As spokesperson for Powell River’s municipal cycling plan, Tor Birtig is gearing up city council members for a $1-million strategy for making roadways bike-friendly.
Speaking to City of Powell River’s committee of the whole, Thursday, December 18, the director of infrastructure outlined a consultants’ report researched by ISL Engineering and Land Services to develop a cycling plan that staff can use as a guideline for budgeting and planning of cycling facilities throughout the city.
Birtig said the exercise grew out of the city’s Sustainable Official Community Plan (SOCP), where considerable interest was expressed in development of a cycling plan.
“We had a number of public meetings, met with various local cycling groups and worked in conjunction with the Powell River Cycling Association, especially Dr. [Chris] Morwood, with respect to this plan,” Birtig said.
“We wanted to encourage cycling so we had to have dedicated road space allocated to cycling. We looked at areas that would deliver the greatest ridership for the lowest cost.”
The plan recommends an annual budget of $100,000 for the 10-year construction schedule. He said the city currently has $200,000 in funds available that can carry forward from this budget year to facilitate work in 2015 if city council approves of the plan.
Birtig said the cycling plan ties in with the regional district’s transportation plan and its cycling components. He said the plan also examined how to link in with the highways and the current bike lane.
“This proposes to have two primary routes,” Birtig said. “One is the community feeder, which would link the likes of Brooks [Secondary] School, the hospital, the rec centre and the Town Centre Mall. We have a feeder bike route that would feed into that main route and tie-in to the regional route.
“We also discussed how we would connect the off-road trails to this cycling plan and provide signage so we can acknowledge and link-up those trails.”
Birtig said the development of this plan would require phasing. He said the city does not have the funding to carry out the whole network in one fell swoop.
The first phase would be a bike lane on Duncan Street so the city could connect with the Padgett Road bike lane and bring bike traffic into the city centre.
A bike lane on Manson Avenue is being proposed to connect with the Duncan lane and provide passage to Powell River Recreation Complex and Powell River General Hospital.
There is also a proposal for a bike lane and “sharrows,” which are shared lanes for bicycles and motor vehicle traffic, on Joyce Avenue, around the Town Centre area. The Joyce Avenue path would connect to the highway south of town.
As well, there would be bike lane and sharrow markings on Manson north of Joyce and Cranberry Street.
Birtig said Joyce created a fair amount of difficulty but what is being proposed is going from the current three-lane configuration in some places, narrowing the travel lane to 3.2 metres, the centre lane to three metres, and have a 1.2-metre bike lane on either side of the roadway.
On Joyce south, what is being proposed is going from the wide travel lane with parking on both sides of the road, to narrowing the travel lane, putting a bike lane on the west side and eliminating parking on that side. Parking would be permissible on the east side.
On Manson, bike lanes would be added where the road width permits and sharrow markings in places where the road is not wide enough for a dedicated bike lane.
“Right now the focus is on phase one and the bike lane that I mentioned,” Birtig said. “We are looking for approval of this bike plan so we can set the guidelines in motion.”
The committee of the whole will send the cycling plan to city council for consideration. The project, if approved by council, would be funded with gas tax money. Staff will continue to seek grant funding and partnership opportunities with stakeholders to advance the construction of cycling facilities in Powell River.
