Work set to begin on separated bike lane lane in front of VGH
Posted October 20, 2017 12:39 pm.
Last Updated October 20, 2017 2:36 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Construction is set to begin on the separated bike lane in front of one of the region’s busiest hospitals — Vancouver General. It’s part of a major road project –the “Health Precinct”– along 10th Avenue between Cambie and Oak streets.
But not everyone is thrilled with the plan.
“We had hoped that there would be the possibility of finding an additional or new bike path,” says Jane Dyson with the Disability Alliance of BC. “We’re still not thrilled that this is being implemented.”
Dyson says the Alliance was hoping for the path to be diverted so it didn’t end up on 10th avenue.
“I understand that that not necessarily the easiest option to ensure that bike riders have good access in this area, but for us, that would have been the best option,” she adds.
The City claims that wouldn’t have been the best option.
“The really key thing there is that 60 per cent of the people cycling… they’re really destined for that area,” explains the city’s Manager of Transportation Design Paul Storer. “So, there really isn’t anywhere else to route them to.”
He adds the aim of upgrading the area around the hospital is to ensure safety, and says extensive consultation has been done with various stakeholders.
“We need to be designing roads that are safe for all road users, particularly people walking and cycling because they’re the most vulnerable people out on the streets.”
Preliminary work is underway and construction is expected to ramp up in the coming months. The city hopes to complete all work for the 10th Avenue Corridor Project by next June.
Storer says one of the concerns people have raised is that creating a separated bike path would draw more cyclists to the area.
“We know that cycling is a quickly growing mode in the City of Vancouver, and actually in North America in a general sort of way,” he says, and adds upgrades to surrounding bike lanes are also being done to give people other options.
“The goal with improving 14th and 7th, as well as 10th Avenue, was to give people who don’t need to be cycling on 10th Avenue alternate routes so that they don’t need to cycle through these corridors.”
“We need to be sure that the people who are cycling are going to be safe.”
