What can be done – quickly – to solve the problem illustrated in the post below: unsafe crowding, as walkers, runners, dog walkers, cyclists and rollers of all kinds try to maintain respectful distance on the narrow Seaside pathway through Hadden and Kitsilano Parks?
We already know what to do. We did it on Beach Avenue:
The Beach Flow Way takes the pressure off the seawall, giving those on feet room to pass so the runners can keep safe distance from the walkers by using the bike lane. And the cyclists have room to sort themselves out on the two traffic lanes taken on Beach. The athletes in their pelotons and the families with their kids can share the same flow way in both directions, in a comfortably defined space distinct from the west-bound vehicle traffic.
It was cheap to do, and it’s largely self-policing.
And we can do it in Kitsilano:
Ogden-Maple-McNicoll-Arbutus-Cornwall is a missing link to connect Vanier Park with the Point Grey Road greenway. It requires no more expense or effort than Beach Avenue.
I get that the ugly politics of the original bikeway proposal and the polished resistance of Kits Points residents has made the Park Board gunshy. And there has been considerable ongoing effort and consultation among the stakeholders, hoping to come to a satisfactory resolution.
But there’s a pandemic going on. There’s no excuse for inaction.
“Essential thinking” (we need more of this.)
Also, we do still have commuters to and from Kits & downtown, for essential services and our eventual, gradual emergence from lock-down. So Ogden amounts to a detour – granted a world-class detour, the jewel within the jewel of the crown, and one that makes no sense to continue to ignore. But, for both greater efficiency and to make up for any reduction in services to the #2 bus, it seems logical to rebalance road space along Cornwall from to Cypress. This would also connect this key spur in the transportation network to downtown and the Arbutus corridor.
I would support putting a protected temporary lane along Cornwall from Cypress to Balsam.
I am not clear on what the benefit would be of putting one all along the Kits Park boundary. The streets are already calm there. If all those people in the photo wanted to be on the street, they already would be. The south parking lot should be opened up to cycling, as it is part of the Seaside Bypass route currently.
It would be good to see some temporary lanes in other parts of Vancouver for the benefit of local residents.
that seems the exact right thing to do and as always been!
Jeff this is ashort term activation to bypass the kits park hadden park bikke way nimbys from last year.