Full road closures on busy Vancouver street to impact traffic for two weeks
Road closures are coming to a section of a major Vancouver road for nearly two weeks, and drivers are being warned to plan ahead to avoid travel delays.
The City of Vancouver has announced temporary 24-hour road closures on Oak Street between West 10th and West 12th Avenues starting on Thursday, Sept. 10.
The round-the-clock closures are to facilitate crane activity for Vancouver Coastal Health’s Vancouver General Hospital Operating Room Renewal Project.
City of Vancouver
Oak Street will be fully closed to vehicle traffic in both directions until Tuesday, Sept. 22.
Both West 10th Avenue and West 12th Avenue will stay open during the construction phase, but there may be intermittent road closures.
“Those travelling through the area should expect delays,” said the City of Vancouver in a release. Access to residences, businesses, and health services in the area will also be maintained.
“If you are visiting Vancouver General Hospital or other facilities within the 10th Avenue health precinct, please plan an alternate route and allow extra travel time.”
oasisamuel/Shutterstock
Drivers are asked to follow all detours and “No Parking” and “No Stopping” signs in the closure area. Bus service will also continue, though some detours will be in place.
Cyclists can continue to use the West 10th Avenue bikeway, and pedestrians can still walk on Oak Street, though sidewalks may close periodically.
In over 30 years from now, if all goes as planned, nearly the entire 34-acre Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) campus will be completely unrecognizable, with all of the prominent buildings currently associated with VGH demolished and replaced with taller and wider buildings for drastically modernized and expanded healthcare facilities.
Existing condition of the Vancouver General Hospital campus (left) and the future 10-phase redevelopment upon full buildout (right). (Kasian Architecture/Vancouver Coastal Health)
This includes the eventual demolition of the Jim Pattison Pavilion and its landmark 1991-built, 299-ft-tall tower, along with the Leon Blackmore Pavilion buildings. Altogether, at least 12 buildings will be demolished over the coming decades.
Earlier this year, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority submitted a rezoning application for a campus-wide master plan to guide the future evolution of British Columbia’s largest and principal hospital, which provides a wide range of highly specialized services for treating the province’s most critically ill patients.
Formal public consultation on the proposal began in February 2026. The full details of the health authority’s application were made public following a pre-application consultation conducted last fall.
With files from Kenneth Chan