Granville Bridge's new wide, safe paths for walking and cycling now open | Daily Hive

'Granville Connector': Granville Bridge's new wide, safe pathways for walking and cycling now open

Opening day, July 25, 2025, of the Granville Connector pathways on the Granville Street Bridge. (Kenneth Chan)

At long last, the City of Vancouver officially opened today its new wide, separated pathways for pedestrians and cyclists across the Granville Street Bridge.

By 2 p.m., shortly after a ceremonial ribbon cutting, a steady stream of people on foot, bikes, and e-scooters had already begun making use of the new crossing.

Called the “Granville Connector,” two vehicle lanes on the west side of the bridge were converted into a continuous, two-way separated active transportation route between the northernmost end of the Arbutus Greenway at the intersection of Fir Street and West 5th Avenue and downtown Vancouver.

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“You deserve to get around our city easily and safely. So when our team was first elected, we promised to address our city’s long-standing infrastructure crisis. We also committed to expanding our city’s robust active transportation network,” said Mayor Ken Sim during today’s press conference.

These pathways on the west side of the bridge are protected from vehicle traffic a concrete safety barrier. As well, some safety upgrades have also been made to the existing narrow pedestrian sidewalk on the east side of the bridge by providing it with a similar concrete barrier.

As part of the Granville Connector project, new traffic signals have been installed at the Howe Street on-ramp and Fir Street off-ramp on the bridge deck to stop vehicle traffic and provide pedestrians and cyclists with a safe crossing along the new pathways. Other features also include a handful of benches to enjoy the views to the west, bicycle-friendly expansion joints for the bike pathway, and new wayfinding signage.

My 1-minute time-lapse video today of travelling across the Granville Connector between the northern end of the Arbutus Greenway and the Granville Entertainment District in downtown Vancouver. #vanre #vancre #vanpoli 2/4 🚶‍♂️🚲🛴https://t.co/6Bd0Wo4zlT pic.twitter.com/FZ7ljy2Vak

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) July 25, 2025

The official ribbon cutting today for the Granville Connector’s opening. #vanpoli #vanre 3/4🚶‍♂️🚲🛴https://t.co/6Bd0Wo4zlT pic.twitter.com/Lc8WWzNvMT

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) July 25, 2025

Officially, the first wheels are rolling on the Granville Connector. 🚲🛴 4/4 #vanpoli #vanre https://t.co/6Bd0Wo4zlT pic.twitter.com/nr7n9NtIaG

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) July 25, 2025

Built in 1954, the eight-lane Granville Street Bridge was designed to a freeway standard, as part of the vision at the time to create a regional freeway network.

But with its narrow sidewalks adjacent to speeding vehicle traffic, it was not a safe route for pedestrians and cyclists, until now. Furthermore, with the opening of the Granville Connector, all three bridges across False Creek now have wide and safe pathways for both pedestrians and cyclists.

“I biked over this bridge a couple times in 1990 when I was in university, and then I found better routes. Since then, I’ve walked over the bridge hundreds and hundreds of times, and I would say, people call me brave. When I talk to other people, they’ve basically walked or biked over the bridge once because it was terrifying,” said Lon LaClaire, the General Manager of Engineering Services for the City of Vancouver.

“I want to say that that all changes today, and you won’t need to be brave to walk or bike over the Granville Bridge because today, the Granville Bridge will join Cambie Bridge and Burrard Bridge in being protected, separated, and accessible crossing. The Granville Bridge is an important part of our transportation system, but it was designed and constructed in the 1950s at a time when everyone thought that the future was to drive around the city. So, the bridge focused on fast, speeding vehicle movements. It paid little attention to what it would be like to walk or bike over the bridge.”

Opening day, July 25, 2025, of the Granville Connector pathways on the Granville Street Bridge. (Kenneth Chan)

To make space for the installation of the new pathways for pedestrians and cyclists, not only were two vehicle lanes removed, but the remaining six vehicle lanes — three vehicles lanes in each direction — were also narrowed in width. While there are now concrete safety barriers on both sides of the bridge to protect the pedestrian and cyclist pathways, the bridge no longer has a centre concrete barrier separating the northbound and southbound vehicle directions.

At the southern end of the bridge, the Granville Connector begins at the upgraded intersection of Fir Street and West 5th Avenue, where the Arbutus Greenway ends. The project involved a reconfiguration of the one block stretch of West 5th Avenue between Fir Street and Granville Street to establish a seamless segment between the Arbutus Greenway and the bridge deck’s new pathways, which also involved some changes to the major bus stop on the block.

