Kingsway (Vancouver)

Kingsway is a major road that crosses through the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia. Originally called Westminster Road, it was renamed Kingsway in 1913. [cite news|last=Smedman|first=Lisa|title=Road to prosperity|url=http://www.vancourier.com/issues06/081206/news/081206nn1.html|publisher=The Vancouver Courier|date=August 4, 2006|accessdate=2006-08-04]

While it is a busy commercial city street and not a freeway, it is an official alternate route for the Trans-Canada Highway (as Highway 1A) and the provincial Highway 99 (as Highway 99A). The road runs diagonally from northwest to southeast, emerging from Vancouver's Main Street and becoming 12th Street at the Burnaby-New Westminster border.

Kingsway is one of the longest roads in the Metropolitan Vancouver area and is therefore somewhat difficult to characterize. Many segments of the road offer diverse family-owned and ethnic shopping opportunities and restaurants particularly Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Japanese, South Asian and from other ethnicities. And there are a number of hotels, supermarkets, and freestanding fast-food locations along other portions of its route.

In Burnaby, Metrotown and the central business district are located along Kingsway. SkyTrain is located along a major portion of the Kingsway route and there is a major SkyTrain station at Metrotown. There are numerous bus routes operating along the road and it is the principal route between Metrotown and Downtown Vancouver.

History

Kingsway follows the wagon road built by the Royal Engineers between Vancouver's historic Gastown waterfront and the former capital of the Colony of British Columbia at New Westminster. As Vancouver became established with a street grid beyond Gastown, the route was named Westminster Road, later Westminster Street, including what is now Main Street from 7th north to the waterfront, and ultimately was a component of the TransCanada Highway until the construction of the new freeway route . Since Vancouver's street grid had not yet been laid when the road was first built, Kingsway is diagonal, following the gentlest incline up the spine of the Burrard Peninsula, which peaks near Metrotown in Burnaby. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, government make-work projects saw labourers widen Kingsway considerably, so that now it has six lanes along most of its length.

Tribute

The Canadian poet Michael Turner based his book of poetry, "Kingsway", on Kingsway Street.
Vancouver Illustrator Bambi Edlund includes an [http://www.lepenquotidien.com/?cat=11 Ode to Kingsway] in her daily drawing project.

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