2023-04-06 Agenda

HUB North Shore Committee regular meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month at 6:30pm - 8:30pm. Everybody is welcome.

In-person at the North Vancouver City Library (14th/Lonsdale) in the Don Preston Boardroom (2nd floor).

Or Online, using Google Meets: https://meet.google.com/myr-xmnd-iob

or by Phone: +1 587-977-8033‬ PIN: ‪290 663 905‬#

General

• Agenda additions
• Introductions

Public Input/Consultations

• Public input is critical when Council and Staff make trade-offs and decisions. Please make sure your voice is heard!!
• Are there Any?????????

Goals & Objectives

• Add Phase 2 top priority Bikeways - current Gaps Map
  • Liaisons to select a one or two for their municipality
• Communications - any ideas??
• Recruiting - Fill vacant positions
• Ensure Cycling Priorities are in DWV's Transportation Strategy

Events

• Need a coordinator/organizer for events
• Our Community Bikes, bike drive - Saturday April 29th, 10am-12pm, United Strangers Cafe
• Outdoor Safety and Emergency Preparedness Open House - Saturday, May 13, 11am-2pm, Argyle School
• Spring Go By Bike Week. - May 29th to June 4th

City of North Vancouver - Nadia/Sophia

CNV Key Contacts & Staff Meetings

• no meetings scheduled

Marine Main – Eastbound Transit Extension

Slides

Their responses to our feedback

• no delineators on the Lower Road to allow space for emergency vehicles
• they are trying to secure funding to ensure the WB route of Kennard to Gladstone is the same as the EB (delineators, etc.)
• no funding for wayfinding but they are looking for ways to include this at some point
• At Windsor Plywood, they are proposing sharing the existing sidewalk with pedestrians and cyclists west of Kennard. West of there, they plan to separate out cyclists by removing the existing trees and adding a bike lane in the grassed area. Cyclists would then use the existing sidewalk.

Summary of current/upcoming CNV projects - this year & beyond

• Cotton/Main WB
  • City engineers have requested a markup of our suggestions. They believe there is insufficient space between the hydro poles and existing landscaping.

• Casano-Loutet Overpass/Midtown Connector
  • construction will begin in 2023 and complete in 2024. As this nears completion, they will start to turn their focus to the connector route. We are currently planning on a group ride and a Google Form to gather prospective destinations along the connector.

• Casano-Loutet Overpass
  • new legislation requires any project that touches provincial land to have First Nations consultation -because this goes by a river, an archeological survey is underway to assess if this is a place of importance; this should be complete by summer
  • if all goes well, construction will begin in 2023 and complete in 2023

• Upper Levels Greenway
  • lots of community questions and they have been researching answers to these questions to go back to community members
  • lots of interest in the route along 25th; will need spurs to other amenities like schools
  • discussions underway with MOTI to ensure they are on board with the proposed changes
  • need to clarify how this will cross the highway on/off ramps.

• 4th and Chesterfield
  • in line to get a bike light but no timeline

• Midtown
  • planning for this will most likely start in December/January
  • connects West 1st bike lane to Casano-Loutet/route not yet decided
  • would like to hear HUB’s perspectives early in the project

• Forbes
  • larger changes are intended at this intersection but dependent on discussions with the Squamish Nation
  • Nation is open to changes to reduce traffic cut through but discussions are currently slow. Any significant change would require excavation and this is the site of a former residential school, and therefore there are larger implications that need to be considered

E-Bike Share

• Lime is swapping out their fleet with their newest generation of e-bikes. These bikes have better power for steep hills (but have the same speed restrictions), better battery life, and their hardware will help Lime improve parking compliance in North Van. Increase in helmets on the bikes, but feedback on helmets has been limited thus far. Looking to collect more feedback and data re: helmet use, user perceptions, etc. soon. Plan is to have trip data publicly available.

ITC - Dana & Jonathan

• May meeting postponed to end of month (no updates)

District of North Vancouver - Duncan/Stephen/Don

• Meeting with Staff - currently exchanging emails on various projects.
• 2023 Budget
  • Strong public push-back resulted in reduction of the proposed AT construction deferrals.
  • Includes 4.5M for Active transporation - but not allocated to any projects (From Feb 6th revision)
  • Includes 20M for Spririt trail east of Seymour, including additional staff headcount (Mar 2xth version)
  • Council add 3M more to Active transpiration (Carol Pope sponsored this, Mar 27th)
    • Liaisons working to find our how the 4.5+3M will be allocated and to which Cycling related projects.

