In a meeting focused on improving transportation, The City of Vancouver approved plans to add 12 new bike lanes over the next five years, primarily in the downtown core.
The approval will allow the city to move forward on the plans, and begin designing the new routes destined for Smithe, Richards, Bute, Cambie, Granville Street Bridge, and Commercial Drive.
In an effort to make effective use of the new lanes, the city will run a year-long pilot for bikers, skateboarders, and rollerbladers to share the lanes.
The new routes are still required to go through a public consultation process before the final approval, and issues are quickly arising, especially around the new lanes in Commercial Drive. The Drive is already crowded with walking traffic, cars, buses, and business owners are arguing that bike lanes will only make the congestion worse.
The addition of bike lanes are just one part of the City’s Transportation 2040 plan, which hopes to see 50 per cent of all trips in Vancouver to be on foot, bike, or transit by 2020.
