New direct roads between Granville Bridge and Pacific Street open

Replacing the previous freeway-style loops, there is now a new network of streets between the north end of the Granville Street Bridge and Pacific Street in downtown Vancouver.

Earlier this week, construction reached a milestone completion on the City of Vancouver’s major project to remove the north loops and a portion of the original bridge structure, replacing them with a new H-shaped, grid-based street network and development-ready parcels.

On the former footprint of the loops, the north-south roads of Continental Street and Rolston Street have been extended to Pacific Street, and Neon Street running east-west establishes a new Granville Street intersection at the northern end of the bridge to connect Continental and Rolson streets.

Both the new segments of Continental and Rolston streets are one-way streets with for vehicles, with Continental Street enabling vehicle traffic to run from Pacific Street to Granville Street via Neon Street, and Rolston Street enabling vehicle traffic to run from Granville Street to Pacific Street via Neon Street.

granville street bridge vancouver new road network june 17 2025

Section of the Granville Connector and newly completed street network at the north end of the Granville Street Bridge between Granville Street and Pacific Street. (Kenneth Chan)

Newly completed street network at the north end of the Granville Street Bridge between Granville Street and Pacific Street. (Kenneth Chan)

This vehicle traffic pattern is similar to the previous loops, with the exception of the new addition of intersections controlled by traffic signals and turning bays. As well, vehicle traffic entering Pacific Street can turn left onto the eastbound direction or right onto the westbound direction, as opposed to the previous northeast loop’s configuration of westbound-only travel upon reaching Pacific Street.

Other improvements include wide pedestrian sidewalks and protected bike lanes between Granville Street and Pacific Street via the new streets.

A previous milestone was reached in September 2024, when Granville Street Bridge’s main connection onto the Granville Strip reopened to vehicle traffic.

Newly completed street network at the north end of the Granville Street Bridge between Granville Street and Pacific Street. (Kenneth Chan)

This $50-million construction project also involves building the Granville Connector — the new wide protected pedestrian and cycling pathways on the west side of the bridge deck, replacing two vehicle lanes on the crossing.

Crews are now in the process of completing the finishing touches of the Granville Connector, including new on-bridge traffic signals where pedestrians and cyclists cross the on- and off-ramps of the bridge, crosswalks at various locations, and bike-friendly expansion joint cover plates.

City staff told Daily Hive Urbanized the Granville Connector will open in Summer 2025. Upon opening, it could prove to be a popular active transportation route, with new, direct connections to the Arbutus Greenway on the south end of the bridge and to the new Drake Street bike lane. Previously, the Granville Street Bridge was deemed highly unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists, with its narrow pedestrian sidewalks and freeway-style configuration.

Granville Connector nearing completion. (Kenneth Chan)

The City notes that construction along Drake Street between Granville Street and Pacific Boulevard will continue into 2026, which will convert Drake Street into a one-way street for eastbound vehicle traffic from Burrard Street to Hamilton Street, and install a new protected bike lane between Burrard Street and Pacific Boulevard. These works on Drake Street will finish in Spring 2026.

The resulting new city blocks from the construction of the new street are owned by the municipal government. In July 2022, Vancouver City Council approved City staff’s rezoning application to pursue high-density, mixed-use residential towers on the new city blocks.

Earlier this spring, the City’s Non-Market Housing Development Department submitted a new development application to turn the parcel of 1395 Rolston St. (675 Pacific St.) — the southeast corner of the new intersection of Granville Street and the newly created Neon Street — into a 279-ft-tall, 27-storey, mixed-use tower with about 200 social housing units, commercial retail/restaurant uses, and a childcare facility.