$500,000 move: 11 Fort St. trees coming down to save parking
Downtown merchants raise concerns about loss of stalls from bike-lane project
Eleven trees in the 600 block of Fort Street will come down in the new year to make way for parking spots as part of the $3.27-million separated bike-lane project.
Under the original plan, the trees would have not have been affected. But concerns by local merchants over loss of car parking brought about a last-minute $500,000 change to save eight parking stalls in the 600 block of Fort.
The change means narrowing the sidewalk and losing the trees. Replacement trees are to be planted elsewhere along the street.
Notices have been put on the trees to advise of their upcoming removal.
“The chamber of commerce and the businesses asked for those parking spots to be saved. So we’re saving the parking spots,” Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said.
“The trees are going but the city’s tree bylaw says that for every tree that comes down, two new ones need to be planted. So there will be new trees planted somewhere along the Fort Street corridor.”
City staff said that six replacement trees are planned along the corridor itself.
The city broke ground on the bike lane in September and the project is scheduled to be completed in May.
The all ages and abilities bike lane will run on the north side of Fort between Wharf and Cook streets. Cyclists will ride both east and west on the two-way lane, separated from motor vehicle traffic by a combination of paint and bollards, parked vehicles and concrete barriers. There will be dedicated traffic signals for cyclists.
Overall, 95 per cent of parking on Fort Street will be retained.
Phase one of the city’s planned 32-kilometre cycling network is for 5.4 kilometres of bike track along downtown streets.
The Fort Street bike lane is the second leg of Phase 1. The first leg, a two-way separated lane on Pandora Avenue between Wharf and Cook was completed in April at a cost of $3.42 million.
The 5.4-kilometre downtown network consists of:
• Protected two-way bike lanes on Pandora Avenue and Fort Street between Cook and Wharf streets.
• Protected two-way bike lanes on the west side of Wharf between the Johnson Street Bridge and Government Street.
• Protected two-way bike lanes on the south side of Humboldt Street between Government and Douglas streets, and shared road use between Douglas and Cook.
• One-way protected bike lanes on both sides of Cook Street between Pandora and Pakington Street.