2020-03-12 Summary

Attendees: Don. P., Heather D, Peter S, Tammy S. Erika R, Fiona W, Fred R.

Goals & Objectives

• 2020 Goals Overview - presentation
  • Implementation of 3 top priority Bikeways
    • Analysis of current state all segments of the 3 Bikeways and next steps for each
  • Establish communications with community stakeholders re Bikeways.
    • Set-up meeting with West Van Chamber of Commerce & Ambleside Dundarave BIA

Action: Peter to provide contacts.

• • • Prepare message to share with NS Cycle clubs/organization -

Action: Heather/Don to prepare drafts

General

• Schedule Meetings with North Shore MLAs - Don
  • Ride with Bowwin Ma on Feb 29th - Antje/Erika
    • Requested help getting MoTI to involve us in their "Highway 1 Corridor Study"
    • Requested support for Bikeway E of Hwy1 between Mt Seymour Parkway and Dollarton.

Events - Fred

• All cancelled for the next couple of months.
• Blueridge Good Neighbour Day – Sun 14-June?

Letters

• Barb re: Grand Blvd / 19th crossing and Green Necklace @ 23rd bollards - Jay responding by acknowledging issue with lack of space and guidance at intersection and why we do not recommend MUPs for the bollards.

City of North Vancouver - Erika/Heather

• New progress toward 3 Priority Routes tracker [1]
• City Initiatives Tracker [2]
• HUB Letter to CNV Council Re: Esplanade
  • CNV's plan for Esplanade does not call for any improvements until late next year:
  • Liaisons have sent a letter about Esplanade for City Council to ensure our views are on public record. It requests immediate temporary parking removal to improve safety.
  • We have asked Staff to look at quick and simple alternates to Esplanade

• February 27th Meeting with City of North Vancouver Staff - [3]
• Phase 1 Mobility Network Projects Update
  • Off-Marine route (HUB Main to Marine Route West from Bewicke to MacKay)

includes parking protected or other physically separated route from Fell to MacKay. Improvements to the Fell and 1st intersection. Northside along 1st potentially parking protected. South side along 1st curb separated. In this segment, provision will be made for passing, but not throughout the entire route. Passing lane concept.

• • • March 12th public consultation for this 1st St route - cancelled.
    • Use CNV's Online feedback tool
    • Action: Liaison's to prepare HUB NS response letter.
    • July construction (after the Mosquito Creek project releases both travel lanes)?

• • RapidBus Impacts on Cycling
    • Rapid bus launches April 6th , 2020.
    • March 16 buses to start taking Rogers Avenue down to the Quay along Esplanade.
    • March 23rd full route testing

• Gap at Gardenworks site
  • This site will come up for public consultation in spring. Plan is to develop into condos. This area is key to creating a 3rd street bike route connecting across the “5-corners” at Marine, Bewicke, and 3rd. Current plan is for 3m MUP through the Gardenworks site. HUB to ensure members and community participate in consultation.
  • Action: Liaisons to ask for 4m path to allow separation of Cyclist and pedestrians instead of a MUP.

• Paving Schedule
  • Action: Liaisons to ask for a list with bike lanes highlighted.

