The old ferry landing at the bottom of Lonsdale
Avenue in North Vancouver.
A ferry can be seen leaving in the distance.
© 1908, North Shore Museum and Archives,
photo: G.G. Nye

Ferry service to the North Shore dates back to the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 1900’s, ferry traffic to the North Shore grew to included car traffic. Most of ferries by the 20’s were owned and operated by the municipalities. The Senator, pictured on the left, was one of the original ferries. Outings to the wilds of the North Shore were a popular pastime of turn of the century Vancouver residents. The first bridge to the North Shore was the Second Narrows Bridge.  The ferry service remained until the late thirties, when revenue losses due to the presence of the Lions Gate Bridge forced the ferries to stop. Today, the Seabus service from Lonsdale Quay to Downtown Vancouver, rekindles a bit of the spirit of the old Senator.

The construction began on March 31 1937. The bridge cost precisely $5,873,837.17  to build. It all began when the Guinness family (of beer fame), decided to invest in land on the North Shore. In 1932, they purchased 4,000 acres of West Vancouver mountain side through a syndicate called British Pacific Properties Ltd. The plan was develop the land and get people to move there. Part of the Guinness plan was to build a bridge over the First Narrows, the existing 2nd Narrows Bridge being deemed to be to far away and “unreliable” (see the history of the Second Narrows Bridge). The project proved popular during this depression period, and objections over the fact that the alignment would entail an access road through the heart of Stanley Park were overcome. The job-creating project and the spin-off that would come from the building in West Vancouver were impossible to resist. 

Even back in 1955 the Lions Gate Bridge got quite congested during the rush hour. With only two road bridge links to the North Shore, congestion is inevitable. Recently, in May 1998, the Provincial Government announced a long-awaited decision regarding the Lions Gate Bridge. The ageing landmark will be re-decked and have its sidewalks moved to the sides of the main span on cantilevers. This will widen the roadway and add another 30 years of life to the bridge itself. Renovations are expected to start in 1999 and will cost over 70 million dollars. The work will be done at night and on weekends, when the Second Narrows Bridge can take up the volume.

Main Span: 472 m (1550 ft)

Tower Height: 111 m (364 ft)

The Lions Gate Bridge has now become a landmark of Vancouver and the North Shore, and every decision concerning its fate has been very controversial. Recent proposals to replace, widen or alter the bridge have met storms of protest. While many agreed that the ageing structure should be either replaced or upgraded, no consensus could be achieved. Some opposed the retention of existing causeway leading to the bridge through Stanley Park; others opposed  replacing the entire bridge wanting to protect it as a historical landmark. Finally, the North Shore Communities raised their voice over the assertion by the Provincial Government that any new structure would require the imposition of tolls to defray the costs, pointing out that no other communities were required to pay tolls when other bridges were built, such as the Alex Fraser Bridge recently erected in the south of Vancouver. As things stand, it looks as though the Lions Gate Bridge will remain more or less as it is today, for many years to come.