cycle-lane-paris
Like London, Paris is now building fast bike lanes free of motorized vehicles, as mentioned in this article from City Lab. Last year the first part of this network opened along the Bassin de l’Arsenal, part of the Reseau express velo (REVe).  “Reve” means “dream” in French, and such a separated bike system in a city known for its traffic and complexity will be welcomed. The Mayor Anne Hidalgo has stressed the importance of an active and pollution free city in her bid for the 2024 Olympic Games. The intent is to have 45 kilometers of bike lanes free of motorized vehicles in place across Paris by 2020. Remember this is Paris-with lots of traffic, and a pretty dense urban form.
Paris has just been awarded the World Wildlife Fund’s Global Earth Hour Capital 2016 for their leadership in banning older polluting cars, extending public transportation and implementing a review process through a centralized Climate Agency to ensure goals of sustainability are met for current and future citizens.
If we were to create the same separated bicycle highways in Vancouver outside of the downtown and Seaside Greenway, what streets should they be located on, and how would they be prioritized? Would we use the existing bikeway network, remove some parking and install barriers? Would the first priority be strengthening dedicated fast bike lane connections to and from SkyTrain and Canada Line stations? Or do we look at Greenways,  that network of 140 kilometers of street that are for pedestrian and bicycle users ahead of motorized traffic as the dedicated fast bike streets of the future?
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  1. An excellent question, Sandy. There is no reason why we can’t do it.
    I do think we should clarify the term fast bike lane, or bicycle highway. Germany uses the term Bike Autobahn. Denmark is building Cycle Super Highways. Paris is talking about fast track bike lanes in the linked article. All of these can evoke the image of motor vehicle highway speeds, but in reality the routes are about separation from motorists, improved intersection treatments with fewer requirements to stop and start, passing opportunities for people on bikes to overtake slower bikes, and so on. They are still designed for typical bike speeds. They are faster because of the reduced number of stops, more than anything.
    Where we should build them in Vancouver needs to recognize that some routes are slow speed routes (eg along the seawall), some are to access high street destinations (Commercial Drive, Main Street), and some are connector routes (Kent Ave, Hudson). Some serve multiple purposes (10th Ave Bikeway, Adanac Bikeway).
    The Vancouver UBC Local Committee of HUB Cycling has catalogued improvement opportunities for cycling infrastructure, as have other HUB local committees throughout Metro. In Vancouver, we are focusing on Safe Routes to Places that Matter. That is prioritizing transportation routes, and is designed to get more people cycling, more often. We use assessment tools to prioritize. Our current priorities for Vancouver UBC (not in order) are:
    * Pacific Blvd, Expo Blvd, the Georgia Ramp, Quebec St, and the new Active Bridge, all related to removal of the viaducts
    * Kent Avenue from Boundary Rd to Granville St
    * South West Marine Drive from Granville to UBC (CoV portions being improved now)
    * The Pender Corridor from the Dunsmuir separated lane to Stanley Park (specific route TBD)
    * Main Street, from 37th Ave to 5th Ave
    * The Powell St. Corridor from Water St. to Lakewood (specific route TBD)
    * The 10th Avenue Bike Route from Trafalgar to Victoria Drive (CoV design work underway)
    * North West Marine Drive along Spanish Banks and up to UBC (two jurisdictions, CoV and MoTI)
    * Commercial Drive
    * The Granville Bridge, including a new Greenway
    * Kingsway
    These priority routes are shown on the map below in red, with other routes requiring improvements shown in purple.
    http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q367/jcleigh/Posts/HUB%20Vancouver%20UBC%20Priority%20Cycling%20Route%20Gaps_zpssr41r0ke.jpg
    There are a lot more Vancouver routes that need improvement, including routes outside the downtown peninsula and connecting to other municipalities and to UBC, but these are the ones we are focusing on now.

    1. So where do you propose the industrial sector along Kent ave should relocate to? Surrey? Or should they just figure out a way to move multi-ton goods and equipment without trucks? Perhaps it’s best to just build condos instead…

      1. I think it is more important to keep all the lanes open on SE Marine Drive than on Kent. There is far more truck traffic there, and SE Marine is the alternate.
        To complete the bike route along Kent, it will be important to consider the needs of that industrial sector, but there are ways to do it. What I would try and reduce along Kent are the vehicles using it as a short cut instead of SE Marine.

        1. Having worked in a light industrial operation on Kent until recently, I can tell you that there is heavy truck traffic all day, and it’s not trucks avoiding SE Marine, it’s trucks moving stuff in and out of the industrial facilities along Kent. Sure, there are lots of cars as well, which is a mix of people avoiding SE Marine, and people getting to where they’re going on Kent.
          So, to punish those short-cutters, we should compromise the last industrial neighbourhood in Vancouver. Sounds sensible. Better all those dirty jobs in Surrey, and that will also keep the working-class riff-raff out of Vancouver…

        2. I don’t think the goal should be to punish truck operators. There are ways of improving the situation without doing so.
          Here is but one example. How many of those trucks are picking up at one end of Kent, and delivering to the other end? I don’t have a count, but I suspect it is a relatively small number. Work could be done to find out. If there was no ability to run the entire length of Kent in one direction in a motor vehicle, then the short cutters would revert back to SE Marine, leaving more room on Kent itself for those essential trucks. And improving the road for other users.
          Here is another example. Kent has both north and south alignments, either side of the railway tracks. While the alignments are narrower than standard ROW widths in many places, the fact that there are two of them creates opportunities. Separated bike paths have been built on the south alignment along several stretches, just not continuously. Would joining them up punish truck operators?
          There are ways to improve things while respecting all road users. Then we could reduce instances like this truck overtaking three cyclists along Kent (the camera was on the front bike). I don’t think it was the truck that felt punished.
          http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q367/jcleigh/Posts/IMG_3524_zps87ytfgvz.jpg

        3. We should also consider that the industrial sector along Kent employs people who may want to use a bicycle to get to and from work, whether to home or to the Skytrain station at Cambie. The DVBIA talks about the importance of cycling infrastructure for attracting and keeping employees. Good lessons. Positioning it as jobs vs active transportation infrastructure is unnecessary, and harmful to both interests.

  2. I would add the Central Valley completion and a general upgrade of the CVG This is a very popular route, but the western end is yet to be completed and now consists of a detour along Great Northern Way between and 1st Ave. The completion would require a bridge over the tracks and a cycling highway to connect directly to the new Active Bridge up to Dunsmuir.
    I envision a cycling highway along the Arbutus corridor which would require either a very wide path (5-6m) or separate paths for high and low speed bike riders. I believe that such a facility could easily accommodate more people than a streetcar system and would also be faster. At the north end we need safe and direct connections to Burrard Bridge and Granville Bridge greenway. Cycling highway should extend southward to Blaine and the Tswawwassen Ferry.
    Could add a cycling highway from North Van, across IWMB and along a Portside Cycling Highway to downtown.
    Cycling Highway along entire length of Kinsway.
    With e-bikes, these cycling highways could become very busy and could easily become a major mode of transportation.

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