Vancouver residents protest plan for arterial route after viaduct demolition

About 100 residents took to the streets Monday to protest plans to turn a road through an East Vancouver neighbourhood into a major thoroughfare.

The Strathcona Residents' Association organized a rally ahead of a Tuesday city council meeting, where city staff are recommending that Prior Street become a main arterial route for the False Creek Flats after the Georgia and Dunsmiur viaducts are removed.

City councillors voted to demolish the viaducts — which connect eastern neighbourhoods to the downtown core — nearly four years ago. In theory, traffic would be diverted along a new Pacific Boulevard, avoiding the traffic bottlenecks common on the viaducts. 

Many people living in the area say the plan to direct large volumes of traffic along Prior is unsafe and they are pushing council to look for another option.

"It seems incompatible that they would recommend Prior when it is a narrow street," said association director Penny Crawford in an interview with CBC The Early Edition Monday.

Crawford said a typical arterial road is 30 metres wide, but Prior Street only measures 12 metres across.

The group wants council instead to reduce speed limits, allow parking along both sides of the street at all times and make it safer at crossing points for pedestrians.

In their report to council, city staff said they cannot recommend an alternative route that does not place an undue fiscal burden on the city.

Residents protested during the Monday morning commute at the corner of Prior and Hawks avenues.