Last week, we revealed the 16 intersections that survived the Round 1 gauntlet and asked you to help us narrow it down to eight. Now we need your help to crown a regional winner for all four of our sub-regions.
Whether you live on the West Side or in East Van, or North or South of the Fraser, we know that you have an intersection that makes you pull your hair out. Maybe you’ve spotted an obvious design flaw that’s an accident in the making. Maybe you’ve witnessed a scary crash or near-miss. Or maybe you’ve been involved in one yourself (we hope not!). In any case, we can all take action to demand better road safety from our elected officials.
About the Bracket
If you’re joining us for the first time, we asked our followers on Bluesky and Instagram to nominate their least favourite intersections and selected 32 of the scariest, nastiest, most confusing ones throughout the region for a community vote.
Through two rounds of voting, we thinned out the nominees by selecting the worst of the worst from both the City of Vancouver and Metro Vancouver suburbs. After the current round, there are still two rounds to go to crown Metro Vancouver’s worst intersection.
Granville St & SW Marine Dr vs. Main & Kingsway & East 7th Ave
In the last round, the spaghetti junction funnelling the Arthur Laing Bridge into Marpole won a hard-fought 55%–45% victory over Main & 2nd, the uninviting traffic-choked gateway to Olympic Village. Meanwhile, in a showdown between two of Vancouver’s most poorly designed triangle intersections, Main & Kingsway triumphed over Pender & West Georgia by a whopping 65%–35% margin. Maybe Budgie’s customers have stronger opinions about intersection design than Lions Gate commuters…
Meet your West Side finalists:
- Granville St & SW Marine Dr: When it’s not backed up for twenty blocks, drivers know this as the place where fast-moving Arthur Laing traffic merges onto a local street, resulting in countless near-misses at the merge point. Cyclists know this as the frustrating gap between the Arbutus Greenway and Kent Avenue Bikeway (or as the access point to the absurdly narrow Arthur Laing bike lane). Transit riders would know this intersection as home to the Marpole Loop bus exchange… if there was any way to walk there without being hit by a car.
- Main St & Kingsway & East 7th Ave: To accommodate the huge volumes of traffic on Main St and Kingsway that converge here on their slow slog to Downtown, this intersection in the heart of Mount Pleasant has seemingly been tailor-built to discourage anyone from daring to cross. Pedestrians are met with no jaywalking signs and an invitation to cross four separate crosswalks just to get to the neighbourhood library, while cyclists on the useless “Off-Broadway” 7th Avenue bike route are kicked all the way down to 5th Avenue, only to get kicked back up to 7th one block later.
Granville St & SW Marine Dr (left) vs. Main St & Kingsway & East 7th Ave (right)
Commercial & Broadway vs. Boundary & Highway 1
Last round, the gigantic intersection in front of Commercial—Broadway Station eked out another narrow 51%–49% win against the drive thrus and weird diagonal angles of Kingsway & Victoria. Meanwhile, in a battle of the Boundary intersections, Grandview Highway handily defeated Kingsway 70%–30%, with the BC Parkway’s awkward crossing of a major truck route being no match for the highway funnel into Vancouver.
Meet your East Van finalists:
- Commercial Dr & E Broadway: Having eked out two knife’s edge victories in a row in our bracket, this intersection has made it through some close calls unscathed. That’s more than we can say for the people who use this intersection daily, as ICBC reports 74 yearly crashes and 19 yearly injuries. Let’s just hope that the escalators that are supposed to keep SkyTrain riders out of this crosswalk don’t stop working again…
- Boundary Rd & Highway 1 & Grandview Hwy: The surrounding neighbourhoods in the Rupert–Renfrew area are lovely communities, being conveniently located to gorgeous parks, two SkyTrain stations, plenty of grocery stores (including a T&T!) and a number of local street bikeways. One slight issue: the giant freeway interchange that dumps tens of thousands of cars through the neighbourhood each day.
Commercial Dr & E Broadway (left) vs. Boundary Rd & Highway 1 & Grandview Hwy (right)
BRUNETTE AVE & BRAID ST vs. KENSINGTON AVE & CANADA WAY
Last round, the two Brunette Ave intersections were pitted against each other, with New West’s Braid St crossing besting Coquitlam’s Lougheed Hwy crossing, 68%–32%. Meanwhile, an equally decisive showdown saw voters elevate Kensington & Canada Way in Burnaby over 8th & Royal in New West, 74%–26%.
Meet your North of Fraser finalists:
- Brunette Ave & Braid St, New Westminster: Despite an Amazon warehouse with hundreds of employees and a brand new apartment tower next door, it appears that nobody gave any thought to how anyone is supposed to cross this truck-choked intersection to get to the SkyTrain. Did we also mention that cyclists are routed down a completely unmarked sidewalk to get back to the Central Valley Greenway?
- Kensington Ave & Canada Way, Burnaby: Until Burnaby completes their Highway 1 pedestrian overpass, Kensington Ave remains one of the only ways to get between Burnaby Lake and Deer Lake—and is even designated as an “urban trail” for pedestrians and cyclists. Good thing we didn’t route a Highway 1 exit down the same street… oh wait.
Brunette Ave & Braid St, New Westminster (left) vs. Kensington Ave & Canada Way, Burnaby (right)
NO. 3 RD & SEA ISLAND WAY vs. GARDEN CITY RD & Granville Ave
Last round, two suburban stroads that prioritize traffic flow over the safety of anyone trying to cross faced off, with Richmond’s airport approach tangle beating Surrey’s King George & 88 Ave mess 53%–47%. Meanwhile, a second Richmond intersection—Garden City & Granville—squeaked out a victory against the highway diversion in front of Langley’s Willowbrook mall by four votes.
Meet your South of Fraser finalists:
- No. 3 Rd & Sea Island Way & Bridgeport Rd, Richmond: If you’re driving, biking or walking up Three Road, you get to stress about crossing the five-lane, one-way highway carrying all the high-speed traffic from the Airport and Arthur Laing Bridge. Just when you think you’re out of the woods, you then immediately hit a five-lane, one-way highway carrying all the high-speed traffic to the Airport and Arthur Laing Bridge. And don’t even try to walk to the restaurant in the middle of this intersection…
- Garden City Rd & Granville Ave, Richmond: So, at this intersection, Granville Ave becomes Garden City Rd and Garden City Rd becomes Granville Ave, except if you’re coming from the south then Garden City stays Garden City, or if you’re coming from the east, then Granville stays Granville. Oh, and don’t mind the completely unrelated cul-de-sac also named Garden City Rd next door. Got it? No? Well would it help if we didn’t put up any wayfinding for pedestrians and cyclists?
No. 3 Rd & Sea Island Way & Bridgeport Rd, Richmond (left) vs. Garden City Rd & Granville Ave, Richmond (right)
Vision Zero Vancouver 