Lions Gate Bridge added to ‘Places That Matter’ list
Posted July 17, 2013 8:19 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It is one of our most iconic postcard images, the Lions Gate Bridge linking Vancouver with the North Shore.
The 75-year-old span officially takes its place today as No. 63 on the Vancouver Heritage Foundation‘s list of Places That Matter.
Heritage consultant Donald Luxton says the crossing was a game changer. “It really was a seminal event in the growth and development of the city that whole North Shore really couldn’t have developed without this kind of link.”
Luxton remembers it was as recently as the early 1990s that there was talk of getting rid of it.
“It was in 1993 and the [provincial government] released what was called their Choices Program and the options were replacement, replacement, and replacement!”
Cooler heads prevailed instead with an ambitious project that saw the entire bridge deck replaced one panel at a time.
This afternoon, Luxton, as well as members of the Guinness family, the original financiers of the bridge, will be on hand for the plaque presentation. It is set for 2:30 p.m. at Stanley Park, on the overpass just before Prospect Point.
