Burrard Bridge Basics
From the heat already being generated by letters to the editor on the Burrard Bridge, it’s clear that this is going to be a hot issue. So before the scorched-earth strategies start, how about agreeing on some basics?
Any solution should meet four criteria so that the resulting configuration or addition is safe, comfortable, practical and affordable. And that should be true for all modes of transport.
At the moment, the existing sidewalks are not safe for both cyclists and pedestrians. In fact, the accident that occurred when a cyclist fell into traffic (and the subsequent court case) determined that the status quo cannot continue. If another such accident occurred, the City would be extraordinarily vulnerable.
Nor can the situation be resolved by adding a railing along the edge of the sidewalk. The cyclists would tend to shift away from the barrier, crowding the pedestrians even more. The experience for everyone would be less comfortable – and that’s not a trivial consequence.
Walking across the Burrard Bridge deserves to be a small celebration of life in Vancouver. A place where your eye is on the view, not what’s coming up behind. A place where it’s okay to take a child along without having to worry whether she will take a step in the wrong direction. Or whether your dog will stretch the lease into dangerous territory. Where two or three friends can walk side by side. Where a photographer can take a step back backward to frame a picture. Where an inline skater can safely weave back and forth to slow down on a long slope.
The bridge should be accessible to everyone on both sides, because there are terrific views from English Bay to False Creek on both sides. This is a city that so loves its views that it designed its best bridge with lovely arches and balconies, and sidewalks that were designed for strolling, not for territorial conflict.
As for practical and affordable, that will take some more discussion – and no doubt there will be lots of that to come.
A good set of criteria. I do not think the public understands the enormous exposure that city taxpayers have with the status quo.
Most people do not realize that the City self-insures and that City taxpayers had to recently shell out an enormous legal settlement to a poor cyclist who was forced off the raised sidewalk by a pedestrian who stepped in her way. Crushed against the curb by a vehicle, fractured skull, broken bones, punctured lung. There are no engineering standards in the world that would support either the status quo, or the suggestion I frequently hear that we should just put bikes on one side (doubling the potential speed of collisions).
The bridge is special and something more than just a conduit for cars. Etched into my memory and experience of this city is my first bike trip over the bridge – sunny day, snow on the mountains, boats and water below, trees in blossom. These are the pleasures of walking, cycling or skating over the bridge. If we want to keep encouraging people to shift to these modes of mobility we need to grant them space.
I have a dream! That a parent planning a birthday party for a bunch of 7 year old kids in Stanley Park, can ride them all safely over the Burrard Bridge and back again. Won’t that be a joy!!
As a West End resident and a chicken cyclist, I feel frustratingly cut off from Kits (which is annoying to get to via transit) because of the terrible allocation of space on the bridge currently. I am so ready for this trial, there aren’t words.