Vancouver: Burrard Street Bridge to lose 2 lanes to cyclists
- Thread starter luv-em-n-lv-em
- Start date
well said.goodlube said:
besides, 1/3 of the bridge dedicated to less than 10% of the bridge traffic tells me that these fuckers need to get a refresher in basic mathematics too...
Not sure what you do for a living..........but not everyone has the luxery of going to work on a bike. (Myself in included) And its not about being lazy. Its about needing our cars to do our jobs.gotsome2004 said:
There are so many who go from A to B to C and back again because thats what their job requires, and for many its through 'downtown Vancouver.' I think there are more of these contributing workers to Vancouvers work force than the same said cyclists. Some how Vancouver wants to punish those who need their car for work over those who have the simple task of just jumping onto their bike and riding to work.
I wish i could do that.
Unfortunately those wingnuts in municipal hall are listening to some self-serving pedaling dickwad who thinks he/she has all the answers to making Vancouver greener, and who knows what else.
Jodie said:No, but unfortunately, cyclists need to get over the bridges into downtown just like motorists do, plain and simple.
And with extremely good reason. First of all, the sidewalk is a mere 6 feet wide, shared by both pedestrians and cyclists. The current setup is not safe for either. Pedestrians (who often walk three or more abreast and infringe on the bike lane) are constantly at risk of being hit by cyclists. Cyclists are at risk of falling off the raised sidewalk and into traffic while trying to dodge pedestrians (yes, this has happened, and in fact, a cyclist was killed on that bridge last summer by that means). As well, the speed limit for cyclists, due to the shared-use sidewalk, is only 15 km/hr. Most skilled cyclists travel two to three times that speed. It would be akin to having the speed limit for cars set at 20-30 km/hr on main roads - wouldn't that be frustrating?
What it comes down to is this: The only remotely safe options for cyclists to get into downtown (Cambie Bridge and the bike route near the Georgia St Viaduct) are much too far east to be practical for anyone living on the west side. A safe route for cyclists from the west side to get into downtown is long overdue, and is a necessary part of Vancouver's sustainable development plan. The three bridges are under capacity anyway, according to the city's Engineering Department, so why not use the solution that requires the least amount of work, least amount of money, and causes no damage to the beautiful heritage structure of the Burrard Bridge?
And to everyone else who wants to whine about the state of traffic in this city, I say this: Get out of your car. Walk, take transit, cycle. Quit being a part of the very problem you complain about and start contributing to the solution.
Now let the flames begin...
P.S. Thanks a lot for getting me all riled up. Now I'm going to be late for work!!
You totally missed the point of what I said. Before you start going on about the virtues of a wider lane on the bridge, there is a major problem with cornwall and burrard for that matter. They either need to get rid of the parking lane along the cornwall and put in a bike lane there, which I am sure the people there will complain, or the they need a well thought out bike path to move them along. Going across the bridge is the easy part, but compare that to going along cornwall on a bike can be very interesting. You don't just go and grab two lanes of a bridge, and don't consider the other parts of this. The bikes need to get to the bridge before they can get over the bridge. This lack of a proper plan will doom it to another failure. And another point missed is the obvious congestion of the traffic which also means buses. They are in traffic also. Getting people out of cars, comes down to making the other options better. Well this doesn't cut it, you wait this will be another failure, and another opportunity lost.
I have yet to see or experience any kind of traffic jam of bikes on the bridge that warrants two lanes of space. 6 feet was wide enough for me, maybe a rigid barrier to keep the pedastrians from straying but that is it. Maybe they could setup cones so you could use the huge space by doing tricks weaving in and out of the them. . Its more of this stupid simpleton "field of dreams" solution, if you build it they will come. In reality if you build a poorly conceived idea, it will fail.
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Only during the times that it's carrying 75 passengers inside.Jodie said:
How often is that?
(I'm not knocking the obvious value of transit, it's just that the claims for its efficacy need to be realistic.)
This just keeps getting worse
One possibility is that this would affect more of Burrard (& maybe Cornwall!) than just the bridge. Not good except as a recipe for traffic gridlock.
The other possibility (HOV just on the bridge) doesn't seem any better. Both entrances (N and S) and both exits (N & S) of the bridge have traffic coming from or exiting to 2 separate streets. For example, the South entrance has Cornwall traffic from the left and Burrard from the right. The picture in my head shows all kinds of craziness as people switch lanes so that they are following the law or aiming at the desired exit. And if the HOV is only on the bridge, then you get to go more smoothly for about half a mile? That would have to be the shortest HOV ever. Admittedly I'm not a traffic engineer but ... someone stop the insanity. Anarchists have a better plan than this!
link: less cars, not more bikes
One possibility is that this would affect more of Burrard (& maybe Cornwall!) than just the bridge. Not good except as a recipe for traffic gridlock.
The other possibility (HOV just on the bridge) doesn't seem any better. Both entrances (N and S) and both exits (N & S) of the bridge have traffic coming from or exiting to 2 separate streets. For example, the South entrance has Cornwall traffic from the left and Burrard from the right. The picture in my head shows all kinds of craziness as people switch lanes so that they are following the law or aiming at the desired exit. And if the HOV is only on the bridge, then you get to go more smoothly for about half a mile? That would have to be the shortest HOV ever. Admittedly I'm not a traffic engineer but ... someone stop the insanity. Anarchists have a better plan than this!
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Just wondering if the cyclist will contribute to the cost of this?? It is the gas tax, gst and pst of vehicle purchase and ICBC that contribute to the maintaince and upgrades to the roadways. Half the time the cyclist I see don't even obey the rules of the road. Maybe a toll is order.
Last I checked, the voter turnout at municipal elections were at an all-time low. There effectively non-existent. The problem is that the people who do vote in the civic elections are those who have a special interest at heart. The reality is that more left-wing, tree huggers vote municipally then any other group. So, the solution isn't to bitch about it now, it's to make sure all your friends join you at the polling station when the next civic election takes place.
