The Vancouver Area Cycling
Coalition (VACC)
David Pritchard (drpritch [at]
gmail.com)
Summary
The City of Vancouver approved the Downtown Transportation Plan (DTP) in
July, 2002. The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition has been involved with the
plan over the past several years, and hosted a number of rides of proposed
new cyclist routes in the downtown area. This document summarises the sections
of the DTP that are relevant for cyclists, and includes the VACC's comments
on the routes, in a format useful to a technical audience. It also describes
progress on the design and construction of each route since the approval
of the plan.
Latest News
- Jul. 2006: A Pender/Adanac connector concept was approved by council,
after going to the Bicycle Network Subcommittee for a design check. Going
westbound, it will follow Expo Boulevard and then north up Abbott St. to
Pender. Going eastbound, it will go south on Carrall St., east on Keefer,
south on Columbia and then connect to Adanac.
- Jun. 2006: The Dunsmuir bicycle lane and
the Chilco and Cardero
bikeways were built. The Dunsmuir lane was approved just two months earlier,
while the others had been approved in February 2005. The Carrall Greenway was approved by council, at a high
price tag but with an appealing, attractive design.
- Apr. 2006: City council chose the "enhance existing" option for the
redesign of downtown Granville St..
Of the options considered by staff, this matches the VACC's preference,
although better designs were not considered. A letter showing our
position is available by following the link. The Richards St. bicycle lane was built, one year
after its approval. The Pender bicycle route,
while taken to an open house in November 2005, now appears to have been
put on the shelf until after the Canada Line is built.
- Dec. 2005: The Burrard
Bridge trial lane reallocation project was cancelled by the new
council, but design on the outward widening proceeds.
- Nov. 2005:
The Pender St. stakeholder group formed to
discuss one-way conversions on Pender (Burrard to Cambie) met again.
- Oct. 2005: An open house was held for a commercial centre under the
Granville Bridge, between
Beach Ave. and Pacific Blvd. Reconstruction of Pacific
between Seymour and Richards is expected by summer 2006. We'll keep
watching for impacts on the bicycle network.
- Sep. 2005: The 2006-2008
capital plan has been approved.
While the plan suggests a 40% increase in cycling funding from the
2003-2005 plan, it is a far cry from the increase requested by the
VACC.
- Aug. 2005: The Burrard St. bicycle lane was
built. It seems the city changed some of the striping at the last minute,
though! Hopefully we can fix that when they colour the lane next
spring.
- Jul. 2005: The City approved the Haro/Nicola
bicycle route, after changes to the route in May, and also approved the West End Bicycle-Friendly Streets changes.
- Jun. 2005: The Hornby St. bike route
was built, more than a year after its approval.
- May 2005: The
Homer St. and Beatty
St. bicycle lanes were built.
- Apr. 2005: The Carrall St.
design concept was approved by council, and design will start shortly.
The VACC sent a letter
[PDF
| [HTML] regarding the design.
- Mar. 2005: An open house was held for several
lanes, including a possible Robson St. bicycle
lane.
- June 2004: Ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held for the Georgia St., Pacific
Blvd. and Expo Blvd. routes, which
opened during the past year.
- Jun. 2003: The City has approved an Implementation Plan for the Downtown
Transportation Plan.
The expected construction date is shown in parentheses.
North-South Routes
East-West Routes
Feedback
Do you have any comments on the DTP, or the proposed routes? Please e-mail
your thoughts to David Pritchard (drpritch [at] gmail.com, replace [at] with
@), and they will be incorporated into this document.
