More than 600 North Shore residents are hoping to pull the brakes on part of a bike lane project on Mount Seymour Parkway.
North Vancouver resident Cheryl Atchison created a petition mid-July calling for the removal of a concrete barrier, installed by the District of North Vancouver in June to increase separation between cyclists and drivers.
The barriers are part of a larger project the district has introduced to improve the safety of the highway. In May, council also approved a reduction in the speed limit on Mount Seymour Parkway from 60 kilometres per hour to 50 km/h.
Atchison argued the barriers pose more of a safety hazard to both cyclists and drivers than the empty highway did before. Since being installed, the barrier has been hit by drivers travelling the highway, she said, and the narrowed lanes make it difficult for emergency vehicles to squeeze through traffic.
“I have two older parents that live in the area. My dad has had medical issues in the last few years, and watching the traffic on that parkway just made me think, what if an ambulance couldn’t get to him on time?” she said.
The barriers also provide insufficient space for cyclists to safely pass one another, she said.
The petition, which had garnered 609 signatures since it was created July 12, calls for the barriers to be removed until a “better solution can be found.”
Stephen Lake of HUB Cycling’s North Shore committee said the upgrades represent a “great safety improvement" for all road users.
“Having protected barriers from vehicles veering or swerving is one of the most critical safety improvements we can make to open up the cycling infrastructure to a greater number of users, in particular those who are less confident cyclists,” he said. “I think 99 per cent of people are actually thrilled with the upgrade there, and HUB is certainly extremely pleased with the project."
One of the busiest cycling corridors in North Vancouver, around 400 cyclists per day travel the Mount Seymour Parkway., according to the district.
Peter Cohen, the district’s Engineering Infrastructure Services General Manager., said prior to the installation, he had heard from a large portion of those cyclists that they didn’t feel comfortable or safe travelling the highway, particularly when east of the Seymour River.
“We were continuing to hear every year that folks did not feel comfortable riding their bikes, and so we found an opportunity this year to install something that was quick, easy to implement and cost effective,” he said.
Working closely with Translink to create the framework, the district created a design that would “consider larger vehicles and transit” alongside day-to-day operations like garbage collection and snow clearing, he said.
Cohen said the district received a “broad spectrum of feedback” from the community during the planning phase, and made tweaks to the plan that responded to some of the concerns that had been raised.
“We’re trying to balance the inconvenience that might be coming to drivers while also improving safety for our more vulnerable road users, like cyclists,” he said.
Cohen added that the concerns and conditions of the road are not unique to Mount Seymour Parkway. The same conditions for an arterial street exist on Dollarton Highway in Maplewood and Marine Drive in Ambleside, and he advises road users to navigate this road as they would the others facing the same safety balance.
"We would advise all road users to keep their safety wits about them and, in the case of emergency vehicles, to immediately move to a position that is safe and to the side of the road when one is approaching,” he said.
Cohen said the district is listening to the community "where feasible." Currently, the largest area of concern that the district is hearing about relates to a recently installed no-right turn on red restriction and, in response, the district has been removing the turning restrictions along the parkway to cater to the community, he said.
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
