Expanding the Downtown Bike Network, or, It's Amazing What a Little Paint Can Do

Photo Credit: tylerhoff via Compfight cc

This spring & summer the city is planning to upgrade & expand the downtown bike network on Beatty Street, Cambie Street northbound, Richards Street southbound, Smithe Street westbound, & Nelson Street eastbound. The improvements will support the launch of our public bike share system in summer 2016, also making riding & walking safer for people downtown by ungapping the map a little bit.

I've seen the plans myself at a recent Active Transportation Poliy Council meeting & they'll definitely do a lot to better separate people on bikes, pedestrians & cars. If you're surprised at how soon the lanes will be ready, it's because much of the work is just rearranging where the cars park (many of these separated lanes will be created by just moving the car parking so that people ride bikes between the parked cars & the sidewalk) & adding paint, with the occasional plastic bollard. Very simple, cost-effective, & it works.

These downtown route improvements are not anything new, but part of a larger 2016-2017 Active Transportation network improvement plan, which was reviewed by Vancouver City Council in December 2015.

You'll have the chance to learn more details & share your feedback on March 8 at the city's open house Tuesday, March 8, 12:00 noon to 7:00pm at the Sandman Hotel, 180 West Georgia Street
(enter through Moxie's restaurant). If you can't make it to the open house, you can view open house boards online here.

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