Cars allowed on Water Street in Gastown as pedestrian pilot project ends

The pedestrian pilot project that saw a section of Gastown car-free has come to an end, and many people are breathing a sigh of relief.

The City of Vancouver launched the Water Street pedestrian pilot project in late June, where sections of Gastown were closed to vehicle traffic. This allowed for special events and expanded patios to take over the streets.

However, the project quickly became a headache for some businesses who said it was starting to affect their bottom dollar.

The Associate Director of Street Activities for the City of Vancouver Rachel Magnusson told CityNews that early data showed really strong support from the public including residents in Gastown, and mixed reviews from businesses with moderate support.

She says there was a group of people that were opposed to the pilot.

“It was a little bit of a logistical nightmare because we get deliveries, we run an Uber out of our store, and that just causes a little bit of chaos in terms of like people wanting to drop stuff off, people getting supplies,” said Mia Serka, a sales associate at Honey Gifts.

Some business owners along Water Street said having people freely walk down the middle of the street deterred the natural curiosity of walking inside the shops.

“It’s more important when people walk on the sidewalk right beside the window. They see what the store is, they stop, they look. When they’re walking far away, it’s not happening,” said Valeriya Zakreski for Artina’s Jewellery.

City crews will be on-site throughout the week removing seating, signs, and traffic barriers. They’re now working on an economic impact study to assess the project.

“We’ve been doing on-site observations, we have traffic counts, we have interviews that we’ve done, etc. So, all of that is going to be compiled and brought in a report to council which will be in October,” Magnusson said.

Once the council analyzes the report, a decision will be made on whether or not the project will return next summer.

Earlier this month Magnusson told CityNews that the idea of the project returning is “very much an open question.”

“We’re going to be going to our council this fall with all the information that we collect, everything that we learn, and all the data, and letting them know what we’ve learned from this. And then we’ll follow their direction about whether they’d like to see something similar in the future and in what form,” she said.

Traffic flow is expected to be back to normal by the end of the day on Friday.

-With files from Angela Bower and Charles Brockman.