In an effort to help cyclists and pedestrians find their way, City of North Vancouver council unanimously voted to spend $30,000 on a Green Necklace wayfinding initiative Monday.
The plan is to outfit the cycling/strolling/rolling trail with a series of directional signs, You Are Here-type maps and notes marking sites of interest along the route such as rec centres and parks. The signage is intended to “add to the unique identity of the Green Necklace while increasing the safety of all trail users.”
Coun. Rod Clark, who voted against several iterations of the trail, noted he was: “supporting the Green Necklace, once again.”
“Can we make sure that the cameras are rolling on that?” Mayor Darrell Mussatto quipped.
Mussatto and Clark split on the most recent addition to the path last spring, with council ultimately voting to run a $1.95-million segment up West 21st Street between Jones Avenue and the Harry Jerome rec centre, eventually linking up with
Grand Boulevard.
Clark suggested the Green Necklace run through the wider 20th Street and blasted council for funding the project before finding common ground with the neighbourhood.
Mussatto, a major supporter of the Green Necklace, suggested that the trail and a cul-de-sac on Jones Avenue would have a transformative effect on the block.
“You can have kids playing street hockey again, you can do those kinds of things again that I think streets should be used for in low-volume areas,” he said.
The signage may not be a key issue according to cyclist Robb Douglas, who announced plans to steer clear of the Grand Boulevard portion of the Green Necklace due to safety concerns.
“The signage is clear,” he stated, attributing his safety concerns to the “entitled attitude of both pedestrians and cyclists.”
The final segment of the Green Necklace is slated to connect East 23rd Street with Grand Boulevard. Construction on the $2.8-million portion of the trail is pencilled in for 2018.
