2023-03-02 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!!
• DNV Council workshop on East 29th Bikeway - 5pm, Mon Feb 6th - Online(zoom) or in person at District Hall -

Goals & Objectives

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

Events

• Need a coordinator/organizer for events
• Spring Go By Bike Week

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.

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.
• Budget Deferrals
  • Basically all cycling related infrastructure on the current roadmap is proposed to be deferred out 5 years
  • Great energy at the workshop on Jan 29 council chambers from the audience - many of the "North Shore Civic Influencers"
  • Herman Mah, Jim Hanson, Catherine Pope, and Jordan Back all speaking in favour of not deferring the Active Transportation priorities: sidewalks & mobility lanes
  • Official HUB Input on Proposed Budget Plan 2023-2027 and Active Transportation

• East 29th
  • Letter sent to staff as HUB's input for the Workshop on Next Monday Feb 6th

• Upper Lynn Valley Rd
  • Mtn. Hwy to Peters Road (Phase 1) - mostly built
  • impressively brine striped in recent cold weather - specialty equipment

• Main St - Harbour Ave - Barrows
  • Main St section looks good.
  • Sent Project Mgr (Ben) comments on updated design for Harbour Ave & Harbour-Main Intersection
    • Generally design is good, but asked for protection to be added in bikelane buffers on Harbour.

• Proposed Blueridge trail
  • Eric Godot Andersen from the Blueridge Community Association will provide an outline of progress to date.
• Spirit Trail, East of Seymour planning:
  • Consultant doing report on phased development (over ~10 years)
  • Delayed due to limited staff - Requested staffing in 2023 budget

District of West Vancouver - Paul/Peter/Mike

1 February meeting with Engineering and Transportation Staff

• Paul and Peter met online for one hour and a half with Jenn Moller, Director; Sean O’Sullivan, Traffic Operations Engineer; and Andy Kwan, Transportation Engineer.

Longer Term Projects

• Council has reportedly endorsed the continuation of the Council's 2012-2022 Strategic Goal to Improve mobility and reduce congestion for people and goods including Active Transportation (AT).
• Ongoing environmental strategy planning will influence the priority assigned to AT.
• Transportation Planning (Mobility Planning) study currently on ‘pause’ pending rewrite of Terms of Reference to reflect new Council’s directions.
• Review of current pedestrian and cycling networks defined in OCP reveals feasibility problematic on some proposed links.
• HUB urged (a) a revised study to identify a hierarchy of routes in the bike network relating to M2M arterial and future rapid transit hub at Park Royal. HUB to meet with consultants at some point. (b)DWV to adopt a 5-year program of priority investments.
• Slow (30km/h) zone initiative not supported by counterfactual traffic speed monitoring data, so they might shift to other traffic safety measures.
• School access safety audit completed with issues identified both on-site and off-site school properties. Next steps to identify priorities and improvement costs.
• Ambleside/Dundarave recreational ‘family cycling loops’ and shared streets concept pending further investigation.
• Additional measures to slow street pilots on Bellevue and on Fulton are not being considered pending the Ambleside Local Area Plan outcome. We mentioned our suggestion for a traffic diversion on Bellevue at 23rd Street and there was a suggestion of converting Bellevue to a one-way street but there was no indication of follow-up action at this time on these two possibilities.
• No progress with the investigation of a Spirit Trail bypass to CN Rail underpass.
• WVPD has requested improved cycling safety along Marine Drive between 31st and Oxley (could be a continuation of the proposed 25th-31st improvement).

2023 Investment Program

• Continuation of ongoing projects:
  • Westmount Road – work to resume in Spring with plans to be finished by summer but facing some community pushback.
  • Marine Drive - 25th to 31st – proceeding with painted separated bike lanes with buffer strips but this infrastructure will not be AAA due to a narrow section near Rogers Creek and the need to minimize costs. A presentation to Council is expected in April for project approval and our offer to express to Council HUB's support for this initiative before their April Council meeting was appreciated. A future project would see a fully signalized intersection at 31st and Marine Drive.
  • Marine Drive – LG Bridge to DWV/DNV boundary (M2M component) – detailed design work (managed by DNV staff) proceeding in consultation with Squamish FN and MoTI. Implementation is planned for 2024. HUB assistance was requested with TransLink funding application.
  • Hugo Ray MUP – A consultant's design is proceeding for a MUP from Hugo Ray Connector up 3rd Street to Mathers Ave then west along Mathers to Hadden Drive then alongside Hwy 1 westbound exit ramps (MoTI liked this idea) to Taylor Way. After crossing Taylor Way, the MUP will continue west to Westcot Rd. The consultant's design is due at the end of February. HUB raised the issue of improved N-S bike/pedestrian access across Taylor Way interchange – a popular school access route.
• New projects:
  • Two-phase 2023 program, Phase 1 $200k; Phase 2 $390k
  • Detailed list of (minor) projects to be provided to HUB. Dept does not expect its proposed budget will be cut.
  • Peter presented his proposal for a green-painted bike lane crossing of Taylor Way for eastbound cyclists riding on the new separated bike path on the south side of Marine Drive alongside the Gateway Residences development (https://wiki.bikehub.ca/images/0/09/Gateway_bike_lane_exit_2022-11-07.jpg). After crossing Taylor Way, it would be nice to have a protected bike facility continuing eastward to the eastbound bridge over the Capilano River and continuing eastward down to the Capilano Pacific Trail. This improvement would require MoTI approval.

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 close to 300 group participants and more joining each week
  • January topics:
    • 29th street
    • St.Andrews
    • DNV budget
    • New Hunter Street bridge
  • February
    • Will promote Go by Bike week Feb 6-12

• North Shore News
  • Dec - Article on The Nod
  • Jan - Article Bike lanes review
  • Feb - Article on proposed MUP to Squamish

Schools - Paul Janzen

• School programs will resume mid month.