THE District of North Vancouver held three open houses this week to showcase its draft transportation plan, which has been in the works since 2008.
The district has identified Lynn Valley, Lower Lynn, Lower Capilano and Maplewood as the main centres that need transportation improvements.
Tegan Smith, transportation planner for the district, said the district's vision for 2030 will address more than just the needs of public transit users.
"This is fully a transportation plan," she said. "It addresses transit as well as walking, cycling and some improvements to road safety."
According to the district, 79 per cent of resident's main mode of transit is driving. Only 11 per cent of residents walk or bike and even less take public transit.
Smith said with increased development in the Lower Lynn area, the bridge on Keith Road will need to be replaced within the next 20 years.
"At some point that is going to need to be replaced," she said. "There is also going to be a huge amount of redevelopment in the Lower Lynn area . . . particularly where Keith Road meets Mountain Highway,"
The plan also addresses the issue of Phibbs Exchange. Smith said the district has been working closely with TransLink to begin the process of making upgrades at the exchange.
"We have long identified the need for improvements at Phibbs Exchange," She said. "TransLink is planning to do a study in 2012 to look at ways to spruce up the area."
Completing the sidewalk network through the district, particularly in Lynn Valley, is another objective of the plan.
"We are also going to want to make sidewalk improvements around schools," Smith said. "To make it safer for children to walk to school."
The draft plan also calls for a significant amount of new bike lanes and bike paths throughout the district. On-street bike lanes have been proposed for a handful of roads including, Capilano Road, Delbrook Avenue, Dollarton Highway, Highland Avenue and Keith Road.
However, Smith said the district will need to do more analysis in the near future on bike lanes before any installation happens.
A majority of the proposed road safety improvements are in Lynn Valley and the Maplewood area, with Lynn Valley Road and Main Street needing the most upgrades.
"The road safety improvements are based on collision data." Smith said. "These are improvements that could be signal timing or adding a left-turn bay to make it safer and to reduce accidents."
The plans's cost is affordable, according to Smith. "We believe . . . the district can afford it over the next 20 years," Smith said. "We are just going to chip away at it. We will probably update it in five years. Some things may become more important and some things may become less important, but we have done quite a bit of financial analysis on all the improvements."
Resident and open house attendee, Mike Riley was happy to see that the plan addressed the transportation needs of Lower Capilano. "To do something about Fullerton is great," he said. "You need some sort of transportation to get people out of Woodcroft to Park Royal. . . . People who live in Fullerton can't go out through West Vancouver, they have to go through Capilano Road."
Some of those improvements include improving the road infrastructure around Capilano Road and Marine Drive.
