The recommendations going before council Monday are a mix of new names and extensions of existing roadways
A host of new street names are coming to Vancouver in the near future if city council approves the recommendations of city staff, including new routes through the River District, Mayfair West (Oakridge Transit Centre), the Heather Lands and the Granville Loops development.
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Some are descriptive and intended to invoke the city’s cultural and natural history, while others are ho-hum like an extension of West 35th Avenue that will be called … West 35th Avenue.
The names are being suggested by the city clerk, because a committee that proposed names for civic assets was dissolved before the 2022 municipal elections. A new committee was formed but only works from a list of names on a reserve list created by the former committee. In fact, many of the clerk’s recommendations are names already chosen by that committee.
Here are the new street names that will be considered at Monday’s Vancouver council meeting:
River District
A new public road between East Kent South and North Arm Avenue, running from Oolichan Way to River District Crossing, will be named Bulrush Avenue. The name was chosen to reflect the natural flora of the area that helps feed native bird species along the Fraser River, and because bulrush leaves and stalks were used by local First Nations to weave mats.
The new Bulrush would join other new streets in the River District that have already been given names, including North Arm Avenue, River District Crossing, Sawmill Crescent, Rivergrass Drive, Jack Uppal Street and Oolichan Way.
Mayfair West (Oakridge Transit Centre)
A new street from West 38th to West 41st avenues will be named Collins Street. It is named in honour of union leader and Black activist Frank Collins, who worked as a Canadian Pacific Railway porter and later as a bus driver. The former committee recommended the name as appropriate for the area because it is the former site of a TransLink bus depot.
Another street from Collins to West 38th Avenue will be named Nemetz Drive. The name honours the Nemetz family, who arrived as Ukrainian Jewish refugees to Vancouver starting in the early 1900s and went on to contribute to numerous community causes such as health, education, labour and human rights. The name was proposed by several local Jewish organizations and is considered appropriate for the neighbourhood with a large Jewish presence.
A third new street in the River District, from Nemetz Drive to Willow Street, will simply be named West 39th Avenue because it’s an extension of the existing roadway.
Heather Lands
A new street from the lane east of Willow Street to the lane west of Ash Street, between West 37th and McGuigan avenues, will be called West 35th Avenue, as it extends the existing street.
Another running from West 35th to West 37th avenues between Heather and Willow streets will be named Baillie Street, another extension of an existing road. A road extension that runs between West 35th and West 37th avenues will be West 36th Avenue. And yet another short stretch from West 35th to West 37th will retain the existing Manson Street moniker.
Granville Loops
The two new roads in this development area are extensions of existing streets and will be named accordingly.
A road from Pacific Street to Neon Street, between Howe Street and the Granville Bridge, keeps the name Continental Street. And a new street from Pacific to Neon between the Granville Bridge and Seymour Street retains Rolston Street.
All new street names are vetted by Vancouver Fire Rescue Service to avoid duplication with others in the Lower Mainland and ensure they’re easily understood by first responders in an emergency.