![\"Vancouver](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/59ad37f0286212f38dfdc2ce8a1e0993.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nA 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
<\/p>\n
B.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":"A stretch of Granville Street in downtown Vancouver will be closed to almost all traffic for the duration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,199548,204072,3274,204071,204074,204073,55,200236],"class_list":["post-515226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-downtown-vancouver","tag-family-friendly-activities","tag-fifa","tag-granville-street","tag-ken-sim","tag-sean-orr","tag-vancouver","tag-west-georgia-street"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515226","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=515226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}