Vancouver is in for a busy week full of events, which could mean a traffic nightmare around Rogers Arena.
First and foremost, the Vancouver Canucks are back in action starting this week with a bunch of home games scheduled, including the home opener tomorrow against the Calgary Flames and another home game on Friday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Wednesday is also the launch of this year’s Cirque du Soleil spectacle, Echo, which has shows every night except Mondays and Tuesdays and varied dates over the holidays. Kygo is also in town; his concert is on Thursday at Rogers Arena.
Here’s a general overview of things that could impact traffic in Vancouver this week.
Whether you’re heading home after work or heading to one of the events downtown, traffic could move a lot slower this week.
All of this week’s Cirque shows start at 7:30 pm, and all the Canucks games this week begin at 7 pm. Doors for Cirque open up quite a bit earlier than the 7:30 pm start time. So, a massive flow of people will be heading to that area via all manner of transportation methods around the same time. The Kygo concert also begins at 7 pm.
Cirque du Soleil attendees have access to paid parking near the site, and parking is free if you have a VIP ticket. If you’re coming from outside Vancouver, it might be worth checking out TransLink’s trip planner to make your life easier when getting out of the city.
The weather on Wednesday night could complicate things further. Rain is forecast, and traffic tends to slow down when it rains in Vancouver.
Click here for a complete list of Rogers Arena events or click here for all of the Cirque dates.
We’ve contacted the Vancouver Police Department to check if it’ll be directing traffic in the area this week beyond its usual duties for Canucks games.
The City of Vancouver has not yet issued any traffic alerts this week, but we’ll update this article if it does. However, there are some road closures and construction notices to be aware of here.
If you have tips for your fellow commuters to help them survive traffic in Vancouver this week, please leave them in the comments.