Oak Bay council, which has been criticized by cyclists for lack of bike lanes in the municipality, has agreed to move to a design phase for east-west and north-south bikeways.
The projects are proposed as neighbourhood bikeways, rather than protected bike lanes, and will involve mostly pavement markings, signs and changes to intersections, a staff report said.
Council voted unanimously Monday to direct staff to start working on detailed design of a bikeway connecting Oak Bay Avenue to bike lanes on a northern section of Henderson Road near the University of Victoria, and a Haultain-Estevan bikeway from an existing route on Haultain/Kings to the north side of Willows Beach.
The second route will include Estevan Village.
The design will focus on changes to help cyclists safely cross some of the busier intersections, such as Henderson and Lansdowne, Haultain and Foul Bay, and Haultain and Eastdowne.
The cost of designing the two projects is estimated at around $50,000, the report said.
Mayor Kevin Murdoch said the projects are considered “quick wins” in the municipality’s active transportation plan, because the design is relatively straightforward. The plan also includes improvements to sidewalks and accessibility.
The goal is to implement the bikeway routes within the next two and a half years, he said.
Cyclists and advocates have been organizing bike rides to the municipal hall in recent weeks to push for safe cycling routes in the municipality. Last week, about 50 people took part in a ride from UVic to the municipal hall.
Murdoch said council is trying to bring forward safe bike infrastructure while balancing the needs of all road users.
“There was no debate here about, you know, should we have bike infrastructure. That wasn’t the conversation,” he said.
Design work is underway on a proposed bikeway on McNeill Avenue, connecting Foul Bay Road to Windsor Park, and will be presented to council next week.
Corey Burger, policy and infrastructure chair at Capital Bike, said he’s hopeful the projects will continue to move forward, but he’s watched other projects in the municipality go to the design phase without being built.
Burger said the most significant change at the meeting Monday was to make an all ages and abilities design the default for bike projects going forward.
Monday’s vote at committee of the whole will go to council next week for approval.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
