News brief · Streets
Granville's pedestrian summer is over. What worked beyond the busiest blocks?
Downtown Van says the early response was encouraging, but results varied by block and business. A fuller assessment is due by winter.
Granville Street's extended pedestrian zone ended on September 7. For seven weeks after the World Cup phase, people could use the street for events, markets and ordinary wandering without through traffic. Downtown Van's September account says the early response was encouraging.
The interesting part of the business group's account is its admission that results differed by block and business. Some restaurants and bars reported unusually strong traffic. That does not tell us how a daytime retailer did a block away, or whether the street was easier to use when there was no event on.
Downtown Van says it will work with the City on a fuller assessment of the economic and social effects, expected by winter. That should be public before the next version of the pedestrian zone is settled. The questions are concrete: which blocks attracted people throughout the day, what the shops gained or lost, and what it cost to keep the street welcoming.
Granville had a chance this summer to be more than a route between venues. The next decision should be informed by the parts that worked, including the quieter hours and businesses.
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