The Vancouver park board has announced the reopening of one of the most scenic stretches of Stanley Park's world-famous seawall following lengthy repairs.

The 3.5-kilometre stretch of seawall between Lions Gate Bridge and Third Beach had been closed to the public since the structure suffered extensive damage during a storm on January 7, 2022.

High winds, a storm surge along with a so-called king tide, and a large amount of debris in the water combined to cause extensive damage to the path surfaces and the wall itself.

Winds during the storm reached up to 70 kilometres per hour and lasted seven to eight hours, causing large waves to batter the park shorelines and seawall.

“This storm was unlike anything we had seen before, but we know how important the seawall is to our community with millions of visitors who use it every year, so repairing it quickly was of the highest priority for us,” Dave Hutch, director of park planning and development, said in an April 27 release.

“Safety was also an important consideration as this was not a typical construction site. Access was sometimes difficult, weather-dependent, and required careful timing, particularly in the tidal environment with additional King tides.”

Work crews built retaining walls with "lock blocks", precast interlocking concerte blocks, in places where the wall had collapsed. This prevented erosion and further damage.

Stonemasons have also been busy rebuilding damaged sections, and crews have replaced missing or damaged capstones and added reinforced concrete where needed.

As well, sections of the damaged seawall path, which is popular with walkers, joggers, inline skaters, and cyclists. have been repaved with asphalt.

The release noted that repair cews will now turn to work already in progress on Jericho Pier and Kitsilano Pool, both of which suffered damage in the same storm.

The pier at Jericho Beach, which is well used by people fishing, crabbing, and participating in sailing programs, had aleady been extensively damaged in the same November 2021 storm that blew a barge from English Bay into Fals Creek, where it became grounded until it was removed, about four months later.

The pool and its deck were flooded by large waves during the January storm. After draining the pool, inspectors found cracks in the deck floor and deck panels that had lifted. Repairs are expected to last into the summer.

The park board announced on April 12 that Kitsilano Pool may not reopen in time for this year's swimming season. It said the the pools at New Brighton Park and at Stanley Park's Second beach will open earlier this year to help cope with an expected increase in visitors if Kitsilano remains closed.

“Climate change is making storm events like those in November 2021 and January 2022 more frequent and severe," Hutch noted in the new release. "This extreme weather was another 'wake-up call' on climate change and a look into a future of increased sea level and changing coastlines.

"The Park Board will be initiating conversations with residents about how we should plan for this uncertain future and how our waterfront parks, the seawall and beaches will adapt to our changing climate,” Hutch continued. “We will need to ask ourselves what we value about our waterfronts and how we can coexist in a world of increasing sea levels and more extreme weather.”