• East 29th
  • Council decision was to add 2 parking pockets and to replace the plastic Pylons with start-of-block barriers for the cycle lanes (similar to upper Lynn Valley road)
• Main St - Harbour Ave - Barrows
  • Design for Main St section looks good.
  • Sent Project Mgr (Ben) comments on updated design for Harbour Ave & Harbour-Main Intersection
    • Generally design is good, but we are pushing for better protection to be added for bikelane on Harbour.
• Spirit Trail, East of Seymour planning:
  • This is a big project and will take 5-10 years to implement.
  • Development plan maybe revised to enable some easy short term segments in the next couple years.

• DNV Library Cargo Bikes - New Initiative by Duncan (DW)
  • DW met with senior DNV Library staff & Jordan Back 01-Mar-2023.
  • interest to move forward and seek funding
  • brief power point presentation on the idea can be made by DW
  • Help/advice from HUB on legal input (DNV indemnity for liability, also theft/vandalism) would be welcome who to contact.
  • Not necessarily HUB affiliated, but seems appropriate to share concept & work so far - applicability to other Munis in LML

District of West Vancouver - Paul/Peter/Mike

Protected bike lanes on Marine Drive between 26th and 31st Streets

• We have received and reviewed preliminary engineer drawings for this project
• Despite the project name "MARINE DRIVE PROTECTED BIKE LANE" the painted bike lanes on each side of the road with a painted buffer are really not adequately protected from automobile traffic.
• We feel the proposals, unfortunately, fall somewhat short of the AAA-user standards desired by HUB and required for TransLink’s MBR funding support, and we suggest the following ideas to strengthen the proposals:
  • It would have been helpful to know the annual average daily vehicle and bicycle traffic volumes and trends along this section of Marine Drive.
  • Narrow the vehicular lanes to reduce traffic speeds and adopt a 30km/h speed limit, and use the additionally available width to widen the bike lane.
  • The buffer strip be supplemented by adding flexible delineator posts to more clearly define and protect the roadway allocated to cyclists and add surface-mounted curbs at the beginning of the bike lane.
  • Obtain specialized cleaning equipment for bike lanes, especially for snow removal.
  • Providing a pedestrian crossing at 30th Street would seem important in accessing the sole pedestrian route along the south side of Marine Drive.
  • 25th to 26th Street appears to be a separate consideration to the 26th-31st proposals but would be crucial to providing bike access to the Dundarave commercial area as well as the continuity of the possible MBR. The retention of shared lanes with sharrows is noted but vehicular lane narrowing would be relevant here as well as the adoption of the cross-section used between 26th and 30th Streets.
  • We endorse the proposed prohibition of on-street parking along the westbound lane between 25th to 26th Street but suggest that the proposed painted separation for use by pedestrians and cyclists is quite inadequate and potentially dangerous. We would prefer to see a sidewalk as well as a separated, buffered bike lane with delineator poles installed.

Meetings with DWV staff

• On Tuesday, 28 February, Paul and Peter met with Heather Keith, Climate Action and Environmental Manager and Jenn Moller to discuss how improved cycling infrastructure can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the District.
• On Monday, 6 March, we plan to meet online with Jenn Moller, Director; Sean O’Sullivan, Traffic Operations Engineer; and Andy Kwan, Deputy Director, Engineering & Transportation Services.

Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure- Mike/Don

• Phibbs Exchange
  • Phase 1 just started (complete by May-2023?)
    • Detours with signage in place. The connection between Orwell and south side of main is a long ugly detour via Mtn Highway, or ride with traffic on the off-ramp. They will try to improve this in month or so if they can widen the off-ramp once they move some utilities.
  • Phase 2 will start after Phase 1 and finish in late 2024. Detours should be much better for this phase.

Communications & Outreach - Rueben/Paul/Heather

• let us know if there is something we should communicate about - blocked bike lanes, new infrastructure, etc.
• Twitter (Rueben)
  • Posted about the DNV 2023-2027 draft budget proposal (defers bike lane construction)
  • Documenting new and existing bike lanes (and related infrastructure). In February, posted photos of:
    • Esplanade Bike Lane construction
    • Secure bike storage at the Seabus (still behind a fence) and new test bus bike rack

• Facebook(Heather)
  • We now have 327 group participants and more joining each week
  • March topics:
    • Cyclist killed at Lonsdale and 23rd
    • St.Andrews
    • DNV Budget
    • Spirit Trail East
    • Injured person on Westmount
    • Broadway bike lanes
    • Library cargo bike loan program

• North Shore News - March
  • • Interviews with Stephen Lake (story about Spirit Trail) and Heather Drugge (story about cycling safety on 23rd street)
    • Column about Healthcare costs and active transportation

Schools - Paul Janzen

• School programs will resume mid month.