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City of Powell River addresses cycling concern in Cranberry

Designated bike lane affects bottom line, says store manager
City of Powell River Active Transportation Plan
PARKING ACCESS: Due to implementation of City of Powell River’s Active Transportation Plan, drivers are no longer allowed to park on the east side of Manson Avenue in Cranberry, which is set aside for cyclists. Kris Carlson photo

A short stretch of bike lane that was put in place this summer on Manson Avenue as part of City of Powell River’s phased in Active Transportation Plan is causing problems for a local business and the city is letting it ride.

The decision came down to safety over convenience.

According to Mitchell Brothers grocery store manager Matt Rekve, designated lanes for cyclists across from the store are costing the business.

“Especially when it first happened, we had the bylaw officials coming by and handing out warnings and kind of chasing people off,” said Rekve. “That tends to lead to lost business.”

There is street parking in front of Mitchell Brothers, on the west side of Manson, but across the street there is a bike lane. The curb has been painted yellow, indicating no-parking and longtime customers of the store are not happy with the inconvenience.

Rekve said he is not against cyclists.

"It's fantastic having a safe place for my kids to ride and things like that but I would like to see some sort of dual use for the bike lanes,” he added. “If we could make room for both that would be great.”

The shared road for cyclists and vehicles was dismissed by city staff.

At committee of the whole of Tuesday, September 18, director of infrastructure Tor Birtig reported on a city review of traffic pattern and parking in the area of Manson Avenue between Drake and Gaudet streets.

Staff looked at various factors and options, according to Birtig, including roadwidth and allowance for both traffic and bikes, car doors opening, pedestrians crossing the street, parking and safety for cyclists.

It was determined that narrowing the traffic lane and adding a parking lane would not be feasible and not safeguard the cyclists.

Seeking a possible compromise, Powell River Cycling Association vice-president Christopher Morwood wrote a letter to council suggesting two possible solutions: bump-outs and pedestrian crosswalks.

Bump-outs are small concrete curb extensions that narrow the road and reduce driver speeds, don’t impede regular or emergency vehicle travel, provide a visual cue to drivers that they’re entering a mixed-use area, increase pedestrian visibility to drivers, and reduce distance for pedestrians to cross the street, stated Morwood.

“We felt that cyclists’ safety is still being compromised on the section,” said Birtig. “The bump-outs achieve something at the intersection but it doesn’t safeguard the cyclist prior to it.”

Another concern expressed by Rekve, is handicap accessibility to the store.

“We did put some parking in many years ago down the side of the building with wheelchair accessible ramps,” he said. “It's just too far for a lot of our customers.”

Council’s decision was to maintain the status quo by leaving the cycling lane and traffic pattern as is and allowing the public to get used to it, while conducting an education program through flyers because the no-parking bylaw is not being currently enforced, and investigate the possibility of designated handicapped parking in front of Mitchell Brothers.

It is new, it is a change,” said councillor CaroleAnn Leishman. “It’s not really enforcing it at this time so we can see how it plays out in the next little while.”