Dear Editor:
I have serious concerns about riding my bike on the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge.
Recently, I was heading north on my bike - to North Vancouver from Vancouver - on the east side of the bridge when I met another biker going south on the same side as me going from North Vancouver to Vancouver. He should have given me the right of way since he was going against the traffic flow. There is no room for two bikes or a cyclist and pedestrian to go side by side. Not only is it dangerous riding a bike across that bridge, but walking across it is too.
In any event, we crashed. I broke my finger and received five stitches. It would be in everyone's best interest if the sidewalks on both sides of the bridge were one-way. All the Department of Highways would need to do is put loop-over connectors on each end of the bridge like they have on Lions Gate Bridge and every other bridge in Vancouver that is bike friendly. I'm not asking to widen the sidewalks or anything else that would cost a lot of taxpayers' money.
Vancouver and North Vancouver are trying very hard to make their cities a safe place to ride bikes not just for commuting and pleasure-riding reasons, but for the sake of the environment as well.
I am hopeful that politicians and Department of Highways engineers will come on board and support my request.
Helen Marshall North Vancouver
