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Editorial: Urban oasis over Highway 1 an ambitious idea that will be no walk in the park to get done

Central Lonsdale’s population will soon be growing, which means we’ll appreciate every inch of green space we can find
Upper Levels Park web
An artist's rendering shows how a new park over top of a "capped" Highway 1 in North Vancouver might look.

Like a bridge over a troubled highway, City of North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan is proposing a new park atop the Trans Canada at Lonsdale Avenue. It’s an ambitious vision and that means it will be divisive.

It could be a fabulous bookend to the Shipyards at the foot of Lonsdale, which had its naysayers early on despite becoming a smashing success. And capping highways for park space has popular precedents in Seattle and Tulsa. Toronto has even bigger plans for a park over rail lines in the downtown core.

With the development of the Harry Jerome lands, Central Lonsdale’s population will soon be growing, which means we’ll appreciate every inch of green space we can find.

This park could be a powerful reclamation of space for the public while literally and figuratively bridging a community divided by a loud, noxious motorway.

But it may be a non-starter for the province, which owns the land and is responsible for Highway 1. It may not be technically feasible. It may hinder the emergency response effort in the event of a major disaster. We don’t have back-of-the-envelope cost estimates yet but the engineering, concrete and construction required for this qualifies it as a megaproject. It may be prohibitively expensive or impossible to justify the costs, especially when council isn’t willing to spend anything to keep the city’s primary recreation centre operating.

We won’t know the answer to any of these questions until there has been a formal study by the city, so we eagerly await a motion to go before council. We like Buchanan’s idea for an urban oasis. It’s just that getting there won’t be a walk in the park.

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