Last Thursday the City of Langley Parks and Environment Advisory Committee, which I am appointed to, got a sneak peak of proposed changes to the cycling and pedestrian network as part of the Master Transportation Plan update which the City is currently working on.
One of the interesting things that the people who are working on the Master Transportation Plan update recognize is that the City needs a full north/south and east/west cycling corridor as they noted that 60% of people would cycle if there was off-street or protected cycling facilities. Shoulder bike lanes really only serve 10% of the population that are considered hard-core cyclists.
In 2010, the Parks and Environment Advisory Committee passed a motion to have the City investigate installing segregated/protected bicycle facilities. I’ve been advocating for segregated/protected bicycle facilities for many years including on 53rd Avenue and 203rd Street.
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| Draft Concept Bike Network - City of Langley Master Transportation Plan. Click map to enlarge. |
The good news about this plan is that it now incorporates the off-street trail network into the cycling network, and even proposes some expansion to the off-street network. The proposed off-street network would serve as the main east/west corridor. The plans also suggests adding on-street bike lanes to 203rd Street to serve as the main north/south corridor.
The thing that concerns me is that this draft plan does not appear to be advocating for protected cycling facility on 203rd Street. 203rd Street is wide enough to accommodate protected cycling lanes will minimal effort, and as the writers of this update noted, protected cycling facilities are critical. I can only hope this gets changed before the updated plan gets adopted. Another observation is that both Surrey and the Township of Langley have installed on-street bike lanes along Fraser Highway. The City of Langley is not, so there appears to be a break in this regional cycling route. This is something that needs to be resolved.
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| Draft Concept Pedestrian Network - City of Langley Master Transportation Plan. Click map to enlarge. |
The updated plan also looks at filling in the sidewalk network, especially around school. This makes a lot of sense. One of the concerns I have is that many sidewalks north of the Nicomekl River and in the downtown core are actually too narrow when you consider the volume of people that use mobility aides in the area. I’m waiting to hear back if the plan will suggest sidewalk widening in those areas.
The maps in this post are draft and could be subject to change before the plan goes to a public open house for further comments shortly.
2 comments:
Thanks for the Update Nathan. I hope the City will be widening sidewalks as well. Especially along 203rd from Grade to the Nicomekl Floodplain. I "attempt" to walk these sidewalks with a stroller and literally have to walk sections on the road because they are too narrow/unsafe. 203rd should definitely be a North/South corridor with proper bike lanes, wider sidewalks and trees in between the street and sidewalk for a sense of safety. 203rd should be re-done, in my opinion, from 53rd South to Grade Cres.
Surrey should connect to Langley with 52/53 Ave from Cloverdale so Highway 10 cyclists can bypass Highway 10 with either 60 Ave or a southern less hilly route. At 192 cyclists could connect to Langley along the pathways along the Nicomekel river.
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