North Vancouver studying new Lonsdale public park deck over Highway 1 | Daily Hive

City of North Vancouver studying new Lonsdale Avenue public park deck over Highway 1

Not the actual design, for illustrative purposes only; 2021 highly preliminary concept of the Lonsdale Avenue land bridge over Highway 1. (City of North Vancouver)

Imagine a wide public park deck — potentially stretching several city blocks long — built directly above Highway 1 in the City of North Vancouver, seamlessly bridging the Central Lonsdale and Upper Lonsdale neighbourhoods.

For years, such a north-south connector and public space project, built along the city’s Lonsdale Avenue spine, has been the vision of North Vancouver City Mayor Linda Buchanan.

“I have my own lived experience, and it keeps coming up when we talk to communities in the north about just how people feel that they’re disconnected from the south side, where the majority of our commercial area is located,” Buchanan previously told Daily Hive Urbanized in an interview in March 2021.

“It is about creating a complete community, getting people to actively move, and getting them close to the services that they need. It’s a priority for us to be a very walkable city… Land is our most expensive commodity. We are a city bound by basically the ocean and another municipality. We don’t have a lot of space, so this is actually creating a large parcel of land for the city as an asset through air space.”

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And now, the City is seriously looking into Buchanan’s idea.

In March 2025, after initiating a bidding process, the municipal government selected global engineering consultancy firm Mott MacDonald to perform a detailed feasibility and technical design study of such a park-supporting land bridge across Highway 1 in the vicinity of Lonsdale Avenue.

The City’s identified overall study area spans between Chesterfield Avenue to the west and St. Georges Avenue to the east. This is also immediately north of the new Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre complex, which is undergoing construction on the previous footprint of Norseman Park.

lonsdale avenue land bridge deck park highway 1 north vancouver

Study area for the potential land bridge park on Lonsdale Avenue over Highway 1. (City of North Vancouver)

lonsdale avenue highway 1 north vancouver

Lonsdale Avenue looking north from the interchange with Highway 1. (Google Maps)

Highway 1 looking east towards the Lonsdale Avenue overpass. (Google Maps)

The study could consider potential public realm integration opportunities with the new community centre, according to the procurement document.

The contractor will create at least three concepts for the municipal government to consider.

The primary concept will envision a wide land bridge spanning approximately two city blocks — about one block to the west and one to the east of Lonsdale Avenue. This includes identifying potential solutions for a new and improved Highway 1 interchange at Lonsdale Avenue, fully integrated with the land bridge park. It is emphasized by the City that the highway and interchange are under the jurisdiction of the provincial government.

The City envisions a land bridge park area that is 70 per cent dedicated for green space, and the remaining 30 per cent for plaza areas and other hard surfaces, such as pathways.

Existing condition:

Existing condition of Lonsdale Avenue in the vicinity of Highway 1. (Google Earth)

Potential future condition:

Not the actual design, for illustrative purposes only; 2021 highly preliminary concept of the Lonsdale Avenue land bridge over Highway 1. (City of North Vancouver)

As well, two additional, lower-cost, secondary concepts will be created. This could potentially entail options for a land bridge on the east or west side of Lonsdale Avenue only (instead of the primary concept’s both sides), new overpasses at Chesterfield Avenue and St. Georges Avenue, the widening of the existing Lonsdale Avenue overpass to accommodate landscaping, and/or other concepts that reduce Highway 1’s separation of Central Lonsdale and Upper Lonsdale.

In addition to enhanced connectivity and expanded green space, the study also aims to create concepts that improve walking and cycling infrastructure, reduce road noise and emissions, and increase social and economic value.

The study will account for structural, geotechnical, and seismic factors, as well as Highway 1 capacity and operational impacts. Preliminary cost estimates will also be developed for each concept.

The consultant will begin their work with City staff starting in April 2025. A final report is expected no later than August 2025.

Some examples of land bridges include the Cassiar Tunnel over Highway 1 next to Hastings Park in East Vancouver, Jim Ellis Freeway Park over I-5 Highway and the Montlake Project over the SR 520 Highway in Seattle, Aubrey David Park over I-90 Highway in Mercer Island, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway over I-93 Highway in Boston, Gathering Place park over an arterial road in Tulsa, Klyde Warren and Southern Gate parks over the Woodall Rodgers and I-35 highways in Dallas, and the Kinder Land Bridge over Memorial Drive in Houston.

Gathering Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Contech Engineered Solutions)

According to the City, when the Upper Levels Highway segment of Highway 1 was constructed in 1964, a portion of the highway replaced the northern segment of the historic, master-planned Green Necklace linear park encircling the municipality. This was a system of parks and large boulevards inspired by the “Garden City and City Beautiful” planning movements in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Recently, the provincial government completed a study identifying potential short-, medium-, and long-term capacity, reliability, and safety improvements to Highway 1 between BC Ferries’ Horseshoe Bay terminal and the Lynn Valley Road interchange. The highway’s configuration is primarily four vehicle lanes — two lanes in each direction.

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