City of Vancouver proposes separated bike lane on Cornwall Avenue and Point Grey Road
The City of Vancouver is seeking public input on a proposal to install a separated bike lane on Point Grey Road and Cornwall Avenue, as well as close parts of Point Grey Road to cars, in Kitsilano.
The first open house on the Point Grey Road-Cornwall Avenue Corridor Active Transportation Project took place today (January 29) at the Maritime Museum. Two more open houses are scheduled, at Queen Mary Elementary School on January 31 and Kitsilano Community Centre on February 2.
According to the city website, the project aims to create “a safe, convenient and comfortable connection for pedestrians and cyclists between Burrard Bridge and Jericho Beach”.
Electronic copies of the display boards for the open house show one of the “ideas” being floated is the separation of cyclists from traffic on Point Grey Road and Cornwall Avenue.
Another idea: “Close sections of Point Grey Road, extend park space across road, creating a local street.”
Improvements for pedestrians and cyclists on the West 3rd Avenue local street bikeway and the introduction of a “cycling facility” on York Avenue are also being considered.
The maps on the display boards allude to the possibility of extending the seawall along the Point Grey foreshore, west of Kitsilano Beach.
City hall is suggesting the realignment of the Burrard Street and Cornwall Avenue intersection at the southwest end of the Burrard Bridge, so pedestrians and cyclists would have “shorter and fewer crossings”.
The possible realignment would “maintain the same number of lanes on and off the bridge and maintain all motor vehicle movements”, a display board states.







Separated bike lanes on Cornwall is the best option to encourage people of all ages to cycle. Bike routes should be obvious and direct. If not, many people will either miss the turn onto York or just decide take the shorter route and battle the traffic. Either way, a lot of people will still cycle along Cornwall. York is also much hillier increasing effort and increasing the risk of injury when riding downhill.
This is a terribly dangerous road for bikes, and the alternative for bikers is so hilly that most - not me - won't opt for it.
I see Vision is at it again with the war on cars. Anything at all to make it uncomfortable to drive a vehicle... manufacturing congestion.
But the main question is:
"Is it acceptable to turn a public, arterial road into a private access road for local residents and fringe lobbyists?"
Some might cringe at "fringe" but the facts are clear:
3.2km - An average BC cylists rides 3.2km per trip (according to BC Cycling coalition) - that does not even get them to downtown from PGR and Blenheim.
5% - percentage of cyclist commuters on Burrard Br - same as in mid-1990's
1% - percentage of cyclist commuters to UBC - down from 3% in 1997
70,000 folks a day commute to UBC and many folks in this area of the West Side drive to or thru downtown to work. Make vehicle traffic more efficient and reduce pollution.
One more time, build a City for UBC students and staff on the Endowment Lands for 50 - 60,000 and this will reduce vehicle traffic. This way there will also be no need for a Billion Dollar Skytrain down West Broadway.
But Parks Board members were intimidated by and caved to 200 vocal, wealthy property owners on Cornwall who didn't want to lose their "private" waterfront.
If a new bike lane on Cornwall takes away their street parking now, this is almost funny.
If you recall, though, the original seawall proposal came about only because of one wealthy property owner who offered to pay for the extension--reportedly in an attempt to reduce the flow of traffic past his palatial home.
Pt. Grey Road is very narrow. It and Cornwall provide through access to Jericho and Spanish Banks and residences in the Kitsilano and Point Grey areas. You've screwed up the downtown royally. How much more chaos do you want to create? A number of downtown streets now have 4 to 5 traffic signals, some red, some green, all at the same time. One doesn't know what the hell they're supposed to do: stop, go, move sideways, takeoff or disappear. The sign contractor must be a multi millionaire by now. Get you heads out of thin air and get a grip on reality!