• Next meeting to be scheduled for early May

District of North Vancouver - Jay/Ryan

• Targeted OCP Review
  • awaiting workshop outcomes
• Weekly Traffic Bulletin
  • Updated every Friday on DNV website and highlights not only construction closures / work zones but the purpose of the closures (i.e. new bike lanes, sidewalks etc) [4]
• Walk through of Salop Trail and Mountain Hwy / Keith intersection to review outstanding issues and next steps summary provided to DNV staff:
  • Tentative wayfinding signage was provided. It was noted sign 3 should direct unfamiliar riders to LCTC to the right via the pathway network rather than down Brooksbank. Should also consider space for future westbound / north destinations via the Casano / Loutet connection. More comments / suggestions potentially to follow.
  • Requested bollards be moved back and reduced from 2 to 1 post at Mountain Highway southbound / west side exit to Salop. DNV reviewing curb transition here and at Shavington entrance.
  • Bollard at entrance from Old Mountain cul-de-sac will be removed.
  • DNV to review concrete barrier arrangement at Salop trail connection.
  • We discussed the fundamental issues with the two-stage turns. Although both directional buttons can be activated from a stopped position to facilitate the two-stage turn, for those entering the intersection on green, there is no way around pushing back to reach the far side button. This should only be an issue when there is no traffic to activate the green phase, however, at the very least the southbound black on white regulatory sign indicating cyclists to use two stage crossing needs to be changed to green.
  • Requested no right turns on red and delineators in SW corner. It was also noted the traffic lights are cycling through all phases in the absence of demand, which increases delays to all users particularly in off peak / early morning hours. These items are being forwarded to the City.
  • Diagonal hatching between bike lane buffer striping. DNV indicated the hatching is typically only applied when the width exceeds 0.5 m.
  • A few items were noted for follow up with the BC MoTI including some temporary fencing that was blocking pedestrian pushbuttons at the interchange ramps.
  • Arbourlynn pathway connection is to tie-in somehow with the new north side MUP that will connect across Lynn Creek and reach the northeast corner of the Mountain Highway westbound off-ramp. Property is very constrained here and practically the movement needs to be accommodated on the east side. I have sketched up a possible road diet to try to accommodate what will be an attractive connection to the Phase 2 and 4 works. See follow up meeting with staff below.
• Meeting with DNV staff March 6
  • North end of Mtn Hwy overpass to connect with Arbourlynn:
    • Jay had sent a a proposal to provide bike access in this area a while ago.
    • They are considering 3 options:
    • 1) buy land from the adjacent houses on the east side - $$$
    • 2) shift the road west (what they should have done back when the project started) but there is a power line and major sewer connection in this area $$
    • 3) narrow the uphill lane to 1 lane, eliminate the weave lane and adjust the traffic lights - but they need MOTI’s permission, DNV will review traffic measurements to see volumes.
    • They are actively working on this as they see the need for a major 2-way bike connection to the North side of the Hwy off ramp, and Lynn Valley
    • We also talked about the Arbourlynn routes to LVTC but these does not seem to be top of their list (even though they are relatively easy)
    • They also have been looking at a Arbourlynn+Hoskins+Ross route and path on the bottom portion of 20th Street, but Arbourlynn+Viewlynn+27th is more direct.
    • Ingrid is working on the Casano connector route to LV TC. We previously expressed concerns over the steepness of this route.
  • Upper Lynn Valley Road bike lane
    • They have a couple options ready for public consultation in May, then hoping to take a final proposal to council workshop in Sep.
    • Parking studies show that only 1 side is needed, except up by Dempsey/End-of-the-line cafe. They will also show an all parking removed option that would permit bike lanes both ways but expect that the uphill only bike lane will be the preferred choice. We expressed concerns about the downhill sharrows/door-zone/passing and they seemed to accept it should have to be a well marked shared lane.
  • Protection options on Lower Lynn Valley Rd and 29th.
    • They agree that the current bollards are not sufficient. They are considering a few options.
    • The one product they showed us were a curb with flexible bollards: http://www.qwickkurb.com
    • These seem to be more substantial and would be a big improvement. Potentially “interested but concerned” folks would use them.
    • They are checking to see if they can squeeze the lane widths on Lower Lynn Valley Road to fit them in and price them. They are going to try to get quotes for delineation product for 29th this month and hope to install them this summer.
    • We talked about snow and the consensus was live with snow in the cycle lanes for a few weeks a year, so we can have protected bike lane for the other 50 weeks of the year. DNV has a small sweeper in the budget for this year (250K) and we asked they make sure it would fit in 1.5m bike lanes and if it had a snow blower attachment.
  • Priorities

Stressed that our 3 bikeways and bridgeheads should be top priorities in order to address the primary goals council has set (climate emergency and road congestion). We talked about Main Street between 2nd narrows and CNV. They have land, and in future it will be a bus lane, but don’t have $$ to move the power lines for the bus lane. They will look at what they can do to get a bike lane down this stretch. We suggested converting the 2 m sidewalk + grass on the north side to 2 m bike + 2 m pedestrian, and suggested they check what CNV has done on 100 block W Esplanade. They are also studying bike routes via 27th to Edgemont and into Deep Cove. These should be lower priority. We proposed squeezing the traffic lanes on Mt Seymour parkway, especially at the west end to allow adding a buffer/protection to the existing bike lanes. Suggested that a lower concrete barrier might be cheaper and better than the quick curb, since there are no driveways, but they are not sure how much room they have if required shy distance to the hard barrier face could be maintained.

• Issues tracker: [5]

