The
Paralympic Opening Ceremony is this Friday, March 12, 2010. This will be the
final event hosted in the BC Place stadium area for the 2010 Winter Games.
The
Ceremony will follow the same timeline as the previous ceremonies at BC Place,
beginning at 6pm; gates open to the public at 2pm, with a pre-show starting at
5pm.
There have
been small changes to the road closures which will be in effect for the
ceremony, beginning as early as 10am until midnight on March 12 only:
-
Cambie
Bridge
-
a few blocks of Beatty and Robson Street
-
Georgia
viaduct closed (Dunsmuir viaduct will now remain open at all
times)
-
Quebec
Street
will be open to southbound vehicle traffic only
between Keefer and Pacific
Blvd.
-
Carrall
Street
will be closed vehicle traffic between Keefer
and Pacific from March 10-12
-
Temporary Pedestrian Corridors will be set up along a few blocks of
Hamilton, Georgia, Dunsmuir, Smithe,
Expo and Nelson to help facilitate pedestrian flow to the stadium for the
event.
A full list
of road network changes for Friday can be found on the city’s website here: http://olympichostcity.vancouver.ca/gettingaround/road-parking-restrictions/venue-area-road-closures.htm#1
Residents and businesses of 800-600 blocks of Beatty Street and 0-100
blocks of Robson Street in the stadium neighbourhood please be advised of
Friday’s events:
To
facilitate the closures along a few blocks of Robson Street (0-100 between
Beatty and Cambie) and Beatty Street (600-800 blocks between Dunsmuir and
Smithe); they will install a Modu-Loc fence along the gutters in roughly the
same way as Sunday, Feb 28; however, the fence installation will not begin
until 8am Friday a few hours before the road closure, and it will be taken away
later that night a few hours after the opening ceremony is over. They will ensure
there are more breaks in the fence to facilitate business and resident access
until the road is closed for the afternoon.
Generator
Update
Generators
will be reactivated around BC Place Stadium beginning Wednesday, March 10 until
the end of the Opening Ceremony on Friday, March 12. After that time they will
be decommissioned and removed from the site.
About
the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games
Tickets to
the Opening Ceremony are almost sold out but some tickets can still be
purchased online at vancouver2010.com/tickets,
by phone at 1.800.TICKETS or in person
at one of the ticket centres (there are two venue box offices are on site, one
on the east side and one on the west). Ticket prices range from $30 - 175.
Paralympic
sport events will take place at Vancouver Paralympic Centre (Wheelchair
Curling) and UBC Thunderbird Arena (Ice Sledge Hockey). Other events will take
place in Whistler at Whistler Creekside (Alpine events) and WhistlerParalympicPark (Nordic events).
Again, tickets can be purchased online, by phone or in person at venue box
offices – Main Ticket Centres are also located at Robson Square and WhistlerVillage.
There are
still free public events on going in Vancouver
for the Paralympic time as well. For a ‘top ten’ list, you can visit the City
of Vancouver
website: http://olympichostcity.vancouver.ca/mediaroom/feature-stories/top10-free-events.htm
The Closing
Ceremony for the Paralympic Winter Games will take place in Whistler on Sunday,
March 21, 2010. There will not be a vehicle checkpoint on the highway. You can
drive to designated spectator parking lots at the
base of WhistlerParalympicPark
near the Callaghan Valley Road
and park for free. From there, special spectator shuttles will take you to WhistlerParalympicPark
or Whistler Creekside. Public transportation within Whistler is included with
your ticket on the day of the event. Learn
more — online spectator guide.
After March 12, 2010
The Opening Ceremony
marks the end of our activities at BC Place Stadium. Heavy “load-out” activity
will commence immediately following the event and will occur over a number of
days. Expo and Pacific Boulevards will remain closed until midnight the morning
of March 16; however commuters may still encounter periodic lane closures as
crew work on removing the PIDS fencing along the roads.
We want to thank all
of you for your support of the Games. Our success to date has been a great
measure of the willingness and flexibility of our community to help us stage
the Games in such a complex and challenging urban environment. We hope you have
found some time to enjoy the Games and we wish you well with many thanks once
again for all your support (and your patience!).
We may be in touch
over the next few days if any new information comes to light, however just in
case please be advised my term with VANOC will be over as of March 13, 2010. If
you have any questions following that date, please contact the Operations
Engagement Team at 604.404.0707 or 604.403.2309. Another option (after VANOC
closes shop in April) is to call 3-1-1
to reach the City of Vancouver.