What's with all the lane closures in Vancouver? Officials say city in 'renewal' period

Cars line up to cross the Cambie Street Bridge out of downtown Vancouver on Dec. 11, 2024.

Getting stuck in traffic has become a daily routine for many Vancouverites and commuters.

The routes in and out of the city’s downtown core have been riddled with road work, maintenance and construction.

On Wednesday, officials told CTV News that while Vancouver is a relatively young city, much of its infrastructure is beginning to need more attention.

"When you're a new city, there's not much renewal,” said Lon LaClaire, Vancouver’s engineering general manager.

"You're not having to replace things. Same with bridges – new bridges can go for a very long time without any significant maintenance."

The aging infrastructure has resulted in several large-scale projects across the city, resulting in lane reductions on several busy routes.

The timing of these projects has coincided with Vancouver recently welcoming hundreds of thousands of additional people to the downtown core for Taylor Swift’s three sold-out Eras Tour concerts, and for the Grey Cup.

That these projects are taking place amid a chaotic back half of the year is out of the city's control, according to LaClaire.

"We're planning out generally three or four years in advance,” he said.

"We get close when it's two years in advance to make sure that were not conflicting with any major developments."

The city and Mayor Ken Sim both said they worked with partners to ensure the three days Swift was in Vancouver ran smoothly, whether it was making the public aware of closures or directing them to use transit to avoid gridlock.

"I feel pretty good about the fact that we came up with a plan that went off pretty smoothly," said LaClaire, in reference to the ongoing construction on Robson Street and the nearby Cambie Street Bridge.

The city hopes to have the expansion joints work on the Cambie Bridge completed by the spring, with lane reductions between now and then.

Over Swift’s three days of shows, TransLink reported 1.9 million journeys across all transit modes, which is a new milestone.

The service said Stadium-Chinatown Skytrain Station – which is nearby BC Place, where the concerts took place – saw a record-breaking number of riders.

On Friday, the station saw 33,500 riders, a 119 per cent bump from comparable days. That was followed by 27,500 on Saturday and 28,00 on Sunday, according to Translinks data.