Today’s award is in the Biggest Transportation Event Category. And that award goes to the Burrard Bridge Rehabilitation Project which gives back pedestrian space on both sides of the bridge for walkers, and provides a safer seamless trip for cyclists too.
Price Tags Vancouver has been pretty excited about this project, which truly represents the 21st century approach to active transportation and safe travel for all modes. We covered the Burrard Bridge opening and talked about the new/old lights and how they work. We had Burrard Bridge backstories and talked about how cyclists access and egress the bridge. We had a Burrard Bridge photo montage and generally talked about all things Burrard Bridge.
In the words of the CBC about the 58 million dollar project;
“Pedestrians will once again be welcomed to the east sidewalk, which many chose to use despite it being a dedicated bike lane in recent years. Major changes on the downtown end of the bridge include new cycling turning boxes, vehicle turning lanes and protection for pedestrians and cyclists in the intersection.
Part of the bridge has been widened to accommodate a second right-turn lane onto Pacific Street, and right-hand turning lanes were added to allow vehicles to more easily flow onto the bridge when travelling eastbound on Pacific. The art deco Burrard Street Bridge was constructed in the early 1930’s. The city made efforts to ensure the concrete barriers that separate vehicles from cycling lanes were designed to match the heritage style…
The plan, approved two years ago, included additional sewer and water upgrades on both ends of the bridge, which the city said were estimated to cost an additional $23 million — bringing the project’s total to $58 million.”
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Reblogged this on Sandy James Planner.
Yes it is a nice new bridge with less car lanes and more bike lanes. It summarizes well what the focus is in Vancouver.
No new subways, bridges or tunnels, or even rapid bus lanes to actually move people efficiently throughout the region. That would be too expensive and politically far too difficult.
More bikes lanes and less car lanes THAT is the new Vancouver.
May they eat cake in (while they bike here from) N-Van, W-Van, S-Van, E-Van, Surrey, Burnaby, Delta etc ..
You are half right. There is one fewer car lane. But there are no additional bike lanes on the bridge. Just two, the same as before. What is new is a doubling of the sidewalks. Pedestrians win, and rightly so.
Thomas, if you can’t get the basics right, there is little chance people will listen to the rest of your message.
Also, the bike lane and sidewalks were a super minor part of the overall project. Of note is the total rework of the Burrard/Pacific intersection which was the least safe in all of Vancouver and now is vastly improved. The planning took several years and involved advanced research techniques. True, there is now one less car lane, but there is now one extra sidewalk. Also, suggest that motor vehicle trip times remain unchanged and may actually have improved. This is a win-win-win all around.
I agree that this project is a great choice for receiving the Gordie.Congratulations CoV for a job well done!
Editor’s Note: There is not an extra sidewalk for pedestrians. It is returning the sidewalk that used to be repurposed for cyclists as a bike lane on the bridge. Pedestrians now are able to walk on both sides of the bridge again. Everyone is happy. It is a happy story.
I don’t have the numbers at hand, but I wouldn’t be surprised if removing one lane of traffic still doesn’t equate to the proportionate decrease in traffic experienced in downtown over the last 20 years.
Many kudos.
This is probably one of the best projects of any city in the continent. A complicated project with multiple demands. The timing of the sewer replacement fit in perfectly with some other things and the chance to finally improve things for driving and walking over the bridge. There is no improvement for cycling on the bridge itself but there is an improvement at the intersection and north along Burrard.
Fixing dangerous parts of a city’s infrastructure is what a good city does. Bravo to them for this well designed improvement.