The Downtown Vancouver Traffic Report
It's a hassle to drive anywhere downtown these days due to the various construction happening. For example, a main route into downtown, Hastings Street, has been narrowed down to 1 lane each way as they build the tunnel down Granville Street. Here is what the Hastings & Granville Street intersection looks like these days:
Granville is completely blocked off for two blocks going North - from Pender down to Cordova Street. This is causing some higher volume on Pender going to right into town and many delays on Hastings Street.
The city of Vancouver has a list of all the construction going on here, and this will be helpful to anyone (locals and visitors) trying to get around Vancouver.
The best alternative to driving in during non-rush hour times would be the skytrain and the local buses. It really doesn't take that much longer, and the skytrain is much quicker to get downtown if you are nearby a train station. Rush hour (7:45 am to 9:00am and 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm) public transit is very crowded - especially the sky trains. If you are traveling during those times, be prepared to miss a train or two before hopping on due to volume of travelers.
