Ken Ohrn had checked out some improvements in the city’s bikeway system last year – so for the record:
Third Avenue in Kitsilano:.
.
Just like the West End (so long ago), Ontario St., Adanac, Hawks and many others, now we see serious traffic calming measures on the 3rd Avenue bike route in Kitsilano. This photo looks northwest at the intersection of 3rd and Bayswater.
Note the large rocks that discourage commuters from driving over the curb. Not so obvious are the large wooden bollards that do the same.
City of Vancouver is also installing ped/cycle lights at 3rd and MacDonald.
.
Union in Strathcona:
This block of Union (east of Main), carries some of the highest bike-to-work cyclist volume in the City of Vancouver. But the eastbound lane is really narrow. So the city has done two things: signage forbidding cars n’ trucks from passing cyclists; and a separate lane for cyclists.
These are wonderful additions to infrastructure that makes our city safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Not to mention quieter and calmer for residents. Thank you to the City of Vancouver and the Engineering staff that design and install these improvements.
I know it would have cost more money to move the eastbound sidewalk over on Union St. east of Main, but that would have made room for a proper bike lane that didn’t have an awkward merge back into traffic at the corner of Union and Gore.
yes….this Union street bike lane is a textbook of not what to do.
notice also , that the bikepath on the right was not in the plan approved by the council, and is a mere expedient trying to correct the original mistakes (forcing cars to not pass bikes: that frustrates everyone, cyclists “inivited” to get out of the way, included)
Building Better Bikeways?
You have to be particularly biaised to consider the new union street layout as an “improvment.”…
And t”improvement” on Union street” could have looked like http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/New_Road,_Brighton_-_shared_space.jpg,
rather than a country road in the middle of the city.
Your shared space example is a totally different context than this. The city is waiting for the viaducts and rebuild of Prior to build something concrete
Agreed – it becomes a dangerous for bikes when you have them leaving drivers’ sightlines them unexectedly merging back in from a blind spot.
Also worth mentioning: 8th Ave. between MacDonald and Alma has no stops anymore.
Richmond has also made some significant improvements in the past year, notably the splendid Railway Avenue Greenway, and the new off-road cycle path around the south end of YVR. Kudo’s to Richmond!
I really don’t like that change on Union. You’re supposed to exit and then merge back onto the road… for one block? What’s the point?
Agreed. Odd and seemingly inept. Does anyone know why it was done?
I suspect it was because with the traffic volumes on the street, the shared lane did not measure up as an AAA (all ages and ability) route. So they built two bike lanes, one shared one on the street for confident cyclists, and one detour lane off the street for less confident cyclists. But it seems likely that it will all change when a decision is made on the viaducts in any case.
‘Odd and seemingly inept’. That seems to me to have the fingerprint of Ms Carr and the local residents association.
Saw her on 200 block of Union St shaking her head as one of the wild-eyed residents association leaders gesticulated furiously. I was biking past on the excellent west bound separated part. The strange path through the park arrived just afterwards – it wasn’t on the City’s original plan at all (and I went to all the open houses and consultative meetings).
I’ve never used it. It’s always too crowded with off-leash dogs. The owners hang out on there to avoid getting their feet wet.
Worth to mention:
Vancouver park board abandons Kitsilano Beach bike route plans:
Thanks to all the good work of the defensors of our parks and green spaces, and more especially Megan Carvell Davis who has initiated a lawsuit against the bike route.
The park board has certainly judged it was not necessary to wait to get humiliated by the supreme court so close from an election.
Thanks also to the bike lane apologists whose has came in undiscrimanting support of whatever ‘Odd and seemingly inept’ scheme as long as it has a bike lane::.
they were of the same breed from people nowadays lauding at the Union bike lane pictured above:
A clear indicator of the inanity of their position…
you will find the context of the law suit and more generally the Kits bike pth controversy here:
http://voony.wordpress.com/tag/hadden-park/
Reblogged this on archiabyssniya.