Low Level Road Project

Screen capture from Port Metro Vancouver's Low Level Road Preferred Design video

Urge the City of North Vancouver and Port Metro Vancouver to provide a cycling and walking path on the new Low Level Road

The Low Level Road project has the potential to provide a safe and direct cycling route that links Lower Lonsdale with the future Lower Lynn Town Centre and with the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. The Low Level Road is also part of the North Shore’s main east-west connection for cyclists.

Port Metro Vancouver's current preferred design envisions a highway-style road on this truck route with paved shoulders that double as bike lanes, without separated facilities for cyclists or pedestrians.

Take Action:

1. Please write to the Council of the City of North Vancouver before June 18 that you support Councillor Bookham's motion to extend the decision deadline date for the Low Level Road design and to consider adding a safe, separated multi-use path on the south side. What would a separated bike path along the new Low Level Road would mean to you, your family, your employees and your community?
2. Please sign our petition before June 18.

South side Low Level Road multi-use path proposed by HUB

Council of the City of North Vancouver contacts:

• dmussatto@cnv.org
• dbell@cnv.org
• pbookham@cnv.org
• lbuchanan@cnv.org
• rclark@cnv.org
• gheywood@cnv.org
• ckeating@cnv.org

Low Level Road Project Team contacts:

• dpope@cnv.org
• tbarber@cnv.org
• Mailbox_Public_Affairs@portmetrovancouver.com

Background:

• Low Level Road runs along the railway tracks and the waterfront escarpment, between Cotton Drive in the east and Esplanade in the west.
• Low Level Road is a key section of the essentially flat east-west bike route through North Vancouver, which provides connections to Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and Lions Gate Bridge.
• Port Metro Vancouver plans to raise and move Low Level Road north (to where the escarpment currently is) to increase rail capacity. The public consultation guide is on the Port Metro Vancouver website.

Issues:

• While the project would eliminate water pooling and widen bike lanes, it does not provide cycling facilities that most people prefer or would use (UBC (2006), Cycling Motivators and Deterrents in Metro Vancouver).
• Cycling beside fast moving vehicles, especially semi-trailer trucks, can be very intimidating. Especially when traveling west, cycling on a painted bike lane between fast moving traffic and a high retaining wall would be frightening to most people.
• The Spirit Trail above Low Level Road is a nice recreational trail for some trips by bike, but it is a much steeper and less direct route. It does not connect well with Cotton Drive and Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. It is secluded and unlit, which is deters use for a significant part of the year.
• The project plan does not provide for pedestrian facilities on Low Level Road, except at the eastern end between Neptune Terminal and Cotton Drive.

HUB-NS Objectives:

The HUB North Shore Committee strongly recommends a separated 4.5 metre path on the south side of the new Low Level Road. Westbound cyclists who prefer using the road instead of the path would still be able to use the paved shoulder on the north side. This recommendation is supported by the BC Cycling Coalition and is similar to designs of other new and proposed major infrastructure projects in Metro Vancouver.

Please see the pdf files below for a full documentation of our response to the public consultation hosted by Port Metro Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver.

Feedback to the Low Level Road Project February 2011

Presentation to Council April 18, 2011

Feedback to the Low Level Road Project May 2011

Feedback to Low Level Road Project March 2012

Presentation to Council May 23, 2012

Feedback to the Project Team June 04, 2012

Responsible Bodies:

• City of North Vancouver
• Port Metro Vancouver