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Vancouver city council approves divisive bike route for Point Grey Road


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A bitter months-long battle over a Kitsilano bike lane proposal that pitted motorists against cyclists and neighbour against neighbour has ended.

Vancouver city council gave the green light Monday night to the $6-million Seaside Greenway and York Bikeway project, which includes a controversial plan to close off one kilometre of Point Grey Road west of Macdonald to commuter traffic, diverting 10,000 motorists to other roads.

“This has been seven months’ consultation but decades in the coming,” said Coun. Heather Deal.

“This route is going to become a jewel. People will adapt to it and we will be glad we did it.”

The most contentious sections of the plan — the Point Grey diversion and the York Avenue bikeway — garnered a 7-2 vote in favour from councillors, largely along party lines.

Six Vision Vancouver councillors and Green party councillor Adriane Carr voted in favour, while NPA councillors George Affleck and Elizabeth Ball voted against.

Mayor Gregor Robertson, who had just purchased a house near the proposed bike route, recused himself from the vote to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.

The plan fills in the last remaining gap in a 28-kilometre cycling route stretching from the Burrard Street Bridge to Jericho Beach. But it is also one of the most divisive issues in recent memory.

“We’ve divided this community,” said Affleck, who put forward a failed motion to defer the plan to October. “There are a lot of people in the city angry about this.”

At the heart of the issue, said Deal, was whether people thought Point Grey Road was safe or not.

There was no consensus among speakers Monday night, with some saying the seaside artery is safe, citing ICBC statistics showing there were no accidents between cyclists and motorists on Point Grey Road between 2008 and 2012, and others who say they regularly witness near-misses on the road.

Deal points out the plan shifts commuter access on Point Grey Road east to Macdonald instead of Alma. “That’s it. For that difference, you get an amazing continuation of our seaside route.”

In total, 217 people registered to speak on the issue over five nights of debate. Monday drew a noticeably smaller crowd than previous nights. The majority spoke out against the plan, calling it defective and costly, affecting many but benefiting only a few.

Markus von Berg said the plan provided a “modest gain” for cyclists but a major inconvenience for motorists, residents, and businesses along Macdonald, 4th Avenue, Broadway, and 10th Avenue, which will bear the load of diverted traffic.

“Why are you going from something working OK to something completely unknown, a complete shutdown,” he asked councillors. He suggested the city look at other traffic calming measures for the street, such as pedestrian-controlled intersections and use the savings to fund the bike share program.

Another speaker, James Sullivan, was gung-ho about the project.

“I think it’s a great thing for Vancouver to have this as a selling point,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world as people are saying.”

City engineers will start work on the Kitsilano project in early fall, starting with the Burrard-Cornwall section, which will be turned into a more controlled intersection.

© Copyright © The Vancouver Sun

http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Vancouver+city+council+approves+divisive+bike+route+Point+Grey/8723693/story.html

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that is great if they want to build bike lanes and shift car traffic to other roads or get people out of their cars, but you actually have to have transit that can allow people to get downtown conveniently and that doesnt cost $25 for a family of four.

family of four coming from coquitlam to a canucks game:

2zones on transit

adult1: 4$down, 2.75 back

adult 2: 4$down , 2.75 back

child 1: 2.75 down: 175back

child 2: 2.75down : 1.75 back

total cost of 22.50 on skytrain and that is with a DISCOUNT for returning after 6:30.

meanwhile they are building bike lanes and bike share programs (that only benefit people downtown) that cost tens of millions of dollars.

now i can drive my car down to vancouver park 4blocks away from rogers arena (10minute walk) it is faster than skytrain and my parking spot is $6. i certainly am not spending 16-18$ on gas to get to vancouver. And our provincial goverment wonders why people dont use their "mass" transit"

(not sure if my rant makes any sense its late and i despise gregor robertson.)

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lol what a joke, this will divert tons of traffic onto 4th and broadway and then peopel there will probably start complaining that there's too much traffic and mayor moonbeam will probably start putting bikelanes there too.

Even though there is already one 1 block over on west 8th, yet cyclists still bike on Broadway for some reason.

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Whenever the majority of the people in this city disagree with something and the City goes ahead and just does it like those people that disagreed were never there its a bad thing. This is happening more often than it should. Just like tearing down the viaducts. They are going to make commuting a freaking gong show.

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I would have preferred if the city had decided to extend the seawall all the way from Kits pool to Alma but that would cost a whole lot more money.

As it is, people complain about traffic and transit, not realizing the funds come from different places, and always resist change. I'd warrant a guess that it won't be anywhere as much of an inconvenience as people assume it will be. Road construction is a far greater inconvenience but maintenance is a necessary evil that people cope with.

For those commuting from other cities to Vancouver... it's not your council. As a resident of this area, who has friends who are business owners on Cornwall, I am fine with the plan.

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Your "Creme de la Creme" use bike lanes a lot? Didnt think so.

My problem with bike lanes since day one has been the same. Even in summer, during the busiest times, the bike lanes are virtually empty. While the car lanes are backed up forever. Switch to the spring and fall when its raining and they are even emptier and yet they are still there. Switch to winter and its a ghost town in the bike lanes, but they are still taking up oh so valuable real estate while cars crawl along. Idiotic from day one.

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Your "Creme de la Creme" use bike lanes a lot? Didnt think so.

My problem with bike lanes since day one has been the same. Even in summer, during the busiest times, the bike lanes are virtually empty. While the car lanes are backed up forever. Switch to the spring and fall when its raining and they are even emptier and yet they are still there. Switch to winter and its a ghost town in the bike lanes, but they are still taking up oh so valuable real estate while cars crawl along. Idiotic from day one.

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It was really a done deal, no matter how much "consultation" or public hearings were held. Vision has its own agenda, so matter what you say or do will matter to them.

The only way to get rid of them is to vote them out. Which is hard to do when only 30% of eligible votes vote. Of the 30% voting, they only need 1/2 of them.

In effect Vision is running the city with only 15% support of the people. Like others say, you deserve what you get by electing Robertson.

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It was really a done deal, no matter how much "consultation" or public hearings were held. Vision has its own agenda, so matter what you say or do will matter to them.

The only way to get rid of them is to vote them out. Which is hard to do when only 30% of eligible votes vote. Of the 30% voting, they only need 1/2 of them.

In effect Vision is running the city with only 15% support of the people. Like others say, you deserve what you get by electing Robertson.

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