---
title: "Coalition urges Vancouver mayoral candidates to commit to viaduct removal"
description: "A group of businesses and residents is pressing the next city council to follow through on a 2015 decision to tear down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts and redevelop the surrounding land."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/viaducts-northeast-false-creek-election-september-29"
last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:01:16.378Z"
---

A coalition of businesses and residents near downtown Vancouver is using the October 17 election to push the next city council to act on a plan to tear down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts, CBC News reported on September 29, 2026. The coalition includes the Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association and the Hogan's Alley Society.

City council voted in 2015 to remove the two viaducts. Three years later, it approved the Northeast False Creek plan to build social and market housing and a large park on the land the viaducts occupy. The city estimated the plan would cost $1.73 billion in 2018. In a written statement to CBC, the city said costs have risen since then and that the plan depends on revenue from private condo development in the area, which has not moved forward.

The viaducts were built in the 1970s as part of a freeway plan that the city later cancelled. CBC News reported they carry about 40,000 vehicles per day and are seismically unsound.

Landon Hoyt, executive director of the Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association, told CBC that the delay is frustrating and that cost is the central reason to move now. "The longer we wait, the more expensive it's going to be," he said. Petros Kusmu, a board member with the Hogan's Alley Society, said developing the area is an opportunity to benefit the historic Black, Indigenous and Chinese communities near Hogan's Alley, and that both provincial and federal governments are open to partnering on housing development there.

## What two mayoral candidates say

[Pete Fry](/candidates/pete-fry), the Green Party of Vancouver's candidate for mayor, told CBC he is committed to the removal. He said the financial picture has changed since the plan was approved and a new model is needed for who pays and in what stages. "There's a lot of variables, but certainly I'm committed to making sure that this happens," he told CBC.

[Kareem Allam](/candidates/kareem-allam), the Vancouver Liberals' candidate for mayor, said the Northeast False Creek plan can move forward but must be re-costed first, because construction costs have risen over the past decade. He told CBC the city could look to a provincial disaster-mitigation fund or federal seismic and disaster programs to help cover the gap.

CBC News reported it sought responses from the ABC Vancouver, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, and VOTE Vancouver mayoral candidates and did not receive one by its deadline. The city said no one was available for an interview and provided its written statement instead.

Voters can read the profiles of both candidates quoted here at [/candidates/pete-fry](/candidates/pete-fry) and [/candidates/kareem-allam](/candidates/kareem-allam). Information on where and when to vote on October 17 is at [/where-to-vote](/where-to-vote).

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