Busy bike lanes should be permanent: report

Separated bicycle lanes on Dunsmuir and Hornby Streets are being heavily used and should be made permanent, says a staff report going to Vancouver city council next week.

The lane over the Dunsmuir Viaduct showed a 19 per cent increase in bike traffic year- over- year since being installed in April 2010. A total of 411,000 trips were recorded between April 2011 and March 2012.

But the lion’s share of bike trips are still being made on the Burrard Bridge’s now- permanent bike lanes, which over the same period recorded just over one million trips. Overall, bike traffic increased eight per cent for the Dunsmuir Viaduct and Burrard lanes combined.

Bike traffic on Hornby Street’s separated lane, which was only opened in January 2011, is less. In the three months between January and March, 59,000 trips were recorded, up four per cent from the same period last year. The city says overall about 380,000 bike trips were made on Hornby in 2011.

The city spent $ 4.1 million installing all of the lanes.

Staff are also recommending the city not change the prohibition on vehicle right turns from Dunsmuir on to Hornby and Seymour. Engineers looked into allowing right turns after drivers complained.

However, staff said opening Hornby and Seymour to right- turn traffic would be costly. No change is being recommended to the current rules.