May 2020
In attendance
Andrew Hartline Leon Lebrun, Dragana R, Vince Hanemeyer, Neil MacEachern, Kathryn, Richard Stewart, Richard Campbell
Agenda items
Mission reflection
HUB's mission is to get more people cycling more often.
Committee priorities reflection
- Improve our relationships with municipalities.
- Improve committee focus.
- Improve our visibility in the community.
COVID check-in
Vince Kathryn and Andrew have been enjoying the lack of traffic. Leon is still doing large distances, including on an e-bike due to health issues. He is running socially distant meet-ups. He's trying to set up greenway links and is interested in a Guildford Greenway. Richard Campbell has been spotting design issues.
Aligned messaging
Mayor Stewart is interested in creating aligned messaging that will help get cycling infrastructure through Council. Not "We got a letter from a cyclist that says to rip out the lanes on Guildford and build a MUP.
Guildford Greenway
Mayor Stewart got an e-bike for Chilko to help with health issues. He has been seeing a lot of feedback from "regular folks" who have suddenly become cyclists and have ideas for changing things. One idea is to get rid of the on-street lanes on Guildford (bad) and add a MUP "Guildford Greenway" (good). Mayor Stewart asked about justification for creating a lane on Guildford rather than Como Lake/ Austin/ other underserved east-west corridors. We let him know,
- there are a lot of amenities here (two SkyTrain stations, multiple rec centers, many elementary schools, two city halls, Coq Crunch, etc)
- There aren't many intersections.
- It might qualify for federal Translink funding.
- Having a Triple A connection there would be particularly effective because it's flat and there is demand for ridership from children.
What is Council's impression of the cycling community?
Vince asked Mayor Stewart who among members of the public has been providing feedback about cycling infrastructure. Emails go to Mayor and Council. Greenway parallel to Austin received poor public support. Leaves council having to be fairly courageous.
Vince asked whether we should try to create better contact with Councillors. Mayor: This council would be a lot more open-minded than past councils. E.g. in the past there was an ill fated attempt to get Councillors to ride on Guildford. Mayor: On Council the perception of the cycling community is kind of like the perception of the tennis community: a "dying sport"/ special interest group. Mayor Stewart would like to call a gathering of Council members, Engineering and HUB to discuss prioritization. Let's get to know each other and swap perspectives. (Scott S. to follow up?)
- Andrew to try and get Scott Shirley to work on this
- Leon has been on the advisory group where there were representatives from all of Vancouver planning greenways. He says If we have such a meeting it might be a benefit to have such a person there. He has a contact from the Regional District who contacted him about concerns with what the plans were missing.
Right now Coq council are putting high priority on Pitt River Road at Lougheed Highway, where fatalities have happened.
United Boulevard
Leon: There seems to be a fair bit of space behind businesses on United. Looking there you'd think it would be possible to create something. CP Rail asked Mayor Stewart for a favor and he was hoping that they could parley it into some space for a lane on United. Next to the corridor is 12-15 private property owners, some of whom use the land. Expropriating this land is complicated and when you get to the end, you need a bridge. And then you've got more property owners, a dump site, etc etc.
It looks like back streets and a southern connection are in the near future. Mayor Stewart would also like to see something behind the box stores.
Richard Campbell recommends getting the province and/ or feds involved. He mentioned MLA Selina Robinson and Minister McKenna. Mayor Stewart: She came on the bike trip in 2012. Mayor Stewart says that the city has only a chisel and rulebook, the province has power tools and writes the rules
Leon mentions that there was hardly any opposition to creating the Trans-Canada Trail. He says the tough part is adding really nice, friendly greenways that connect well. He mentioned that Metro Vancouver was also a big source of assistance.
Leon: We're fearful of getting something like this going because it will inconvenience someone. But every place where we manage to actually do it, the moment it comes into play, its value is simply self-evident and the political prospect of changing things back is nullified. Sometimes people need to see something in order to understand its real value. Campbell: This needs to be regional. Burnaby doesn't really care about the CVG. Pitt River Road belongs to PoCo. Right now Translink is losing $75M a week.
Feedback on COVID-19 separated routes
HUB Mothership want us to suggest a list of intersections/streets/areas that would support some temporary cycling/walking (or room for queuing/space) infrastructure projects to provide safe distancing during COVID. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfeqNGGCVxwBp72JG-Noiq8QnOOwVUzcJmN4bWDMds4pAK1jQ/viewform
Richard Campbell: Activity is only going to 40-60% of normal for the next year or so. Richard C. observed elderly people out at Lougheed Mall going off the sidewalk to avoid social contact. Leon: Two one-way sidewalks on Lansdowne would be nice. Mayor Stewart: Social distancing is working at Como Lake and Coq Crunch (appearances notwithstanding) But it's impossible on a four foot sidewalk. Lansdowne one-ways are complex too. Austin: during construction, could the city reallocate road space to sidewalks? There are complicated safety and liability issues. Perhaps the Province can provide a reduction of liability. Not requiring cities to take on all extra liability is a great idea.
TODO: Arrange meetings with MLAs Robinson, Farnsworth and Glumac about making it easier for municipalities to create temporary lanes. - Good Samaritan laws - Port Mann connection - Guidelines for creating temporary road re-allocations? Andrew and Vince
Action plan update
It's almost complete. We need to assign or clarify who point people are for a few remaining items. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VRhyjv56GyRwnjdd64PWEV_K_ywDsJ0sP2BX4LM_lHE/edit#heading=h.3g1z54t8gcv Recommended Cycling Routes during COVID to enable safe cycling (recommended 10 feet apart) Eg, specific trails/streets.
TODO: Add Map Gaps to the list Priorities and goals are mostly for us.
PoCo has an RFP out for a transportation plan.
Andrew to try and mobilize our email list to help get support for Coquitlam initiatives.
Colleen MacD is also a good candidate gap Point Person.
Dragana volunteered to see how our priority list matches the feedback Dragana volunteered to create some maps to visualize our Gaps.
Another gap: CVG - Lougheed Town Center. Let's make sure this is in our Gap List. It's one of the only places that's within reasonable cycling distance of the Port Mann Bridge. It's also a node on the Major Bikeway Network. Now that a bit of North Road has been re-allocated. "To Bikeway". North of Highway 1, just off North Road