Olympic road closures shut down stadium traffic

With just two weeks to go until the start of the Olympics, organizers rolled out the next round of road closures in downtown Vancouver on Friday morning, shutting down the streets around BC Place and GM Place, along with several side streets in the area.

Earlier this week some downtown streets around the Trade and Convention Centre, which has now become the Olympic Media Centre, were closed down, along with some side streets around the Olympic Village.

BC Place will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and nightly victory celebrations during the 2010 Winter Olympics, which run from Feb. 12 to 28. GM Place, which will host the hockey, has been renamed Canada Hockey Place for the duration of the Games, because of Olympic advertising rules.

Further road closures are planned in the coming days, leading up to the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics on eb. 12, including:

• Streets around the curling venue at Riley Park close on Feb. 1.
• The Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts close on Feb. 5.
• Streets around the Pacific Coliseum close on Feb. 1 and Feb. 13.
• One-day road closures will shut down the Cambie Bridge and many streets around BC Place on Feb 10, 12, and 28.
• There will be 24-hour on-street parking and stopping restrictions on many streets in Vancouver between Feb. 4 to Mar. 1.

All of the closures are in effect until Mar. 1.