Vancouver’s history is continually being bulldozed and buried – supplanted by the endless eruption of towers, especially in the downtown area. And it’s easy to let go unnoticed the remnants of Vancouver’s past, but it is Denis Bouvier’s passion to document in photographs the sometimes whirlwind transition of Vancouver to an ultra-modern city. In this photo we see the last remaining visible section an old Canadian Pacific Railway tunnel which can be viewed on Georgia St. between Beatty St. and Citadel Parade. It will soon be closed by a wall of concrete forming the parking lot of the new building project by Concord Pacific: Cosmo Place.

Known as the Dunsmuir Tunnel, it began operating in 1932 to eliminate traffic congestion from trains traveling through the centre of the city. Trains often blocked traffic for up to 20 minutes on 6 streets simultaneously: Alexander, Columbia, Cordova, Hastings, Pender and Carrall. The tunnel ran from 6 to 24 metres beneath the city for about 1,396 metres between False Creek (near what is now BC Place) and Burrard Inlet (at the Waterfront Terminal for SkyTrain.) Part of tunnel is currently used by SkyTrain, serving westbound trains at Burrard and Granville Stations.