Victoria councillors gave the go-ahead Thursday to the next stage of the city’s protected cycling network that includews a 3.3-kilometre stretch along Vancouver Street.
The work will essentially complete a downtown loop of bike lanes that run east to west on Pandora Avenue and Fort Street, and north to south along Wharf Street.
Councillors also approved the design of two-way protected bike lanes on the water side of Harbour Road from the Johnson Street Bridge to the Galloping Goose Trail, as well as shared-roadway improvements to 1.3 kilometres of Graham and Jackson streets from Bay Street to Tolmie Avenue.
Construction is expect to begin this fall at a cost of $6.6 million.
“The impact will be seamless and safe connections for people coming to and from the downtown,” Mayor Lisa Helps said in an interview. “It will make it easier for people to move on bicycle — once the Harbour Road connection is made -— all the way, essentially, from Saanich into Fairfield.
“If you’re coming along the [Galloping] Goose, across the bridge, along Wharf, up Humboldt, right into Vancouver — you’ll be able to go from Saanich to Fairfield, and that’s just one example, in a safe, all-ages-and-abilties network.”
The stretch on Vancouver Street will include 1.3 kilometres of separated bike lanes between Balmoral Road and Meares Street, while the design of the remaining two kilometres — from Bay Street to Balmoral Road to the north and from Meares Street to Park Boulevard and Park to Dallas Road — will mostly focus on traffic diversion and traffic calming.
The idea is to divert motor-vehicle traffic off Vancouver and onto either Quadra Street or Cook Street.
The plan calls for a number of changes to those streets, including a traffic circle and improved pedestrian crossing at Southgate and Cook streets.
Coun. Geoff Young, who voted in opposition, said there was a lot in the staff report that he supported, but he expressed concern about a number of aspects, including the proposed traffic circle.
“I’m not sure it’s required even with slightly higher volumes on Cook Street,” he said. “In general, I don’t feel that they’re pedestrian friendly.”
He also questioned some of the traffic-diversion tactics, particularly the decision to require northbound motor vehicle traffic on Vancouver to make a detour at Pandora before continuing northward.
“I’m wondering if they’re all necessary or will evoke some considerable opposition,” he said of the diversions. “People might feel, as automobile drivers, that the city is being unreasonable in terms of these diversions.”
Helps, however, was glad to see things moving forward.
“At this point, we’ve given staff marching orders to finish the network by 2022 and the reason for that is that the sooner we get it built, the sooner we’ll have more people, more safe on our roadways,” she said.
“We’re starting to see an uptake in cycling by people who hadn’t previously been on bikes. We’re seeing way more kids than we ever have downtown. Sales of electric bikes to seniors at local bike shops is going through the roof.
“So we want to make sure that as those seniors and as those kids get out on their bikes, that they’re safe, not just when they’re riding in the downtown, but when they’re riding throughout the city.”
She added that the city stands to benefit by tendering three non-adjacent corridors at the same time as one project.
“We won’t have contractors stopping and starting,” she said. “They’ll be able to bid on the entire project and we should see some efficiencies and cost-saving there.”
