Time may be running out for metered parking behind the Vancouver General Hospital.

Vancouver city council will vote Tuesday (May 16) on a proposal to replace the parking spots with separated bike lanes.

The raised and unidirectional bike lanes are planned to be installed on both sides of West 10^th Avenue between Oak and Cambie streets.

The area is also known as the health precinct because of the concentration of health facilities.

Based on figures provided by staff to council, a total of 75 metered parking spaces will be lost.

To accommodate people with disabilities, at least 11 spots will be created for metered disability parking.

Passenger loading zones will also be installed or improved to allow people to get on and off vehicles.

“To reduce conflicts between people driving in and out of these passenger zones and people biking through the corridor, the protected bike lane would be built between the passenger zone and the sidewalk,” director of transportation Lon LaClaire wrote in his report to council.

According to LaClaire, this design is “based on design best practices and reflects the approach taken in several other cities as well as at several of Vancouver’s existing protected bike lanes at passenger loading zones and bus stops”.

LaClaire informed council that the overall redesign of West 10^th Avenue has been endorsed by the Vancouver Coast Health, Vancouver General Hospital, and the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), which is responsible for the B.C. Cancer Agency and B.C. Cancer Research Centre.

In his report, LaClaire suggested supporting PHSA to develop a surface parking lot at the northwest corner of 10^th Avenue and Ash Street, which will have at least 116 parking spaces.

West 10^th Avenue has an existing bike route.

According to LaClaire, people surveyed by the city indicated that they are not comfortable biking through the health precinct on West 10^th Avenue because there are many cars and delivery trucks.

“Thus, to improve the safety and comfort for people biking through the precinct, staff propose creating separate space for people biking from that of people driving,” LaClaire wrote in his report.

The director of transportation noted that West 10^th Avenue gets around 4,500 vehicles and 3,000 bikes on busy days, in addition to people on walking trips, deliveries, ambulances, HandyDART trips, and hospital transfers.

LaClaire told council that installing a protected bike lane on the existing bike route will "alleviate many existing safety concerns related to people walking, biking, and driving along 10^th Avenue”.