The Honda Celebration of Light will soon light up the skies over English Bay for three nights, and residents and commuters are being warned of traffic impacts in the viewing areas.
Hundreds of thousands of fireworks fans are expected to attend the stunning shows by Portugal on Saturday, July 20, Malaysia on Wednesday, July 24, and the United Kingdom on Saturday, July 27.
The City of Vancouver announced several road closures are planned for the West End on all three dates. Festival organizers also stated that neighbouring Kits Point will also experience some closures on access roads.
According to the City, there will be a full road closure on Burnaby Street from Beach to Bidwell from Wednesday, July 17 to Friday, July 19.
Traffic controls are in effect from 9 am to 5 pm on all three festival days, including:
- Periodic traffic control for load-in on Beach Avenue, Pacific Street to Davie Street
- Beach Avenue closed to traffic, bike lane detour
Full road closures are in place from 6 pm to midnight:
- Beach Ave and Pacific Street from Stanley Park to Thurlow Street
- Davie St from Denman Street to Burrard Street
- Denman St from Alberni Street to Beach Avenue
Honda Celebration of Light 2023 Vancouver fireworks by Team Australia (Gabriel Lam/Submitted)
There will also be limited access to Stanley Park West of Prospect Point from 6 to 11 pm and vehicle access and parking are restricted.
There are three local traffic-only access points in the West End on July 20, 24 and 27.
- Burnaby Street at Thurlow Street
- Nelson Street at Thurlow Street
- Denman Street at Alberni Street
Honda Celebration of Light organizers also posted online that access roads into Kits Point will be closed from 6 pm on festival evenings.
As usual for Metro Vancouver’s largest annual public event, TransLink will deploy extra services to help meet the surging demand of crowds arriving and leaving the area in and around English Bay for the summer fireworks.
During each of these three evenings, SkyTrain will operate at high frequencies every two to three minutes before and after the fireworks. Bikes will not be permitted on SkyTrain after 10:30 pm.
SeaBus sailings will be extended to frequencies of every 15 minutes from 9:15 pm to 11:15 pm and then every 30 minutes from 11:15 pm to 1:22 am.
TransLink/Submitted
For each of these three nights, TransLink will deploy more bus service across Metro Vancouver, including downtown Vancouver.
There will be a special pre-event shuttle bus service between Burrard Skytrain Station to the intersection of Denman and West Georgia streets in the West End.
A special post-event shuttle bus service will run from the intersection of Bidwell and West Georgia streets in Coal Harbour, with this service dropping passengers off at the intersection of Burrard and West Georgia streets (near Burrard Station) before continuing to Waterfront Station.
Post-event service to West Vancouver and North Vancouver will also run from the intersection of West Georgia and Denman streets.
Due to the road closures, bus routes No. 2 Burrard Station/Macdonald, No. 5 Robson/Downtown, No. 6 Davie/Downtown, and No. 23 Main Street Station/English Bay will be rerouted.
Honda Celebration of Light/Facebook
For the last fireworks night on Saturday, July 27 only, residents in eastern Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley will benefit from a special train on the West Coast Express commuter rail service. One train will leave Mission City Station at 7 pm and arrive at Waterfront Station at 8:15 pm. For the return trip, the train will begin boarding at Waterfront Station at 11 pm and depart at midnight.
- Schedule and nations:
- Saturday, July 20: Portugal 🇵🇹, represented by Team Macedos Pirotecnia
- With pre-fireworks Red Bull Air Show and BC Honda Dealers Drone Show
- Wednesday, July 24: Malaysia 🇲🇾, represented by Team Pyro Tact
- With pre-fireworks Red Bull Air Show and BC Honda Dealers Drone Show
- Saturday, July 27: United Kingdom 🇬🇧, represented by Team Pyrotex Fireworx
- With pre-fireworks Red Bull Air Show and BC Honda Dealers Drone Show
- Saturday, July 20: Portugal 🇵🇹, represented by Team Macedos Pirotecnia
- Nightly schedule:
- Red Bull Air Show: 7:40 pm
- BC Honda Dealers Drone Show: 9:50 pm
- Fireworks: 10 pm to 10:25 pm (25-minute duration each night), rain or shine. Music simulcasts can be heard on radio station CFMI Rock 101.
- Location: English Bay, Vancouver
With files from Kenneth Chan