'Welcome to Vancouver' signs to be updated, dropping 'Olympic host city' text | Daily Hive

'Welcome to Vancouver' entrance signs to be updated, dropping 'Olympic host city' text

"Welcome to Vancouver" sign at Adanac Street. (Kenneth Chan)

Sixteen years after hosting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the City of Vancouver is preparing to remove one of the event’s lingering markers.

The City is planning to remove the Olympic-time text from all of its “Welcome to Vancouver” 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.

These blue and green-coloured signs — perched on top of stone foundations — feature the municipal government’s logo with “Welcome to Vancouver” text and underlying smaller text that reads “Host City — 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games” in both English and French. The signs were installed just before the Olympics.

You might also like:

The signs are located at select entry points into the City’s jurisdiction, such as the northern ends of the Arthur Laing Bridge, Oak Street Bridge, Canada Line’s North Arm Bridge’s 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, East Broadway, and Grandview Highway, as well as Highway 1’s McGill off-ramp north of Hastings Racecourse and at the intersection of Marine Way and Southeast Marine Drive.

These signs will receive maintenance involving cleaning and sandblasting, with the Olympic text removed. A new vinyl wrap will be applied to all of the signs “in advance of this summer’s major events” — presumably a reference to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in June.

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at Arthur Laing Bridge. (Google Maps)

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at Oak Street Bridge. (Google Maps)

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at Canada Line’s North Arm Bridge’s pedestrian and cycling pathway. (Google Maps)

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at Knight Street Bridge. (Google Maps)

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at Stanley Park Causeway. (Google Maps)

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at East 1st Avenue. (Google Maps)

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at East Broadway. (Google Maps)

welcome to vancouver sign grandview highway

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at Grandview Highway. (Google Maps)

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at McGill Street. (Google Maps)

“Welcome to Vancouver” sign at Southeast Marine Drive. (Google Maps)

The “Welcome to Vancouver” 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’s approach is focused on projects that deliver noticeable, near-term benefits — especially improvements people can see and feel quickly.

City staff’s to-do list includes 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.

Removal of some “Slow Streets” banana barriers, as well as more City teams dedicated to street cleaning

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 “Slow Street” initiative by removing some temporary pandemic-era measures.

This includes taking out some of the “Slow Street” gateways — known as banana barriers, 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.

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 with vehicles colliding into narrow roadway between the barriers or even getting stuck on top of them — especially larger vehicles — and concerns with emergency vehicle access.

Example of “Slow Street” banana barriers. (Google Maps)

Example of “Slow Street” banana barriers. (City of Vancouver)

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.

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.

While City Council approved the $8.3 million as capital funding, City staff say some of the related work — particularly public realm cleaning and certain street marking refreshes — 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.

Separately, in addition to the “Welcome to Vancouver” sign maintenance, the City is also installing a permanent giant three-dimensional VANCOUVER letter sign at the plaza entrance into Canada Place — 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.

You might also like: