DISTRICT of North Vancouver councillors got their first peek at a new transportation plan covering everything from walking trails to highways Oct. 24.
The new, wide-ranging plan encompasses all the district's goals for pedestrian, cyclist and vehicle movement and updates the community's road classification. It also includes several bigticket items.
The biggest projects planned for the next five years include changes to the Hwy. 1 interchanges near the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, the reconfiguration of Capilano Road to add space for bikes and a proposed new pedestrian bridge over Lynn Creek at Crown Street that would connect portions of the Spirit Trail.
"We've also been trying to get a handle on how to fund these projects," said Erica Geddes, transportation section manager. "They are expensive, but we have identified cost-sharing opportunities for most of them."
The province has proposed closing several off-and on-ramps to the highway and creating new ones elsewhere, and building a new flyover at Mount Seymour Parkway, but district council has opposed some elements of those proposals and is still waiting for details. While those concerns are included in the plan, the final outcome on that front will largely be up to the province.
Also included is the district's desire for a new east-west connection between Mount Seymour Parkway and Mountain Highway. While previous plans have called for a fly-over above the highway, staff opened the door to the possibility of building a new two-lane
bridge over Lynn Creek immediately north of the existing highway bridge instead, a change that would connect Mount Seymour Parkway to Mountain Highway.
A number of other projects remain in the "wish-list" category, meaning they would be good but remain out of reach financially, according to staff. Among these is a second crossing of the Seymour River just south of Main Street to connect Barrow Street to Spicer Road. These projects would require outside funding or a partnership with another agency such as the Squamish Nation or the port, said staff.
The district's chief administrative officer, David Stewart, acknowledged that money is a problem, even in responding to complaints from residents on relatively small projects.
"There's no significant money in this budget even to address minor problems," he said, adding some small fixes have been pushed back several years. "Right now, they go into a queue, (and get moved to) 2012, 2013."
The plan stitches together several smaller plans for the movement of bikes, cars, goods and pedestrians. Some areas are earmarked to favour vehicle traffic, while others, such as the district's proposed new Lynn Valley town centre, are designated for pedestrian and transit use.
In a deceptively minor alteration, the plan proposes upping the bar roads must meet to be classified as minor arterials.
The change would downgrade 21 thoroughfares, including Berkley Avenue north of Byron Road and northern sections of Capilano Road, to the lesser "collector" category.
It may not seem like a big change, but Mayor Richard Walton said the classification determines maintenance schedules as well as design, and the current system in which so many local routes are deemed arterials has led the district to overbuild many of them. The changes could save money, he said, and discourage speeding through redesign.
For bicycles, top priorities include upgrades to the Spirit Trail that would connect sections in the City of North Vancouver to those in West Vancouver through Norgate, and portions in the Lower Lynn area to Maplewood.
Capilano Road and Mountain Highway north of Lynn Valley Road are also in line for bike lanes over the next five years as part of the plan, which updated the existing bicycle master plan and rolled it into a single document with other transportation issues.
Councillors at the meeting weren't keen on reducing the number of vehicle lanes, however.
"I'm starting to get concerned about major arterial roads getting pressured to become walkable streets," said Coun. Mike Little, taking particular issue with the proposal to narrow lanes on Capilano Roads north of Ridgewood. "That upper Capilano area, it's a steep road, sometimes it's a slippery road. . . . All of a sudden, if you have a very narrow-gauge road up there, it becomes pretty cramped."
Little said the focus should be on making the town centres in the OCP walkable, not reducing traffic in other areas. Coun. Roger Bassam agreed.
"I kind of like the ability to drive across the district," he said. "I think we need to review this an awful lot more."
Several councillors also quibbled with the location of bike lanes and the Spirit Trail, though more detailed discussion will wait until after the election.
More information can be found online at the district's website, www.dnv.org.