District of West Vancouver - Paul/Peter

• ParticipAction’s ‘Community Better Challenge’ - date? - Paul
  • how can we encourage more cycling via this?
• On 27 February, Paul and Peter had a meeting with John Calimente with the following agenda:
  • Main/Marine bikeway:
    • protected bike lanes are planned east and west between Capilano Road and Taylor Way;
    • first eastbound section to be completed this year between Lions Gate Bridge and Capilano Road;
    • there is space for an eastbound protected bike lane from Taylor Way to the eastbound bridge over the Capilano River but not yet planned;
    • westbound sections will be completed along with developments at Lions Gate Village, old Earl's restaurant site and 303 Marine Drive;
    • we were shown a plan for the Taylor Way intersection with MUP crossings between the NE and NW corners; NW and SW corners; and between the SW and SE corners;
    • John seemed interested our suggested option of a route connecting the Spirit Trail from the Taylor Way interesection via the south side of Marine Drive and the Capilano Pacific Trail;
    • John speculated that in a future development of Park Royal North there could be room for a protected westbound bike lane from Taylor Way to the traffic signaled intersection on Marine Drive;and
    • wrt the upcoming planning process for the Ambleside Town Centre Local Area Plan, we discussed possible protected bikeways through or adjacent to the Town Centre and protected bikeway connections east and west of it to Park Royal and Dundarave respectively;
  • We were shown engineer plans for motor vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists at both the east and west ends of Welch Street Bridge.
  • We did not have time to find out a timetable for pilot protected bike lanes on Marine Drive from 26th to 31st Streets;
  • TransLink's project to install 700 m of bike lanes on Marine Drive in both directions west of the West Van Yacht Club will not proceed due to feasibility and costs;
  • We will be able to provide input to the update of the DWV Strategic Transportation Plan which will be prepared by a consultant;
  • We discussed and agreed in principal with possible new bike east-west bikeway on Esquimalt from 21st to 12th Streets and Kings/Jefferson route from Taylor Way to 25th Street;
  • We were shown engineer plans for the Upper Level MUP, Haddon to Taylor Way;
  • We were also shown engineer plans for that section of the Upper Level MUP leading into and alongside Cyprus Bowl Road; and
  • Finally, John gave is an updated wayfinding signage plan with 35 signs for the area east of Taylor Way and the east part of the British Properties as far north as the northern edge of the Capliano Golf Course.
  • We did not discuss the upcoming planning process for Cyprus Village – possible protected bikeways through the Village and connections east and west of it.
• On 27 February, Paul and Peter presented HUB's 2019 UnGapTheMap aware to Dustin Bergsrom from the DWV Engineering divisionfor completion of the Hugo Ray Connector (http://wiki.bikehub.ca/northshore/index.php?title=File:Dustin_Bergstrom_accepting_HUB_award_2020-02-27_IMG_2711.JPG).
• Paul has initiated consultations with Tammy, DWV staff and school board reps wrt to bicycle education and bike to work week participation in West van School District 45.
• We have provided input to the HUB Priority Routes Implementation Tracker on the Main to Marine bikeway west of Capilano Road.

MOTI - Antje/Jay

• Mountain Highway Interchange
  • Walk through planned with DNV staff to identify remaining issues - see DNV summary above
  • After DNV walk through raise remaining issues in MOTI jurisdiction with project manager Jay Porter
• Main-Dollarton Interchange
  • Provided feedback to MOTI on latest design and asked for more information on rebuilding approaches to existing tunnel and on potential new tunnel design
  • Recommended bike path (bike highway) along east side of Hwy 1 between Main and Fern, to connect with new path system at Lillooet Interchange
• Maintenance of bridges to Vancouver and Stanley Park Causeway
  • No response to our letter on this and other maintenance issues nor any changes to wayfinding
  • Causeway paths were swept in December by Miller Capilano on request (Antje) but northbound path badly overgrown with brambles, which is Vancouver Park Board responsibility.
• Hwy 1 North Shore Corridor Study Lynn Valley to Horseshoe Bay
  • HUB-NS to review and update priority cycling improvements in MOTI jurisdiction
  • Antje received Ungap the Map files from Vancouver committee/HUB HQ
  • Next step: Antje to draft priority cycling improvements in January and send to email discussion list for feedback

Schools - Tammy/Martyn

• Presented at the North Shore Safety Council meeting Dec-4 about HUB's School Education programs that are available.
• Met on January 29 with Natalie Corbo at City of North Vancouver to understand how HUB ride programs were funded at schools in the City.

• Next steps are to set up meeting with Communications Manager at North Van School District and with Transportation Planner at DNV to see how we can get school buy-in and funding in the DNV.

Developers - Fred/Don

• Need to develop objectives for our"Community Engagement" with Developers.
  • The primary focus is to get developers to provide better bicycle facilities.
  • Base this on HUB's [More than Just Bike Racks] document and improve on that.
  • Residential:
    • Bike parking that is Secure, convenient, accessible and safe,
    • Charging facilities for ebikes
    • preferably with a small work/cleaning space
  • Commercial:
    • Secure, easily accessible bike parking
    • shower/change facilities
  • Visitors/customers:
    • convenient, covered parking - preferably in a high visibility area
  • Connections to bikeways

• Currently active:
  • Cap Mall redevelopment - Initial Public comments -
  • Park Royal ...- want to add 95 rental units, with no parking
  • Proposed West Vancouver council bicycles parking requirements bylaw stemming from CEEP and the Climate Emergency declaration.
  • TRC Maplewood Plaza mixed use development.
    • 75 long term residential/commercial bike parking/storage
    • 6 short term bike parking
    • Developer very receptive to concept of a secure bike room on EACH floor of building similar to adjacent Maplewood Plaza project already approved.

Communications & Outreach - Heather/Antje/James/Martyn

• Still need to summarize our meeting from last fall
• Next step: build high-quality photo library of utility cycling on the North Shore that can be used for social media, communications and provided to the media (e.g. North Shore News)
• LV Blogger -
• Meeting with Lower Lonsdale BIA
  • <<add summary>>

BC Ferries - Peter S

• HSB Terminal input now closed. Our key issues:
  • Access to Ticket Booths from both Highway and Spirit Trail
  • Holding areas for Cyclists
  • Protected Bikepath from terminal to Exit 0 (Spirit Trail) and also to Highway shoulder
• InterIsland Ferry design consultation just starting - need link
• Next Steps???

Translink - Fred/Antje

• e-Bikes on Buses announcement by Translink Buzzer - as of 5 Feb 2020 now allowed!!! https://buzzer.translink.ca/
• Bike parking at Exchanges:
  • Next Steps?