Granville Bridge - a 1954 City of Vancouver film about the construction of the bridge
41,184
Published 2015-01-19
The film is very post war pro-car, progress through big new modern bridges.
The film has some very nice aerials of the city at about 2 minutes in..
Overall the film has a number of good shots of the downtown core through the the film
Cinematography: Jack McCallum.
Story and Narration: Dorwin Baird.
Recorded by TeleSound
Produced by: Lew Perry
The original footage comes from the Vancouver Archives - COV-S361-: 2013-020.08
searcharchives.vancouver.ca/granville-bridge-sound…
The film is public domain
All Comments (21)
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The irony of this documentary is how little the new Granville Street Bridge alleviated the gridlock of downtown Vancouver. When the new bridge was completed its road surface looked like the deck of a huge aircraft carrier, yet its lanes were embarrassingly empty of cars. The problem lay in all those traffic lights at every intersection along the streets that fed into the bridge; red lights reduced traffic to a trickle - hence the sparseness of cars actally moving across the bridge.
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Do I feel old watchin' this awesome piece of my hometown's history, but still much appreciated.
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AMAZING!!! The mountains look EXACTLY THE SAME...
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Thanks so much for this educational video about the building of the Granville Street Bridge.....😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
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Excellent footage. I didn't realize downtown was so congested in 54. Whole bridge was hand painted?!?
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My dad was chief engineer on this project (at an extraordinarily young age), so my family is well familiar with it. But it never occurred to me until now that the reason my dad was so pissed off about the city making downtown Granville Street a pedestrian mall is that it negated the whole point of his beautiful brutalist bridge.
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They KNEW what they were doing! All these years later, STILL the best bridge in this region, ONLY one that rarely backs up!
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Beautiful people used to live here. Did you notice that?
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11:05 This riveter went deaf several years later. The greatest transportation project in the city's history. Built in the early 50's, its 8 lanes were seen by some as overkill. But we've got to be thankful that Fred Hume and City Council had the vision that Vancouver was a growing city and needed a crossing that would not only last for hundreds of years but be large enough to accommodate the traffic that would only increase in the ensuing years.
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What are all those buildings a 2:44 at what is now Vanier Park?
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Couldn’t help but chuckle “ congestion in the 50’s”
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Now over 60 years later they are talking about a new Granville Street Bridge !
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Now the City is dismantling the easy exit ramps causing gridlock, all for the sake of redeveloping the surrounding lands.
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I wonder how people got across False Creek before any bridge was built. I know the 1954 bridge was actually the third Granville Street Bridge. I think the area on Granville Island known as "Old Bridge" refers to the second one. Did the first bridge go in the same direction as the current one? And before any bridge was built was a ferry used as a crossing?
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8:58 I never see that many people swimming during the summer now. Not even on the best summer day
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The piles were logs? Surely they have all rotted by now? That was a big surprise.
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all the lead paint has been blasted off this bridge now as far as I know -- too bad none of those guys who put it on were alive still to take it off. must have taken forever to paint that whole thing with just a brush (rollers didnt exist yet) surprised they didnt spray it.
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"the problem is traffic. Congestion."
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nice bridge
