Kingsway (Vancouver)
Part of | Former Hwy 1A / Hwy 99A |
---|---|
Maintained by | Cities of Vancouver and Burnaby |
Length | 13.7 km (8.5 mi)[1] |
Location | Vancouver – Burnaby |
West end | Main Street (Vancouver) |
Major junctions |
|
East end | 10th Avenue (Burnaby / New Westminster) |
Kingsway is a major thoroughfare that crosses through the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia. The road runs diagonally from northwest to southeast, emerging from Vancouver's Main Street just south of East 7th Avenue and becoming 12th Street at the Burnaby–New Westminster border.
Description
Kingsway is one of the longest roads in the Metropolitan Vancouver area and is therefore somewhat difficult to characterize. Many segments of the road offer diverse family-owned and ethnic shopping opportunities and restaurants – particularly Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Japanese, and South Asian, among others. There are also a number of hotels, supermarkets, and freestanding fast-food locations along other portions of its route. The road forms the central commercial spine for Burnaby's Metrotown business district, and is the principal route between Metrotown and Downtown Vancouver.
Kingsway is one of the region's main public transit corridors, with numerous bus routes operating along the road. In addition, the SkyTrain tracks mostly parallel Kingsway from Victoria Drive in Vancouver to Edmonds Street in Burnaby, crossing from the road's north side to its south side east of Boundary Road around Central Park.
History
Kingsway follows the Indigenous trail used by Canada's first peoples for hundreds of years. When the wagon road was built over it by the
The stretch of the road through Burnaby was widened in 1872, and eventually became known as the Vancouver Road.[2] This section of the road was further improved following Burnaby's municipal incorporation in 1892; together with the opening of a parallel interurban line connecting Vancouver and New Westminster the previous year, the area along the road became increasingly favourable for settlement.[2] The provincial and municipal governments joined forces in 1912 to improve and pave the road,[4] which officially reopened on September 30, 1913 as Kingsway.[5]
During the
In October 2011, Vancouver City Council approved a motion put forward by Councillor Kerry Jang to consider designating the section of Kingsway between Fraser and Nanaimo Streets as Little Saigon;[9][10] the designation took effect for the stretch of Kingsway between Fraser and Knight streets in May 2013.[11]
Tribute
The Canadian poet Michael Turner based his book of poetry, Kingsway, on the road. Vancouver illustrator Bambi Edlund includes an Ode to Kingsway in her daily drawing project.[12]
Major intersections
Location | km[1] | mi | Destinations | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vancouver | 0.0 | 0.0 | Main Street – City Centre | Former Hwy 1A / Hwy 99A followed Main Street north | |
0.2 | 0.12 | E Broadway (Hwy 7) | |||
0.6 | 0.37 | E 12th Avenue | To Hwy 1 (TCH) | ||
1.2 | 0.75 | Fraser Street | |||
2.5 | 1.6 | Knight Street | |||
2.8 | 1.7 | E King Edward Avenue | |||
3.4 | 2.1 | Victoria Drive (to Commercial Drive) | |||
4.1 | 2.5 | Nanaimo Street | Near Nanaimo station | ||
5.4 | 3.4 | Rupert Street | |||
5.9 | 3.7 | Joyce Street (to E 41st Avenue) | Near Joyce-Collingwood station | ||
Vancouver–Burnaby boundary | 6.9 | 4.3 | Boundary Road | ||
Burnaby | 7.7 | 4.8 | Patterson Avenue | Near Patterson station | |
8.3 | 5.2 | Willingdon Avenue | Near Metrotown station and Metropolis at Metrotown | ||
9.6 | 6.0 | Royal Oak Avenue | Royal Oak station | ||
10.4 | 6.5 | Griffiths Drive | Near Edmonds station | ||
11.1 | 6.9 | Edmonds Street | |||
Burnaby–New Westminster boundary | 13.7 | 8.5 | 10th Avenue – Pattullo Bridge, Surrey | Former Hwy 1A / Hwy 99A followed 10th Avenue east; roadway becomes 12th Street | |
Stewardson Way (to Columbia Street) | |||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
|
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Google (August 29, 2021). "Kingsway" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Beasley, Larry (1976). A design probe comparison of regional and municipal attitudes toward regional town centres: Case study in Burnaby, B.C. (M.A. thesis). University of British Columbia. pp. 106–107. Retrieved 2012-12-23.
- ^ Glavin, Terry (2006). "Lost Cities". Vancouver Review. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
- ^ "Did You Know?". City of Burnaby. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- ISBN 0-9692378-7-1.
- ^ "B.C. Numbered Highway Routes" (PDF). Traffic Branch, British Columbia Department of Highways. 1968-11-06. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- ^ "List of Trunk Highways and Main Highways" (PDF). British Columbia Department of Highways. 1971-03-26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- ^ a b "British Columbia Numbered Highway Routes" (PDF). Traffic Branch, British Columbia Department of Highways. 1972-11-27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- ^ Ackermann, John (2011-11-29). "Vietnamese community split over Little Saigon". News 1130. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- ^ Bulman, Erica (2011-11-03). "Big trouble in Little Saigon". 24 Hours. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- ^ Thuncher, Jennifer (2013-08-15). "Kensington-Cedar Cottage: Rebranding of Kingsway area to 'Little Saigon' attracting tourists". Vancouver Courier. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
- ^ Edlund, Bambi. "Le Pen Now and Again". Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
External links
- Media related to Kingsway (Vancouver) at Wikimedia Commons