City staff recommend $2 million to design Burrard Bridge rehabilitation, which will include permanent cycling barriers
This temporary concrete slab could be history if council votes to spend $2 million on designing a Burrard Bridge rehabilitation that will include permanent barriers.
Vancouver council will soon decide whether to support city manager Penny Ballem's recommendation to spend $2 million on designing a rehabilitation of the Burrard Bridge. Part of the plan will include permanent cycling barriers.
A report by assistant city engineer Jerry Dobrovolny goes to council's planning and environment committee on Thursday (July 8).
"Permanently installed barriers could consume less road space and be more aesthetically compatible with the bridge than the existing pre-cast concrete barriers," Dobrovolny wrote in the report.
He noted that the existing bike lane on the west side of the bridge could be widened.
Dobrovolny also wrote that the east sidewalk, which is used by northbound cyclists, provides "insufficient width" for passing over much of the bridge because the precast barriers have reduced the amount of space.
"Reconstruction in a permanent form may provide an opportunity to address this weakness," he added.
The money to pay for the design work would come from two sources. The "2010 closeout" of the 2006-2008 capital plan would provide $800,000, and the remaining $1.2 million has already been preapproved for cycling improvements in 2011.
The bridge is nearly 80 years old and there have been reports of chunks falling off the structure.
"This report seeks Council's approval to retain consultants to complete the design of permanent separated cycling paths on the Burrard Bridge in coordination with needed rehabilitation of the bridge," Dobrovolny wrote.
According to the report, this rehabilitation will include the complete replacement of the parapet railing, expansion joint replacements, deck testing and delamination survey, sidewalk testing, and sidewalk overlay design.
In addition, reconstruction will include restoration of concrete on the underside, localized bridge strengthening, electrical upgrades, and improvements to accessing the underside of the bridge.
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Comments
What value do the engineers at the COV provide if they have to sub-contract engineering services, then sit back and collect their very generous paychecks to "supervise the work"? I'm very disappointed at the type of people who we employ as engineers. They seem to lack any backbone and are easily manipulated by politics.
The correct solution is to spend the $63 million for a dedicated bridge rather than to waste another $2 million on a makeshift upgrade reducing bridge capacity and increasing GHG emissions. We have plenty of elected politicians at the COV and don't need our engineers pandering to them for brownie points.
I'm running out of jokes, time to get these lunatics out of city hall.
Dave
This has increased my travel time by 15%, and as a result, my GHG emissions have increased by 15%, too. Does anyone at the City of Vancouver know what he or she is talking about when he or she spouts off about how the bike lane is making Vancouver Green?
My BMW is more efficient then most cars..shouldnt the city pay me to own one?
Improving cycling safety also benefits drivers. Remember, when there is a crash, traffic can be backed up for hours.
Enjoy the fascist undemocratic implementation of bicycle paraphernalia for a tiny vocal minority at the cost of the majority (and the environment) while you can lefties, because it sure as hell won't last forever.
The article title is very misleading, and some commenters here seem to have just gone by the title instead of reading the whole article. Near the bottom of the article it points out that the $2M includes non-cycling upgrades such as, "complete replacement of the parapet railing, expansion joint replacements, deck testing and delamination survey, sidewalk testing, and sidewalk overlay design."
It really is a good idea to spend money on cycling infrastructure, since only 0.5% of Vancouver's pavement is exclusively for cyclists, yet cyclists account for 4% of travel trips. It's time that all Vancouver taxpayers get a decent return on the taxes they pay.
And now they want to use our hard earned money on making the joke look prettier.
Screw this. Tax revolt.
Not sure why, if they are intent on making this permanent, they don't cut the west bike lane in half & add an east side lane. You don't need 12' to pass on a bike & maybe bikers might just have to be patient just like drivers when traffic backs up. But, then that will cost $3M to $4M, where will those $s come from?
How much is the premature failure repair caused by the concentrated weight of the concrete barriers to the underside of the bridge costing? And, I suspect this spalling will not stop quite so neatly just by removing the weight. That's not the way structures work.
And everyone who's taken advantage of the dedicated lane and chosen to ride rather than drive has reduced their emissions by 100%. Is there a reason you can't do the same, oh great Greener than Green (which must be really, really green despite driving downtown from Point Grey every day)?
You could actually do some research before posting so you would know what you are talking about. Capital plan funding of around $30 million has been approved in previous capital plans put forward by previous NPA councils for Burrard Bridge Rehabilitation and Cycling and Pedestrian Upgrades.
As you should know, this capital funding can't be used for operational expenses such as the "Bloedel & Farmyard". The rehabilitation has been delayed for years by NPA indecision. It is great that Vision has shown real leadership and is proceeding with badly needed maintenance and cycling safety improvements on the bridge. Or would you rather the bridge fall apart. That would be bad for motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and maybe even an unlucky sailor or two.
