granville Connector, on-bridge traffic signals will be installed where the pathways meet the Howe Street and Seymour Street ramps to provide pedestrians and cyclists a safe crossing across the bridge’s vehicle lanes. At the south end of the bridge, these pathways will directly connect with the Arbutus Greenway.

The current construction project for the Granville Connector will cost $19 million, with $11.5 million coming from the municipal government and $7.5 million from TransLink. This is intended to be the interim phase of the Granville Connector, as a future phase will introduce permanent design features and other improvements on the east side of the bridge.

Construction on the Granville Connector and demolition of the north bridge loops first began in early 2023.

Construction progress on the Granville Bridge Connector with the installation of the new permanent concrete barriers protecting the pedestrian and cyclist pathways, as of November 11, 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Artistic rendering of the complete final design of the Granville Connector’s pedestrian and cyclist pathways on the Granville Bridge. (City of Vancouver)

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