History
Kingsway follows the Wagon Road built by the Royal Engineers between Vancouver's historic Gastown waterfront and the former capital of the Colony of British Columbia at New Westminster. As Vancouver became established with a street grid beyond Gastown, the route was named Westminster Road, later Westminster Street, including what is now Main Street from 7th north to the waterfront, and ultimately was a component of the Trans-Canada Highway until the construction of the new freeway route . Since Vancouver's street grid had not yet been laid when the road was first built, Kingsway is diagonal, following the gentlest incline up the spine of the Burrard Peninsula, which peaks near Metrotown in Burnaby. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, government make-work projects saw labourers widen Kingsway considerably, so that now it has six lanes along most of its length.
Read more about this topic: Kingsway (Vancouver)
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