Also note that 20% of Vancouver residents cycled over Burrard Bridge in the month after the trial started and I have noticed far more children cycling over the bridge. Around 50% of Vancouver residents cycle at least once a year.
All and all, this seems like a wise investment.
Build a darn cycling bridge: it isn't that hard or expensive. Tax TransLink for ruining our lungs with its stinking soot blowing diesel buses to pay for the cycling bridge.
The problem is that the provincial government, who is responsible for health care and schools is wasting billions of dollars on highway and bridge expansion for cars.
Improving bicycle facilities reduces health car costs by helping people stay fit, reducing crashes and injuries and reducing pollution. Cities all around the world are investing in cycling. Portland, for example, is planning on spending $600 million over 20 years.
Charlie Smith
Check out the bridge some day. There are very few cyclists.
Motor vehicle drivers must also feel more comfortable knowing that they no longer have to give way to cyclists in the motor lanes.
The $2 million for this work quoted in the news article seems high for simply upgrading the Jersey barriers with something more aesthetic. We wonder if part of the $2m quoted also covers the repairs to the parapets and underside of the bridge. Otherwise, maybe best to keep the existing barriers until such time as the northbound cycle lane gets moved onto the asphalt, freeing up the east sidewalk for increased pedestrian use.
The majority of people driving downtown come from out of town. Many come from places that are virtually inaccessible by transit services. Bicycles are only viable for short range commutes. There's a reason society moved away from horses and bicycles as transit solutions.
What next? An old age home for chickens?
Chickens can spread viruses... I bet my house that the city does not have a disaster and contingency plan when we do have a health crisis spread and started through raising chickens before they allowed it.
We are not world class ... not even close ... look at Tokyo, Taipei, etc.. now that's world class... everything is efficient (transit, logical processes, etc.) and people there have common sense ... just travel there and you'll find the same.
That is simply not true. The majority of people using the bridge live in Vancouver. According to Statscan, 50% of Vancouver residents commute 5km or less to work, a distance that is an easy bike ride. Again, according to Statscan, around 10% of people in Kits and Point Grey commuted by bike in 2006. With the improvements to the bridge, this percentage has likely increased.
For people in Richmond and Delta, there is a brand new $2 billion rapid transit line that many of them are already using. In fact, traffic on all the False Creek Bridges is down since the Canada Line opened.
As far as transit goes, the provincial government is not providing the needed funding for expansion and instead wasting billions on roads and bridges. You might want to get after the premier on this one.
Diesel buses are loud and disruptive to the community, cars aren't.
Diesel buses emit toxic emission levels to foul ambient air, cars don't to any extent.
Transit is welfare; transit users only pay 30% of their fare, drivers pay 100% of their costs and subsidize transit users on top of that.
Cars aren't the problem in this city, TransLink is for its obscene use of diesel buses. If transit users weren't so lazy, maybe more would cycle.
The cycling lobby including Chris Van Ihinger and Richard C. is strong and powerful, flaming all comments which oppose the stupid makeshift bike lane across Burrard Bridge. What are the little kids to do when the they cross the Burrard Bridge to face the Mickey Mouse bike lanes separating cars with a painted lines on the roads? Again, do it right of don't do anything at all.
Finally, if the COV doesn't have the money to build proper bike lanes, wait until it does. Obviously, the COV has plenty of employees with plenty of time to kill to flame non-flattering comments on the stupidity of the Burrard Bridge bike lane, too.
Regarding transit, I'm a big fan of electric trains and buses.
Yes, we need separated lanes everywhere for children and everyone else for that matter. The City is planning separated bike lanes on Burrard or Hornby Street downtown to connect the Bridge to the Seaside Path. Never hurts to send them an email encouraging them to do more separated lanes faster.
It was posted above and deserves reposting (thanks to the OP):
Watch the level of ridership in real time: http://www.katkam.ca/
How many riders do you see?
So what. katkam only takes pictures of a small portion of the bridge every five minutes. On many of the pictures there are not any cars either yet there are 50,000 going over the bridge everyday. Go out and count the cyclists to see for yourself. There were certainly lots during rush hour today.
Here is a link to the counts: http://vancouver.ca/projects/burrard/statistics.htm
and a spreadsheet with the daily counts: http://vancouver.ca/projects/burrard/documents/stats_burrard_bridge_2009...
The problem is that the provincial government, who is responsible for health care and schools is wasting billions of dollars on highway and bridge expansion for cars.
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Nonsense.
Rod Smelser
As far as transit goes, the provincial government is not providing the needed funding for expansion and instead wasting billions on roads and bridges.
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No.
Rod Smelser
A load of hard left dingbats get into council, next thing you know half the infrastructure is reserved for people who only bother using it for a few weeks a year. The vast majority who complain?
Why, they're just the unwashed taxpayers... what do they know?