Marine Drive is the name for three major roadways in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The roads are known for running parallel to major bodies of water, with some sections being a major arterial road, while other serve local traffic. Marine Way is the name applied to a section of Marine Drive that was bypassed in the early 1980s.
Burrard Peninsula
The Burrard Peninsula section of Marine Drive passes through the University Endowment Lands as well as the Cities of Vancouver, Burnaby, and New Westminster, following the Burrard Inlet, Strait of Georgia, and the North Arm of Fraser River around Point Grey. In Vancouver, Marine Drive is prefixed by a quadrant and is divided into Northwest, Southwest, and Southeast sections; while in Burnaby and New Westminster it is simply known as Marine Drive. The northeastern and southeastern extremes of Marine Drive are relatively minor roadways; however, when the remainder is combined with 70th Avenue and Marine Way, it forms a thoroughfare from the University of British Columbia to New Westminster and is one of the most important routes in the region. The section located within the University Endowment Lands is provincially maintained and known as Pseudo Highway 914:0620, which is unsigned, while southern section of Marine Drive / Marine Way along the North Arm of the Fraser River is part of TransLink's Major Road Network.
Route description
Northwest Marine Drive begins at West 4th Avenue in the Vancouver neighbourhood of West Point Grey. It travels as a collector road north to Jericho Beach and turns west, following the south shore of Burrard Inlet and passing Locarno Beach and Spanish Banks. It leaves Vancouver and enters the University Endowment Lands, passing through Pacific Spirit Regional Park. The collector road ends at Chancellor Boulevard (the western extension of West 4th Avenue).
Northwest Marine Drive continues as a western continuation of Chancellor Boulevard along the perimeter of the Point Grey Campus of the University of British Columbia. At the western edge of Point Grey near Wreck Beach, the roadway turns south and becomes Southwest Marine Drive near the Totem Park student residences. It passes the UBC Botanical Garden and starts to head in a south-southeasterly direction. It becomes an arterial road as it leaves the UBC Campus and heads east through Pacific Spirit Regional Park and Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, re-entering Vancouver in the Dunbar–Southlands neighbourhood, following the North Arm of Fraser River, but located a number of blocks away from the water. It passes through Kerrisdale and Marpole before turning due east along the 70th Avenue alignment just past Angus Drive. One block west of Granville Street, Southwest Marine Drive follows a short residential street and heads south and east, while the main roadway becomes West 70th Avenue, providing access to both Granville and Oak Streets.
When the residential section intersects Granville Street, Granville Street itself turns southeast and becomes Southwest Marine Drive. It reaches a Y-interchange at the north end of the Arthur Laing Bridge where traffic can access the Vancouver International Airport via Grant McConachie Way. Southwest Marine Drive turns in a northeasterly direction, passing underneath the Oak Street Bridge, again crossing West 70th Avenue, and passes Marine Gateway at Cambie Street. At Ontario Street, the roadway becomes Southeast Marine Drive and continues east into the Sunset neighbourhood. It passes through a partial cloverleaf at Knight Street at the north end of the Knight Street Bridge, and continues east through Victoria–Fraserview and Killarney. Just east of Kerr Street near Everett Crowley Park, the main roadway becomes Marine Way and continues east through Burnaby and New Westminster to the Queensborough Interchange, which provides access to the Queensborough Bridge and Highway 91A. East of the interchange, the roadway is known as Stewardson Way and continues along the waterfront into downtown New Westminster.
At the same time, Southeast Marine Drive runs parallel to Marine Way as a collector road through Champlain Heights. As it passes over Boundary Road, it enters Burnaby and simply goes by Marine Drive, separating the South Slope and Big Bend neighbourhoods with the roadway ending at a T-intersection at Southridge Drive. Marine Drive resumes as a residential street just east of the intersection as a right-in/right out from Southridge Drive and passes through the southwestern portion of the Edmonds before crossing into New Westminster and terminating at a dead end just east of 7th Avenue.