Another Richmond city council meeting has been called to deal with a proposed bike lane on Steveston Highway.
Instead of it being dealt with on June 12 as originally planned, an extra committee meeting – followed by an extra city council meeting where a final decision could be made – has been called for this Wednesday.
In a 5-4 vote, city council rejected to increase the bike lane funding in order to launch construction of the three-phased, three-metre-wide multi-use pathway that would run on the south side of Steveston Highway from Railway Avenue to Shell Road.
Concerns cited by city councillors were air quality and the safety of reducing lane widths on the busy street.
Rather, the suggestion was to move the project to Williams Road, which is already a dedicated bike road.
However, the $5.5 million in project funding from TransLink and the province can’t be transferred to that location.
The estimated cost of the Steveston multi-use bike/pedestrain project came out about $2.5 million more than expected after the city called for construction bids, but last week, this extra cost was voted down by city council.
Originally, the item was going to come back to the June 12 meeting
Two city councillors, Chak Au, who voted for the extra funding, and Bill McNulty, who voted against it, will be in Japan next week on a sister-city related trip.
In letters and presentations to city council, Steveston resident John Roston has been sounding the alarm about the air quality on Steveston Highway, that he thinks would negatively impact cyclists.
City staff report there are 50 diesel trucks travelling on Steveston Highway daily. This compared to more than 2,000 on Clark Drive in Vancouver.
Comparing Williams Road and Steveston Highway, city staff claim the air quality is “good” on both. They also note there are 50 driveways along the proposed Steveston Highway bike lane whereas there are 190 along Williams Road.
Staff estimate a protected bike lane on Williams Road would cost between $12.7 million and almost $17 million.
Roston, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in the October civic election, cites a report by the U.S. National Institutes of Health that showed commuters in cars with the windows closed had the least exposure to particulates. Cyclists had 8.7 times exposure to particulates than people in cars with the windows rolled up.
As for the lane width, city staff report that, even with the narrowing of the lanes, the curb lane will be more than half a metre wider that the minimum provincial requirements.
But, given concerns over the narrowling of lanes, city staff suggested widening them somewhat from the original plan - keeping the centre lanes the size they are now - all the while reducing the multi-use pathway and buffer boulevard.
Meanwhile, Evan Dunfee, Olympic racewalker who unsuccessfully ran for city council in the fall, argued against these changed, saying the new design is the "worst of all worlds," encouraging high speeds along Steveston. He noted a City of Surrey report that showed speeds decreased when lanes were narrowed.
This new design would lessen the buffer between cars and cyclists/pedestrians, he added, making it "less safe and less desirable."
"That means it will get used less and be viewed as a failure, stunting future continued expansion of our network," he said in a letter to mayor and council.
Furthermore, redesigning the project will delay it and increase costs, Dunfee added.
