Chris and Melissa Bruntlett lay out the Top Ten challenges for the City of Vancouver: “the crucial projects needed to build … and expand our network for ages 8 to 80, encouraging more and more Vancouverites to consider the healthier, happier, simpler act of getting on a bicycle, as one of the many different ways they move around their city.”
You can find them all at VanCity Buzz:
10 #BIKEYVR WISHES FOR 2015 AND BEYOND
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Here’s my choice for one of the trickiest – and, as Chris and Melissa note, picking up on my BIV column, “an area where the NPA (on Park Board) can show leadership, demonstrating they are a progressive, 21st century party open to compromise and change.”
South Seawall spot improvements
In a sense, the seawall on the south side of False Creek – between the Olympic Village and the new Point Grey Greenway – has been a victim of its own success. There are several areas where cyclists and pedestrians share the same space (such as through Charleson Park), most of which have become incredibly congested and unsafe, especially on sunny weekend afternoons. We would also love to have a frank talk with the Architect who thought flagstone was a good surface on which to cycle.
However, these spot improvements fall under the jurisdiction of the NPA-controlled Park Board, who vehemently opposed Vision’s abandoned proposal to separate walking and cycling on the hectic, hazardous Kitsilano Beach. It is an area where the NPA can show leadership, demonstrating they are a progressive, 21st century party open to compromise and change. But whether they will do that remains to be seen.
As for the choice of flagstone, I’m pretty sure it just never occurred (or never mattered) to the urban designers at the time that the surface would be used for cycling. That’s an indication of how much cycling perception and reality have changed in this city.
What makes this so tricky, however, is that the South False Creek seawall is heritage, in a sense. Many would oppose the loss or change to any aspect of the design (even painted logos or dividing lines), not to mention, a la Hadden Park, a widening of the paved surface to separate cyclists and pedestrians.
But a planning process has already started in South False Creek to deal with the expiry of leases and accommodation of new development. It’s an opportunity for considered solutions and a change in the status quo that can potentially benefit all users.
The flagstone problem isn’t exclusive to cyclists. My late wife used a wheelchair and she absolutely hated them.
No good for roller blades, skateboards or just about anything else either.
Thanks for sharing Gord! It’s worth nothing that Law Firms, Marketing Groups, Business Improvement Associations, and Residential Developers have been enthusiastically sharing this wish list on social media. The times they are indeed a-changin’.
The biggest problem is the long blind corner / curve from Charleson Park to Leg-in-Boot Square – if you can see oncoming users, then there’s less risk of a conflict.
A physical separation (and necessary widening) and trimming of the bushes would be of great benefit there.
I like the list!
Water Street in Gastown should not have cars on it at all. It should be a mixed bike/ped street.