Cambie Street

Steam clock at Cambie Street's northern end in Gastown.

Cambie Street is a street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is named for Henry John Cambie, chief surveyor of the Canadian Pacific Railway's western division (as is Cambie Road, a major thoroughfare in nearby Richmond).

There are two distinct sections of the street. North of False Creek, the street runs on a northeast-southwest alignment (following the rotated street grid within downtown Vancouver). As such, the street actually runs perpendicular to the Cambie Street Bridge, and there is no seamless connection between the two. Instead, Nelson Street carries southbound traffic onto the bridge, and Smithe Street carries northbound traffic away from the bridge. The downtown section of Cambie Street runs from Water Street in Gastown in the north to Pacific Boulevard in Yaletown in the south and is a two-way street for its length.

South of False Creek, the street is a major 6-lane arterial road, and runs as a 2-way north-south thoroughfare according to the street grid for the rest of Vancouver. Between King Edward Avenue West and Southwest Marine Drive, the street has a 10 metre wide boulevard with grass and many well established trees on it.

The Canada Line and Cambie Street

When proposals to build the SkyTrain Canada Line subway (formerly known as the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver or RAV Line) along Cambie Street first emerged, they were heavily protested by residents and business owners who wanted to keep the street as a heritage boulevard. They argued in favour of using the existing Arbutus Street rail corridor instead.

Once the decision was made to use the Cambie alignment for the Canada Line anyway, residents along the corridor successfully persuaded authorities to put the rail line in a tunnel instead of running it as a surface route, and to dig the tunnel using a tunnel boring machine. However due to cost concerns, the government decided to use a cut-and-cover method to build the tunnel - which introduced disruption to traffic and business along the corridor during the construction. As such, even though it cost less than using a tunnel boring machine, the plan drew heavy criticism from area residents and businesses, and affected business owners launched a class action suit against the government.

Gregor Robertson, who later became the mayor of Vancouver, was a strong supporter of Cambie Street merchants and spoke regularly about hardships from the Canada Line construction. He called the handling of the rail line construction an "injustice."

On March 23, 2009 Robertson testified in a lawsuit brought by the Cambie Street merchant Susan Heyes, owner of Hazel & Co., in the B.C. Supreme Court regarding damage to her business from the construction, a lawsuit for which she was awarded $600,000 by the B.C. Supreme Court due in part to the fact that there was insufficient action to mitigate the effects of Canada Line construction on Cambie Street merchants. On the Canada Line opening day of August 17, 2009 Robertson said Greater Vancouver needed more rapid transit but the Canada Line was a "great start" and that he was a "Johnny-come-lately" to the project.

During the years 2006 to 2009 portions of the street south of False Creek were closed to traffic to allow for construction of the line. The cut-and-cover tunnel runs underneath the east side of the street for most of its route. South of West 63rd Avenue, the line emerges from the tunnel and runs on an elevated structure across the Fraser River.

Points of interest

Vancouver City Hall

• The Gastown steam clock, located at the street's northern end, at its intersection with Water Street
• The Vancouver City Hall, located on the street between 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue
• Queen Elizabeth Park, located east of the street between 29th Avenue and 37th Avenue
• Oakridge Centre, shopping centre at 41st Avenue
• Langara College, a community college at 49th Avenue
• Vancouver Community College, a community college at Pender St in the north/downtown part of the street
• The Park Theatre, at 18th Avenue, in "Cambie Village"

See also

• Cambie Street Bridge
• Cambie Street Grounds (Larwill Park)

External links

• Cambie Street Directory
• GVTV Cambie Boulevard (WMV)
• Cambie Village Business Association