A year after a traffic-calming and mobility lane project raised blood pressure on St. Andrews Avenue, the City of North Vancouver is making some changes.
City staff presented to council the next steps Monday for the St. Andrews Safety Improvement Project following community engagement carried out in March of this year.
A number of changes to the road were proffered that were designed to keep both the residents of the street and the cycling community satisfied, including improving the alignment and marking of St. Andrews at Keith Road, improving sightlines at intersections, and enhancing the pedestrian refuge at crossings to clearly delineate where it is safe for pedestrians to look both ways.
Staff said driver speeds will be reduced with the addition of speed bumps and a raised crossing at 11th Street, while an increase of the roadway width, by a proposed 0.4 metres, would provide more comfortable conditions for drivers and cyclists riding downhill.
The addition of delineators would also better define parking and improve sightlines, staff said.
An amendment proposed by Coun. Shervin Shahriari and passed by council suggested that staff implement all design adjustments for the section of the road between Ninth Street and St. Andrews north to 13th, but defer any changes from Ninth and St Andrews south to Keith Road in the fall.
“We still have unresolved issues,” said Shahriari, describing the stretch as “the most complicated area.”
Much of the evening’s discussion had been around the portion of the road, with it being steeper, narrower, boasting a higher volume of road users than other sections and being a segment home to a number of heritage properties.
“Most of the complaints I’ve heard personally have been in that area. I also think that we should look at resolving the downhill cycling on that segment in a way that provides more confidence for the majority of the users that we’re looking at,” he said.
Coun. Holly Back agreed that the residents are “extremely unhappy” and “definitely not satisfied” with what had been proposed for that area, while Coun. Don Bell added it would give staff and council a chance to “ponder it a bit more.”
Coun. Jessica McIlroy, touching on the difficulty in keeping all road users and residents pleased, said the only way to solve the downhill issue would be to put in a separated lane and take out the parking - an option that wouldn’t suit residents who are without on-site parking.
Earlier in the evening, a number of residents had come forward to dispute the changes proposed by staff, with some arguing that the community input period had been all for nothing.
“The residents have been very patient and trusted that the city was going to positively handle the changes that occurred to our once wide and easy to navigate beautiful avenue a year ago,” said resident Wendy Neilson, who has lived on the street for 25 years. “We trusted the survey would lead to clearer thinking, and now it seems it didn’t even matter. How could all of the statistics from the surveys stating people’s opinions be disregarded?”
“Why would residents support this?” questioned resident Carolyn Langton. “Our beautiful street, unfortunately, is going to become an eyesore.”
Mayor Linda Buchanan said the topic represented a wider discussion and it was “more than just about this road.”
“This is about reallocating public road space that allows for all people to be able to move,” she said.
Buchanan said there has been “a lot of lessons learned” from the project, and there has been some challenges and “perhaps some missteps” acknowledged by both council and staff.
“We want to find a path forward that’s going to be a balance of as many of the voices that we’ve heard, and it’s not going to be perfect, because putting in cycling infrastructure is never a consensus. Creating neighbourhood traffic calming is never a consensus. It’s always fraught with conflict, regardless,” she said.
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
