{"id":500426,"date":"2026-02-26T08:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500426\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T08:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:36:15","slug":"welcome-to-vancouver-signs-to-be-updated-dropping-olympic-host-city-text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500426\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Welcome to Vancouver’ signs to be updated, dropping ‘Olympic host city’ text"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sixteen years after hosting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the City of Vancouver is preparing to remove one of the event\u2019s lingering markers.<\/p>\n

The City is planning to remove the Olympic-time text from all of its \u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d signs located at entrance points into the city, as part of a broader $8.3-million push to improve streets, sidewalks, lighting, and cleanliness across the city in 2026, according to a City staff bulletin to Vancouver City Council earlier this month.<\/p>\n

These blue and green-coloured signs \u2014 perched on top of stone foundations \u2014 feature the municipal government\u2019s logo with \u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d text and underlying smaller text that reads \u201cHost City \u2014 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games\u201d in both English and French. The signs were installed just before the Olympics.<\/p>\n

The signs are located at select entry points into the City\u2019s jurisdiction, such as the northern ends of the Arthur Laing Bridge, Oak Street Bridge, Canada Line\u2019s North Arm Bridge\u2019s pedestrian and cycling pathway, and the Knight Street Bridge. These signs are also situated at the eastern ends of the Stanley Park Causeway, Adanac Street, East 1st Avenue, and East Broadway, as well as Highway 1\u2019s McGill off-ramp north of Hastings Racecourse and at the intersection of Marine Way and Southeast Marine Drive.<\/p>\n

These signs will receive maintenance involving cleaning and sand blasting, with the Olympic text removed. A new vinyl wrap will be applied on all of the signs \u201cin advance of this summer\u2019s major events\u201d \u2014 presumably a reference to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in June.<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign at Arthur Laing Bridge. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign at Oak Street Bridge. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign at Canada Line\u2019s North Arm Bridge\u2019s pedestrian and cycling pathway. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign at Knight Street Bridge. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign at Stanley Park Causeway. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign at East 1st Avenue. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign at East Broadway. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign at McGill Street. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign at Southeast Marine Drive. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

The \u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign maintenance work is one item on a long list of public-realm upgrades being planned by City staff after City Council approved allocating $8.3 million from the 2023-2026 capital plan to priorities tied to core services. City staff\u2019s approach is focused on projects that deliver noticeable, near-term benefits \u2014 especially improvements people can see and feel quickly.<\/p>\n

City staff\u2019s to-do list include refreshing street markings around BC Place Stadium ahead of the summer, repaving selected local streets that are in poor condition (especially where wear has been made worse by utility work or development), expanding tree stump grinding so City crews can tackle more locations, and repairing pedestrian sidewalks damaged by tree roots.<\/p>\n

Removal of some \u201cSlow Streets\u201d banana barriers, as well as more City teams dedicated to street cleaning<\/p>\n

The municipal government is looking to add new curb ramps on sidewalks to improve accessibility for people using mobility devices and strollers, and to make changes to the previous \u201cSlow Street\u201d initiative<\/a> by removing some temporary pandemic-era measures.<\/p>\n

This includes taking out some of the \u201cSlow Street\u201d gateways \u2014 known as banana barriers<\/a>, which are yellow-painted concrete blocks placed at the entrances of local minor streets from major roads. City staff also want to improve signs and road markings where bike routes meet major streets.<\/p>\n

The banana barriers were intended to calm local minor streets designated as improved pedestrian and cycling routes amid the height of the pandemic, with the blocks forcing drivers to slow down. But there were also some issues<\/a> with vehicles colliding into narrow roadway between the barriers or even getting stuck on top of them \u2014 especially larger vehicles \u2014 and concerns with emergency vehicle access.<\/p>\n

\"vancouver<\/p>\n

Example of \u201cSlow Street\u201d banana barriers. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

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Example of \u201cSlow Street\u201d banana barriers. (City of Vancouver)<\/p>\n

In addition, City staff plan to add two teams focused on detailed public realm cleaning, such as pressure washing, vegetation removal, and sidewalk sweeping, with priority given to busy downtown Vancouver corridors, roads, and laneways.<\/p>\n

The plan also includes targeted work in Chinatown to improve safety and the overall look and feel of the area, shaped by input from the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association and the Chinatown Foundation, as well as accelerating LED street lighting upgrades where possible, including in areas like Fraser Street where business groups have asked for improvements.<\/p>\n

While City Council approved the $8.3 million as capital funding, City staff say some of the related work \u2014 particularly public realm cleaning and certain street marking refreshes \u2014 will require operating funding to carry out. City staff will bring forward a recommendation through an upcoming capital quarterly budget adjustment to allocate funds toward the operating budget for those items.<\/p>\n

Separately, in addition to the \u201cWelcome to Vancouver\u201d sign maintenance, the City is also installing a permanent giant three-dimensional VANCOUVER letter sign<\/a> at the plaza entrance into Canada Place \u2014 near the location of the previous temporary signs in recent years. It will be installed in late spring, just in time for the FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sixteen years after hosting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the City of Vancouver is preparing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-500426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}