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Georgia Viaduct's eastbound entry point from Beatty St.
The Georgia Viaduct (usually referred to locally as simply "the viaduct") is a 0.75-kilometre bridge that acts as a flyover-like overpass in Vancouver, British Columbia. It passes between GM Place and BC Place Stadium and connects Downtown Vancouver with Strathcona. The first Georgia Street Viaduct was built in 1913-15 and was designed to handle six lanes of traffic. It was replaced in 1972 by the current viaduct, which for most of its span, is structurally separated by a short distance and contains three lanes of traffic in either direction.
[edit] Traffic flow
Viaduct's westbound exit point from Beatty St.
The viaduct's eastbound traffic is fed from Georgia Street and leads vehicles to Prior Street and Main Street. The viaduct's westbound lanes-- occasionally but rarely referred to as 'Dunsmuir viaduct' due to a short gap between them and the eastbound lanes-- pass to the north of GM Place. The westbound traffic comes from Prior Street and Main Street, and carries vehicles and pedestrians to Dunsmuir Street, downtown which feeds into Melville Street and eventually Pender Street. The viaduct is part of British Columbia provincial highway 1A.
[edit] Vancouver freeway plan
The current Georgia Viaduct was intended to form part of an extensive freeway system for Vancouver. However, communities were opposed to the idea of cutting up neighbourhoods for the purpose of such systems and the plan was scrapped. The freeway would have cut up many neighbourhoods around the Viaduct, including Strathcona, the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown. The damage would have been greatest in Strathcona, as the plan called for the freeway to run straight through that neighbourhood, which would have likely destroyed it.
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