Ideas flow for Greenway project
The Arbutus Greenway came to life Sunday in illustrations and sketches as part of a “design jam,” but the real project is still a long ways away with a final recommended design expected to come before Vancouver city council next summer.
About 100 “Arbutus Champions” from across the city gathered for a weekend workshop to brainstorm ideas and possible designs for the greenway, a former railway corridor which goes from near False Creek to the Fraser River in the city’s west side.
“This is a big project — it’s nine kilometres long, it’s 42 acres. It’s rare that we get to design this much of the city all at once,” said Lon LaClaire, the city’s director of transportation at the event, which was open to the public on Sunday.
The inspiration for the crosstown greenway is the city’s famed 28-kilometre seawall, which goes from Stanley Park to Spanish Banks Park, added LaClaire.
“The way that people really enjoy, especially on a sunny day like today, walking and cycling around the city, the aspiration for the Arbutus Corridor is that it delivers all of that seawall experience cutting across the city.”
The corridor will have a walking and cycling path, as well as space for a future streetcar route. But the goal is to have it be more than just a transportation corridor, said LaClaire.
“There’s a recreational community building aspect to it. That’s where (from) the participants we see a lot of inspiration coming. Along the route, there is great opportunity for us to create places where communities can gather — plazas, perhaps community gardens or spaces for fairs and things like that.”
Fitting the pedestrian path, bike lane and the streetcar in some of the narrower sections of the Arbutus Greenway is among the trickiest parts of the greenway’s design, said LaClaire.
“We’re trying to achieve a lot in a limited amount of space,” he said.
Some of the proposals presented at the design jam at Point Grey Secondary in Kerrisdale on Sunday include a bike roundabout anchored with public art, a tree house, stargazing areas, and pop-up hammocks and thinking pods.
Vancouver resident Liz Nelson said she’d like to see a more practical feature: Garbage and recycling cans. “It’s desperately needed,” she said. “We went on the greenway from West 4th Avenue to here (37th Avenue) and we counted two garbage cans, just two, and no recycling.”
She’d also like to see more public art. “I look forward to seeing how it all comes together,” she said. “I hope they don’t ruin it. It has great potential.”
Coun. George Affleck, who was attending the event with his kids, said he hopes the turnout and ideas from the workshop will contribute toward a design that’s “holistic” and “meets the needs of as many people as possible in the city.”
One idea he saw that jumped out at him was a proposal for both a fast and a slow, casual lane, for bikes. “One of the challenges we’re facing with bike lanes is some people feel intimidated by the speeds,” said Affleck. “That’s an interesting idea if there’s enough space.”
Stein Gudmundseth, who lives near 16th Ave. and Arbutus, said he’d like to see two-thirds of the bike and pedestrian lanes dedicated to pedestrians only, and onethird to cyclists.
The current design — where the bike and pedestrian lanes are evenly split, “is a recipe for accidents,” he said. “That should be revised. Otherwise the idea of taking over the greenway, we should have done that long ago.”
After a protracted negotiation, the city purchased the corridor from Canadian Pacific Railway for $55 million in 2016.
Since then, the city has built a temporary path, allowing cyclists and pedestrians alike to enjoy the greenway.
To improve safety, the city intends to install traffic lights on Broadway, 12th Avenue and Marine Drive where the greenway intersects with the arterial roads in the coming months.
The designs that emerged from the weekend’s design jam will be incorporated into a “preferred design” the city will present to the public next spring. A recommended design, with a multiphase schedule, will be presented to council in June or July of 2018.
LaClaire said funding will depend on how much money is approved in the next capital plan, which will go before voters in next year’s election.
“It’s quite possible some sections, with some minor improvements the temporary path can work for years to come,” he said. “In other areas, there’ll be a good opportunity to make a good investment and deliver on what the community is expecting.”