Outside my window, a road crew is building a concrete median to segregate my street as part of Vancouver’s expanding network of bike lanes. The north side, the larger part, will allow one-way traffic and parking. The south side, which is quite a bit narrower, will allow two-way bike traffic. They have already placed most of the plywood forms and rebar, and a cement truck has pulled up just now.
I’m watching this with a lot of interest, partly because it’s the most excitement around here in a while, and partly because I’m curious about the consequences.
The city’s stated intention is “traffic calming”. By converting the street to alternating on-way—each block runs one way opposite to its neighbours—cars and trucks can’t use it as a thoroughfare. This makes it a much safer route for cyclists than the busy route one block over with no bike lane at all.
Since big delivery trucks seem to like this street as a shortcut, I’m looking forward to not hearing the roar of big diesel engines outside my window. As well, there’s a school here; kids and traffic don’t mix well, unless you’re using them as lane markers or speed bumps.
Among the objections to this route was the loss of parking in a neighbourhood that didn’t have enough already. The plan removes street parking along the south side. At my guess, that’s a loss of about 50 spots per block. It was a challenge to find parking near my home before. I can’t imagine finding parking within a few blocks radius now.
Converting a busy two-way street to a quiet one-way street is going to be a confusing transition. After the work is done, I’ll definitely watch for confused drivers heading the wrong way and down the bike lane, probably wondering why their lane is so damn narrow. I’ve already seen photos off drivers doing that in segregated bike lanes downtown. It’s hilarious until they meet a cyclist.
And when inevitably somebody living on the south side hires movers or takes a delivery, where does the truck park to load or unload? Across the street, making the poor delivery guy dodge cars with his hand truck, climb a concrete median, then dodge bikes? Can the van jump the median and park in the bike lanes? We’ll see how that works out.
Finally, the question most have is this: Will cyclists even use the route? The more popular route among cyclist, despite the dangerous traffic, is one block north, where the hill is a bit smaller. As my brother Matt says, cyclists tend to take the path of least resistance. After all the expense, effort, and inconvenience, cyclists may just avoid it anyway. It might be perfectly safe, but it might be futile.