Vancouver » Walking the streets of this city a couple of months ago, you'd never know it was about to host the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Except for the construction, anyway.

While the city seemed strangely devoid of any Olympic advertising or promotional material -- perhaps a reflection of what had become a rather notorious local skepticism about the upcoming event, combined with budgetary concerns -- the jackhammers and barricades that clogged downtown were enough to kindle reminders of the long build-up to the 2002 Salt Lake Games, when seemingly everything was under construction and Interstate 15 was a mess all along the Wasatch Front.

Yet just as our Olympics emerged triumphant, local tourism officials here expect the last of the dust to be swept up in plenty of time for visitors to fully enjoy one of the most diverse and cosmopolitan cities in the world when one of its biggest sporting events begins Feb. 12, 2010. Most of the indoor events such as hockey and speedskating will take place in the city, with skiing, sliding and snowboarding events at nearby Whistler and Cypress Mountain.

"The world will really feel comfortable here," said Rick Antonson, the president of Tourism Vancouver.

Honestly, how could it not?

Ranked again as the world's most livable city in a survey by The Economist news magazine earlier this year, the largest city ever to host a Winter Olympics features a cultural vibrancy that far outstrips the homogenous populace and curious liquor laws that greeted international visitors to Salt Lake City nearly eight years ago.

Famous for its panoramic views of the nearby North Shore mountains and the shimmering water that nearly surrounds it on a peninsula, the city features a diverse population -- about half of it is comprised of ethnic minorities, most from China and the Pacific Rim, plus a large aboriginal community -- and a variety of distinct neighborhoods surrounding a compact and walkable downtown core. Dozens of languages are spoken, and signs outside many businesses are posted in both English and another script.

The forest of gleaming high-rise apartment buildings is part of the city's plan to foster a more livable area by avoiding sprawl, and it contrasts nicely with the waterfront and the serenity of sprawling Stanley Park, one of the largest urban parks in North America (about 20 percent bigger than Central Park in New York City).

A highly regarded dining, nightlife and shopping scene, vibrant gay community (same-sex marriage is legal here) and boundless recreational options such as cycling, skiing and kayaking complete the picture.

"Vancouver is the most wonderful place," actor Terence Stamp once said. "I put it up there with San Francisco and Sydney as a kind of magic sort of harbor city."

A wet one, of course.

Much like Seattle, about 140 miles to the south, Vancouver is known for its cloudy and rainy weather, though winter temperatures are much more mild than in most Winter Olympic cities. The average daily high in February is 44 degrees, so visitors probably won't freeze while waiting for the bus to take them to their event.

And that is key.

Traffic in the city can be challenging even in the best of times, and officials are hoping to avoid serious snarls by asking residents to cut down on driving and encouraging visitors to use public transportation, including the new Canada Line SkyTrain from Vancouver International Airport to downtown.

In fact, there will be no public parking at any of the Olympic venues, and fans should plan on using the Olympic Bus Network -- departing from locations throughout the area -- to reach the skiing sites at Whistler and Cypress Mountain.

But even visitors without event tickets will be able to enjoy themselves at any of the free daily celebration sites -- two of them in central Vancouver, one near the speed skating oval in the southern suburb of Richmond and one at the Whistler resort. That's in addition, of course, to everything else Vancouver has to offer, which officials like Antonson hope can ignite a new "decade of tourism" for the city, long after the Olympics have gone.

"Much of what the next decade can be will depend on how we use the year 2010," he said. "Ideally, we'll come out of the Games with a collective self-confidence that we can do it. ... We want that, and that's going to I think embolden us" to become an even hotter city in the eyes of others around the world.

And perhaps make all of that construction worthwhile. mcl@sltrib.com