Bike lanes on Henderson Road, just south of the University of Victoria, will continue to turn into parking spaces at night and on weekends.
The painted bike lanes are for cyclists’ use from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and become parking space the rest of the day and on weekends. Oak Bay council voted 4-3 Monday evening to maintain the status quo, rejecting a proposal by Coun. Carrie Smart to give cyclists full-time use of the bike lanes.
Smart said many residents had told her they feel unsafe having to swerve around vehicles in the evenings and on weekends, and she was proposing a quick, low-cost change to support active transportation.
Long-time Oak Bay resident David Leach said he feels frustrated by watching council “drag their feet on this obvious issue.”
“Having watched Oak Bay council kick the can on this over the years, unfortunately it doesn’t come as a surprise,” he said Tuesday.
Leach was one of several who spoke to council in favour of making the change, telling councillors he has biked the route about 1,000 times on his way to work at the University of Victoria, but he thinks twice about riding during the hours when cars can park in the bike lane, and he worries about his son riding the route to his weekend job at Henderson Recreation Centre.
Residents on Henderson have previously expressed concerns about not being able to park on the street.
Coun. Lesley Watson, who supported the proposal, said she had counted how many off-street parking spaces the affected properties have, finding an average of more than five spaces per house. “What we force cyclists to do along this stretch from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and on weekends, is akin, in my view, to closing the sidewalk along the same stretch and forcing pedestrians to detour into the [road]. We would not permit this for pedestrians, and we should not permit it for cyclists either,” Watson said.
Smart said Tuesday she was disappointed the proposal didn’t move forward. “I had hoped council would recognize this is a low-cost and time-effective way to support those who cycle and those who are considering cycling as a mode of transportation,” she said.
There appeared to be an appetite for change from the majority of councillors, but those who voted against the proposal were concerned about the process.
Coun. Hazel Braithwaite said during council discussions she thinks the bike lanes on Henderson Road will eventually turn into full-time bike lanes, but there are other more pressing priorities facing the district.
“In my humble opinion, it is a very wide corridor that, at this moment in time, is safe and could continue to be safe for travel for the next year or so, until we get everything else set in place for the work we want to do on the master active transportation plan,” she said.
The Henderson project is part of a broader discussion around improvements to roads and it will be considered as part of budget discussions.
“So, the question was do we pull it out and do it separately as a low-hanging fruit, so to speak?” said Mayor Kevin Murdoch, who voted against the proposal. “There was some concern raised that if we start going in and picking these apart and don’t let staff manage these, we may end up hurting the process of getting them all done.”
There were also concerns about ensuring meaningful consultation, Murdoch said.
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