In The Duel, 24 hours columnists David Eby and Kathryn Marshall battle over the issues of the day. Who's the winner this week? Fire us an email at van24feedback@sunmedia.ca. 150 words or less please.

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC - will the removal of the downtown viaducts hurt or enhance liveability?

The Georgia Street viaducts have got to go. A literal "bridge to nowhere" as the stub of a highway system never built, the viaducts are also a historic racist scar on our city. Hogan's Alley, Vancouver's predominantly black neighbourhood, was paved over to build them, and all of the residents who lived there were displaced. Neither history, nor traffic planning consistency, suggests we keep them.

Polls show that residents in Vancouver are split on the proposal to either remove the viaducts or turn them into a park. According to the city, just over 60% of the people they polled were in favour of removing the viaducts. A survey by Justason Market Intelligence suggested the opposite, that a majority of residents opposed removing the viaducts.

A major motivation behind this project is surely that it would be a big financial win for Vancouver. City land previously inaccessible or undesirable would vastly increase in value. Similarly, developer Concord Pacific stands to enjoy a significant improvement in the value of condominium building sites that they own near the viaduct.

While some of the motivation behind the project may be less than pure, several fractured parks near the waterfront would be united by a redesign, vastly improving their usability and appeal. Bike, pedestrian and transit access would be improved.

So what's the problem? The main argument against the removal of the viaducts is concern about traffic congestion. And let's be honest, removing the viaducts isn't going to improve your Vancouver driving experience. Any driver knows that you wheel into downtown Vancouver at your peril - the goal here has never been to be the world's "easiest driving" city.

When the city and the province abandoned the highway plan for Vancouver, a decision credited with making our city one of the "most livable" in the world, traffic congestion for private vehicles was the inevitable trade off.

But will things be that much worse? Seattle, with a full highway and not just a viaduct through the middle of a busy downtown, demonstrates that highways and viaducts don't necessarily decrease congestion, but do have a major impact on liveability.

If we truly mean to be a green city, prioritizing park space and biking over slight improvements in commute time for private cars is a good start.