Squamish is among three local municipalities to receive provincial grants to create new and improved pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.
Squamish will receive $172,947 for multi-use path project on Government Road.
The protected pathway along Government Road, between Depot and Axen Roads, will be accessible for all ages and abilities and will connect to an existing pathway leading to Brackendale Elementary school.
The busy pedestrian and cycling route has been recognized as a safe route to schools.
The 225 metre multi-use pathway will be built on the east side of Government Road.
This pathway will be three-metre wide, paved, and separated from Government Road with a barrier.
“The purpose of this project is to provide a protected pathway along Government Road for students and residents walking and riding in this area,” says the district.
“People throughout B.C. have a real appetite for safe, alternative ways of getting around,” said Claire Trevena, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. “One way to restart our provincial economy is to work with municipalities and Indigenous communities to support new active transportation projects.
“It has been just a year since our government launched our provincial active transportation strategy, Move. Commute. Connect. The funding we are providing will make it easier for people to connect and interact in their community, address the issues of climate change and congestion, and help with people’s physical and mental well-being.”
Jeff says
The path is great! Please extend it south to Dryden Rd. to help keep children safe traveling to and from the corner store and the Dryden/Kingswood area. Many children take this route to school and the east shoulder is unsafe. Make it part of the plans for the proposed 41665-41707 development??
Martin Fichtl says
Although the photograph printed in the Chief and the Squamish Reporter, with its computer-generated graphics, looks nice, make no mistake, the new construction on Government Road is bad design. Despite its good intentions, the District of Squamish has spent $173,000 to make an acceptable situation significantly worse.
Mixing bicycles with pedestrians is ‘worst practices’, yet that is what happens time and again in Squamish. It is well established that mixing pedestrians and cyclists is not progressive design and should be actively discouraged.
There is a fundamental misunderstanding by the DOS on how to build bike lanes. What is being done here in Squamish is very different from what is being done in other cities. The City of Toronto has an excellent website that describes how pedestrians and cyclists should be separated. Vancouver also has innovative bicycle infrastructure. UBC has an excellent resource in its Cycling in Cities Research Program.
The new design on Government Road, in addition to being ugly, eliminated the wide shoulder that was ideal for cyclists. Barriers have been installed and all pedestrian and bike traffic squeezed into a narrow zone. To be sure, this is non-standard design, with many associated problems. When I asked the District about the design, I was told that cyclists still have the option of riding on the roadway. However, a bicycle on the roadway with this new design will totally obstruct northbound traffic.
With all due respect to Mayor Elliot, the comment that this will “vastly increase safety” is wrong, or misleading at best. The first assumption is that the situation on Government Road was dangerous. It was not, as an absence of fatalities and injuries will attest to. The low traffic volume and 30 km/hr speed limit ensured safety. The second false assumption is that the new design is safer. It is not. It is actually non-functional. Even a cursory observation of the actual finished results would be obvious to casual viewer. The computer generated graphic shown above makes the new path look quite wide. It is not wide enough to allow pedestrians and cyclists to safely pass.
The reason progressive cities are moving away from mixed bike / pedestrian routes is the certainty with which this design increases injuries to both cyclists and pedestrians. Pedestrians, strollers, roller bladers, skate boarders, dog walkers, scooters, etc., are now going to mix with bicycles. Innovate design does not have to be expensive, it just has to be well thought out.