City of Langley to host open house on 203rd Street project

Last fall, the City of Langley received $2.9 million from the provincial and federal governments to upgrade the 203rd Street Bridge over the Nicomekl River. The project also includes replacing the traffic light at 203rd Street and 53rd Avenue with a roundabout. The total project cost is budgeted at $5.6 million. The project's scope is 203rd Street between Grade Crescent and Michaud Crescent.

The City's preliminary concept included unprotected shoulder bike lanes, plus 2.5 metre sidewalks on both sides of the roads which they call multi-use paths.

203rd Street has a wide right-of-way which currently creates a challenge for people that live along that corridor. Wide roads send a signal to people to drive fast. Speeding along 203rd Street is common, and it is impacting the quality of life for people that live on that corridor. There are near-misses when backing out of driveways, near-missing when using crosswalks, and the inability of people with mobility-assistance devices to use sidewalks along the 203rd Street corridor.

Wide, safe pedestrian-only sidewalks and protected bike lanes are the only way to promote activity transportation along a corridor like 203rd Street.

As I posted about in the fall, 203rd Street is a key multimodal corridor for Langley as it connects to the Township of Langley’s cycling and trail network, Downtown Langley, the Nicomekl Floodplain Trail System, the Power Line Trail System. The City of Langley has a once in a lifetime opportunity to make walking, cycling, and driving safer, plus enhance the quality of life for people that live along 203rd.

This is why the Park and Environment committee passed a motion last fall asking for protected bike lanes to be integrated into the 203rd Street corridor project.

I spent some time working on a concept that would fit within the 203rd Street right-of-way, and would create a 203rd Street that would address the needs of residents and all roads users.

An example cross-section of 203rd Street that would serve all road users while improving the quality of life for people that live along the corridor. Select image to enlarge.

While I don’t expect this to be the final design, it is meant to show what is possible.

The City of Langley will be hosting an open house at the end of this month about their plan for 203rd Street. The details are as follows:

Location: Nicomekl Elementary School Multi‐Purpose Room
20050 53 Avenue, Langley
Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Time: 4PM to 8PM

Hopefully the City has an updated design concept that will create a safe, multimodal 203rd Street corridor.