CYCLING advocates have won a small victory for North Shore bicycle commuters who cross the Stanley Park Causeway.
The Vancouver Park Board voted Monday night to begin looking at options for heightened safety measures on the causeway, including a potential barrier to separate the sidewalk/bike path from the busy roadway.
Advocacy group HUB has been lobbying the park board, the City of Vancouver and the province, which has conduct of the road, for a barrier since a 61-year-old North Vancouver woman died when she fell from her bike into traffic on the Causeway in May.
Heather Drugge, a member of HUB North Shore, welcomed the news.
The vast majority of people who ride through the causeway are definitely North Shore people, she said. It sounded to me like what they were saying was theyre fairly positive on it and theyre going to take some interim immediate steps and then theyre going to take a longer-term view. I think those are both positive things.
Drugge rides the causeway on her commute home from work every day and says the narrow path along the road is rife for conflicts between users, especially during the busy and dangerous rush hour.
Im super slow so I always feel like Im in the way. If theres a pedestrian and Im super slow and someones trying to pass me, thats like triple trouble. If theres no space for anybody to avoid each other, you basically just have to slow down, she said.
Pedestrians on the causeway also tend to be tourists who arent aware the scenic path is also a commuter route.
The park is also in need of some minimal safety measures where the Lions Gate Bridge ends and cyclists must make their way onto the pathway by crossing an uncontrolled intersection,
I keep expecting to hear that thats where a cyclist has been hit. When I go across there, I make a big show and I point but because of the way the angles are, its very difficult to know whether theres traffic, she said.
