Cyclists hoping for a continuous separated bike route on Guildford Way linking Coquitlam’s City Centre area with Rocky Point Park in Port Moody will have to wait.
That’s because a proposal to continue the lanes on Port Moody’s portion of the busy road to an existing multi-use path on Murray Street could result in a “crazy” increase in wait times for motorists using the east–west connector route due to changes at various intersections along the way.
Tuesday, Nov. 19, council’s city initiatives and planning committee tasked staff to complete more detailed modelling about the impact the extended lane and intersection changes will have on vehicle traffic as well as possible alternate configurations for right turns before it will endorse the $2-million project.
A traffic analysis presented to councillors said changes to the signal operations and removal of the right slip lanes at the intersection of Guildford Way and Ioco Road would result in delays for some motorists travelling on Guildford of up to 82 seconds and lengthen some of the queues for vehicles turning north or south onto Ioco. But some wait times and queues would also be reduced.
Port Moody’s general manager of engineering and operations Jeff Moi, said slowing traffic on Guildford actually makes it safer for everyone, including cyclists and pedestrians. He added it might also encourage motorists to find an alternate route or even use alternate transportation themselves.
“The focus is on trying to leverage other ways to get around the city,” Moi said.
In a report, transportation engineer Nobinur Rahman said the Guildford-Ioco intersection is the second-highest crash location in the city; between 2016 and 2022, it was the scene of 201 collisions, 81 of them involving injuries.
The plan includes construction of a new three-meter wide bi-directional separated bike lane on the north side of Guildford from Ioco Road to Ungless Way that would then transition to east- and westbound lanes flanking both sides from there to the existing lanes at the Coquitlam border.
The right-turn slip lanes from westbound Guildford onto Ioco, and northbound Ioco onto Guildford would also be closed; instead, right turns would be controlled by the traffic signals.
To help ease some of the potential delays, Rahman said the recommended design concept includes a longer storage lane for cars turning left from Guildford onto Ioco and an additional eastbound left turn lane from Murray onto Ioco. The timing of the traffic signals could also be adjusted.
But Coun. Callan Morrison said those accommodations likely won’t be enough to ease the growing frustrations of motorists.
“Sixty to 80 seconds increase in time is crazy to me,” he said. “If there’s one error in this plan, everything else is compounded.”
Coun. Haven Lurbiecki agreed.
“Traffic seems to be getting a lot worse,” she said. “We’re getting more complaints, people are not in a space to receive this.”
Coun, Kyla Knowles said the traffic analysis was “really concerning,” adding future developments planned along the Guildford corridor will likely bring more cars and compound the potential for congestion.
Coquitlam completed its first phase of the Guildford bikeway, with separated lanes on both its north and south side from the Port Moody border to Johnson Street, in 2023. Earlier this year it was recognized with an infrastructure improvement award from the HUB Cycling advocacy group.
Construction on the route’s second phase, to Coquitlam’s City Centre neighbourhood, is currently underway.
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