Former parking lot makes way for a restored creek

A living creek that was paved over many years ago has been restored, and the hope is it will have salmon flowing through it again one day.

The Creekway Park on Bridgeway Street has been officially opened today.

The parking lot it used to house has been transformed into an ecological corridor with native plants, bird habitat and paths.

The creek has been “day-lighted,” and now connects the Sanctuary in Hastings Park to the ocean.

Over the last one hundred years, as many as fifty different creeks have been paved over in Vancouver, channeling water through underground concrete tunnels.

This is one of the first such projects to be undertaken by the city of Vancouver to not only open the creek up, but restore its natural banks and hope the salmon will return.

It will also create better access for pedestrians and cyclists, connecting Hastings Park and New Brighton.