For the northern end of the bridge in downtown Vancouver, the Granville Connector reaches the intersection of Granville Street and Drake Street, with the separate project of further active transportation changes to Drake Street set to reach completion in Spring 2026.

Opening day, July 25, 2025, of the Granville Connector pathways on the Granville Street Bridge. (Kenneth Chan)

Interim design of the Granville Bridge Connector, with the future phase components also shown. (City of Vancouver)

It should also be noted that the design and configuration of the Granville Connector that opened today is intended to be a semi-permanent design for medium-term use.

Over the longer term, when additional significant funding is made available, the original full Granville Connector concept calls for the levelling of the pathways, the use of more permanent and higher quality materials, public art and other beautification, further improvements to traffic signals and the existing pedestrian pathway on the east side of the bridge, and the installation of suicide-prevention fencing.

LaClaire says it will take “many, many more years to complete” the final phases of the Granville Connector. These additional improvements — in the range of tens of millions of dollars — are currently unfunded.

Over the long term, there could even be further accessibility improvements between the bridge deck and the core of Granville Island below, such as the construction of an elevator and staircase tower.

Construction work on the Granville Connector and the demolition of the bridge’s original pair of north loops linking to Pacific Street below first began in early 2023. Then in early 2024, a segment of the main bridge deck within downtown Vancouver was also demolished, as part of the overall plan to create a new H-shaped street grid and development parcels.

A new replacement main bridge deck connection — an earth-filled ramp — opened to vehicles in September 2024, and the remaining new streets in the H-shaped street grid opened to vehicles in June 2025, including new roads that directly link Granville Street with Pacific Street — fulfilling the function of the previous north loops.

Vancouver House’s pedestrian entrance opening up onto the bridge’s sidewalks, now the Granville Connector, is expected to reopen at a later date.

As well, later this summer, the 33-ft-tall “Trans Am Rapture” sculpture of five real crushed cars stacked on top of an old growth cedar log — — previously located on Quebec Street near Science World, where it was previously known as “Trans Am Totem” — will be prominently installed at the southwest loop of the Granville Street Bridge. This will provide new visual interest for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers on the bridge.

Opening day, July 25, 2025, of the Granville Connector pathways on the Granville Street Bridge. (Kenneth Chan)

The final budget is $4 million more than initially stated when construction began, and its mid-Summer 2025 opening marks a delay from the original schedule of Fall 2024. The entire project of bridge deck demolition, reconstruction, reconfiguration, and all aspects of this major initial phase of the Granville Connector and the new H-shaped street grid carried a final total cost of about $54 million, with TransLink providing approximately $7.7 million.

“As a cyclist, I can tell you that the most important thing to encourage more people to cycle is quality infrastructure that allows for safe and convenient connections throughout the region,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn.

“We’re so proud that this path is AAA-grade cycling safety infrastructure that is the highest rating cycling paths can receive for safety and convenience.”

Planning for the project began before the pandemic, and the previous makeup of Vancouver City Council approved the design concept in 2020. Due to a limited budget and growing costs, a decision was later made to complete the Granville Connector in phases, and combine the construction contract with the north loops demolition and new H-shaped street grid.

1395 Rolston Street Vancouver Granville social housing tower

Concept of the social housing tower at 1395 Rolston St., Vancouver. (Diamond Schmitt Architects/City of Vancouver)

625-777 pacific street 1390 granville street granville loops vancouver

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

The resulting new city blocks within the H-shaped street grid — replacing the former footprint of the north loops — remain owned by the municipal government. In July 2022, the previous makeup of City Council approved City staff’s rezoning application to pursue high-density, mixed-use residential towers on these new city blocks. While there is an affordable housing component, there will also be very significant market residential uses to help cover the high construction cost of the north loops demolition and street network changes.

This past spring, the City’s Non-Market Housing Development Department submitted a new development application to turn the parcel of 1395 Rolston St. (675 Pacific St.) — the southeast corner of the new intersection of Granville Street and the newly created Neon Street — into a 279-ft-tall, 27-storey, mixed-use tower with about 200 social housing units, commercial retail/restaurant uses, and a childcare facility.

The existence of the Granville Connector, with further enhancements over time, was also taken into account for the City’s long-term strategy of revitalizing the Granville Entertainment District, which was approved by City Council in June 2025. This also calls for the potential of turning Granville Street within the downtown Vancouver peninsula into a car-free street for pedestrians and events.

Opening day, July 25, 2025, of the Granville Connector pathways on the Granville Street Bridge. (Kenneth Chan)

New Drake Street bike lane at the intersection of Granville Street, as of July 25, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

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