{"id":514928,"date":"2026-03-05T01:35:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514928\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T01:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:35:26","slug":"vancouvers-granville-street-to-be-pedestrian-only-during-fifa-mens-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514928\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver’s Granville Street to be pedestrian-only during FIFA Men’s World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A stretch of Granville Street in downtown Vancouver will be closed to almost all traffic for the duration of the FIFA Men’s World Cup this summer.<\/p>\n

Instead, residents and the hundreds and thousands of soccer fans visiting the city can expect live music, expanded patios, art installations and family-friendly activities, the City of Vancouver announced on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Five blocks, from West Georgia Street in the north to Davie Street in the south, will be pedestrian-only from June 11 to July 20.<\/p>\n

The cross streets \u2014 including Robson, Smithe, Nelson and Helmcken streets \u2014 will remain open to traffic. <\/p>\n

“This will create more room for people to come together, watch a game and celebrate, all while supporting businesses that bring Granville Street to life every day,” said Jane Talbot, president and CEO of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, during a media event announcing the program.<\/p>\n

\"AB.C. Place, pictured here, will be host to seven Men’s World Cup games. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The area will be free and open to the public. <\/p>\n

Transit buses travelling through Granville Street will be re-routed to Seymour and Howe streets, and supported by “new 24\/7 bus lanes” that will run for the duration of the program, the city says. <\/p>\n

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said it’s important to ensure “the World Cup can be enjoyed by everyone who calls the city home,” whether or not they have tickets to see a match.<\/p>\n

“The Granville Street Pedestrian Zone will be an inviting place with free, family-friendly activities and events,” he said at the media event. <\/p>\n

“It’ll also provide guests with the chance to interact with soccer fans from around the world, and we can really show them what Canadian hospitality looks like in action.” <\/p>\n

Vancouver is hosting seven FIFA Men’s World Cup matches at B.C. Place. The first game is scheduled for June 13 between Australia and a yet-to-be-determined opponent.<\/p>\n

The city says it expects to welcome more than 350,000 visitors in Vancouver across the seven match days. <\/p>\n

Temporary road closures will be in effect, while some roads will be designated ‘local traffic only’ \u2014 restricted to drivers accessing properties on a given street \u2014 around B.C. Place and False Creek. <\/p>\n

Sim said the city will work with the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Fire Rescue Services to ensure safety around the Pedestrian Zone.<\/p>\n

Sim pressed about comments on Orr<\/p>\n

Later in the event, Sim was pressed on his previous comments about COPE Coun. Sean Orr. <\/p>\n

During a press conference last week, Sim said 16 times that he had apologized to Orr for his comments, where he claimed Orr was distributing illegal drugs in Vancouver on Christmas Day. <\/p>\n

Sim said his comments came after being shown a photo he didn’t independently verify. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Sim reiterated he had “unreservedly apologized” to Orr.<\/p>\n

“I fully acknowledge that I made a mistake,” he said, after affirming he intends to run for mayor again. <\/p>\n

“I’ve owned up to it. I’m not hiding away from that.” <\/p>\n

Vancouver Coun. Sean Orr has said the apology doesn’t go far enough, and that it didn’t address the harm and reputational damage he had sustained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-514928","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\/514928","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=514928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}