The Georgia Viaduct is a twinned bridge that acts as a flyover-like overpass

Overpass

An overpass is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway...

 in Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. It passes between Rogers Arena and BC Place Stadium

BC Place Stadium

BC Place is a multi-purpose stadium located at the north side of False Creek, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the home field for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer . Originally opened on June 19, 1983 as the...

 and connects Downtown Vancouver with Strathcona.

History

The first Georgia Street Viaduct was built between 1913 and 1915. The narrow structure included streetcar tracks that were never used. It was a poorly built structure which, over the years, threatened pedestrians below with falling pieces of concrete. At one point, every second lamppost was removed to remove weight. It was replaced in 1972 by the current viaduct, which is structurally separated and contains three lanes for each direction of traffic.

The current Georgia Viaduct was envisioned in the early 1970s as forming part of an extensive freeway system for Vancouver. However, communities were opposed to the idea of demolishing structures to build the freeway system and the plan was scrapped. The freeways would have required demolishing buildings in neighborhoods including Strathcona

Strathcona (Vancouver)

Strathcona is Vancouver, British Columbia's oldest residential neighbourhood. It is bordered by Chinatown to the west, Clark Drive to the east, Burrard Inlet on the north, and Canadian National Railway and Great Northern Railway classification yards to the south.-History:Over 8,000 people now live...

, the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown. A predominantly African community called Hogan's Alley

Hogan's Alley (Vancouver)

Hogan's Alley was the local, unofficial name for Park Lane, an alley that ran through the southwestern corner of Strathcona in Vancouver, British Columbia during the first six decades of the twentieth century...

 was bulldozed in building the viaduct.

Traffic flow

The viaduct's eastbound traffic is fed from Georgia Street

Georgia Street

Georgia Street is an east-west street in the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Its section in Downtown Vancouver, designated West Georgia Street, serves as one of the primary streets for the financial and central business districts, and is the major transportation corridor...

 and leads vehicles to Prior Street and Main Street. The viaduct's westbound lanes—occasionally referred to as Dunsmuir Viaduct due to a short gap between them and the eastbound lanes—pass to the north of Rogers Arena. The westbound traffic comes from Prior Street and Main Street

Main Street (Vancouver)

Main Street is a major north-south thoroughfare bisecting Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It runs from Waterfront Road by Burrard Inlet in the north, to Kent Avenue alongside the north arm of the Fraser River in the south.-Route:...

, and carries vehicles and pedestrians to Dunsmuir Street, downtown which feeds into Melville Street and eventually Pender Street.