Talk + Tour: A desire for Mobility

Talk and Tour:  A Desire for Mobility – A history of past freeway plans, current remnants and future visions

Description: In the mid 20th century, Vancouver was an infant city. Planners and engineers faced challenges on how
to accommodate peoples unquenchable desire for increased mobility. It was a time where cities were experiencing
massive growth in automobile travel and projections were showing this was going to continue to increase. Plans were
laid to accommodate this growth through the introduction of a freeway network. Cities around the world were pulling
out transit infrastructure, demolishing buildings and building infrastructure to accommodate the automobile. A grass
roots movement of citizens rallied to quash the freeway plan, however some components were built. Some of the
current legacies of this era can be seen through the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts and buildings at the foot of
Granville Street. This presentation will take a journey through time, examining what was driving the decisions to plan
for freeways, a review of how planning has had to change to achieve mobility goals and an overview of two current
initiatives to bridge the gap between the two eras.

Admission: General $15 | Seniors, Students, Youth $11 | MOV Members FREE

Registration: Coming Soon!