Commuters and Interstate 5 Bridge users can now see conceptual 3D images of what two different design options being considered for the bridge’s replacement would roughly resemble in Vancouver’s downtown area.
The images were released to the project’s executive steering group Thursday morning.
“It’s important that we have the opportunity to start looking at and getting a feel for how some of these designs integrate with our water, our land, our entire landscape and our communities,” said Anne McEnerny-Ogle, Vancouver’s mayor, asking to see the images during Thursday’s meeting.
The images shown were of a two-span option and a single stacked bridge option. They also demonstrate how high-capacity transit and a shared-use path for pedestrians and bicycles would be connected to Vancouver.
In the two-span option, high-capacity transit and the shared-use path are shown underneath the two roadways for vehicles. In a single stacked bridge, vehicles would be on multiple layers of the bridge with both high-capacity transit and the shared-use path off to the sides.
“This is an example of the direction we’re going with our designs showing the downtown Vancouver area,” said Brad Phillips, civil design lead for the bridge project. “We’re currently working on similar visuals for the remainder of the corridor, especially concentrations on what it’s going to look like in the Hayden Island and Marine Drive area for different bridge configurations over there, as well as the interchange options that we are looking at.”
“Getting these out here is important for folks to start looking at what some visualizations of this corridor can look like,” said Greg Johnson, the project’s program administrator. The conceptual visuals were created based upon the request of one of the partner agencies to show what options could look like in a different way than what’s been seen previously.
“These three-dimensional visuals will really help us as we have this conversation about the landscape and our community,” said McEnerny-Ogle. “We know it’s very high level. We know it’s conceptual. It doesn’t represent any decisions that are being made.”
The images will “help a lot of people understand what we’re working on,” she added.
“As we’re looking at these alternatives, the impacts to downtown Vancouver — because of the closeness of this facility — are tremendously important,” acknowledged Johnson.
“It is important to note that the new visualizations feature more detail than what has been shown previously, but do not represent new options created for this exercise,” added Johnson in a statement to the press.
“These are intended to provide a 3D illustration at a high level and are not representative of specific property impacts,” he said. “We are still in the process of evaluating design options and determining which option may move forward to be incorporated into the (Interstate Bridge Replacement) solution, with more design detail to be added as we are farther in the process.”
