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Nicholson Road Week 41 - Downtown, New Westminster

Nicholson Road is part of an ongoing photo project aimed at sharing and celebrating the different communities in Metro Vancouver.

Metro Vancouver Is Awesome, and you should get out and explore it!

Nicholson Road is part of an ongoing photo project aimed at sharing and celebrating the different communities in Metro Vancouver. Each week Vancouver Is Awesome will be featuring one of the latest, most engaging photos from the project in order to draw your attention a little bit outside of the hyper-focus that we usually have on the city of Vancouver.

Downtown, New Westminster

A number of years ago, the City of New Westminster began planning a huge new waterfront park, on the decaying pier stretching nearly the entire length of Columbia (from Elliot to Sixth). Work is well underway now, with a planned completion of sometime this fall.

One of the interesting bits about this, at least for me, is the architectural landscape between Columbia (Downtown New West's main drag) and the shore of the Fraser River. Columbia is lined with older, brick buildings, some reaching as high as 6 or 7 stories from Front St. and the river bank below, to only rise 1 floor at street level on Columbia. You'll also find Antique Alley down here, hidden below the massive Downtown Parkade. It reminds me quite a bit of the areas around the Alaskan Way Viaduct in downtown Seattle, though without the roar of traffic.

While so many places in the region are fighting to regain space along the water, it's great to see this stretch of New West get the attention it deserves, and an even greater connection to the very river that created the City, and continues to support it today. Check here for more on the Westminster Pier Park.

More from Nicholson Road can be found HERE.