Metro Vancouver Bike & Pedestrian Discussion

[madog222]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Anyone have an idea as to the longest uninterrupted bike lane route in the metro area? There must be some fairly long ones by now, given the progress over the years.

BC Parkway or Arbutus Greenway?

[Lexus]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Anyone have an idea as to the longest uninterrupted bike lane route in the metro area? There must be some fairly long ones by now, given the progress over the years.

How do you define uninterrupted? You can find a good long stretch on HWY 17, its shoulder considered a bike lane.

[Zepfancouver]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Anyone have an idea as to the longest uninterrupted bike lane route in the metro area? There must be some fairly long ones by now, given the progress over the years.

The answer is the Sea Wall (28km). But I know your question is more in the direction of commuting from Point A to Point B in a shortest straight line

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Lexus

How do you define uninterrupted? You can find a good long stretch on HWY 17, its shoulder considered a bike lane.

There are a lot of shoulder bike lanes in Surrey. King George from 8th Ave all the way up to 98th Ave is marked as such on google maps. Fraser Hwy and 64th Ave are both long stretches too. I'm kind of surprised that Scott Road only has a bit over by the Skytrain.

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by madog222

BC Parkway or Arbutus Greenway?

Originally Posted by Lexus

How do you define uninterrupted? You can find a good long stretch on HWY 17, its shoulder considered a bike lane.

Originally Posted by Sheba

There are a lot of shoulder bike lanes in Surrey. King George from 8th Ave all the way up to 98th Ave is marked as such on google maps. Fraser Hwy and 64th Ave are both long stretches too. I'm kind of surprised that Scott Road only has a bit over by the Skytrain.

Originally Posted by Zepfancouver

The answer is the Sea Wall (28km). But I know your question is more in the direction of commuting from Point A to Point B in a shortest straight line

Thanks for the responses, and sorry for not being as clear as I should have been. I was thinking about long stretches of separated bike paths like the images in the previous posts so that one's exposure to vehicles is limited, as opposed to only a painted line. Commuting or leisure doesn't matter, it was more idle curiousity and looking for ideas as to where to ride.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Thanks for the responses, and sorry for not being as clear as I should have been. I was thinking about long stretches of separated bike paths like the images in the previous posts so that one's exposure to vehicles is limited, as opposed to only a painted line. Commuting or leisure doesn't matter, it was more idle curiousity and looking for ideas as to where to ride.

The only ones I can think of are the BC Parkway, Central Valley Greenway and Arbutus Greenway. There are other separated lanes being built now but for the moment they're all shorter segments combined with on-road riding.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Sheba

The only ones I can think of are the BC Parkway, Central Valley Greenway and Arbutus Greenway. There are other separated lanes being built now but for the moment they're all shorter segments combined with on-road riding.

I suspect that @Zepfancouver's pick - the Seawall - is the winner.

[Tvisforme]

Thanks, that gives us quite a few nice rides to check out as the weather improves. It's a good excuse to get off the North Shore and explore.

[SkytrainCar026]

I have a few more suggestions. Some have road crossings, but these trails are entirely separated from traffic.

- Shell Road Trail (Richmond)
- Seymour Valley Trailway (North Van)
- Boundary Bay Trail (Delta) - This one is 20 km long
- Serpentine Greenway (Surrey)

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Thanks, that gives us quite a few nice rides to check out as the weather improves. It's a good excuse to get off the North Shore and explore.

The seaside route is quite nice. It's either completely separated from traffic, on quite local streets, or on off-street paths. I would recommend coming over the Lionsgate if you can stomach the climb, taking Chilco over to the Beach bike lane, crossing the Burrard bridge, and then following Seaside as far as Spanish Banks.

I also really like the BC Pkwy and the CVG. If you're feeling like a very long ride you can do a loop through Burnaby and New West. Those paths are great from a safety perspective so you just need to figure out how to get to them. 1st through OV and then GNW through Mount Pleasant feed directly into the eastern terminus of the CVG (both are protected) so if you're coming from DT it's pretty easy to get onto them.

The longest on-street bikeway worth its salt may be Adanac/Union/Dunsmuir/Mellville. Protected everywhere with heavy traffic volumes and good local streets once you pass Main.

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

The seaside route is quite nice. It's either completely separated from traffic, on quite local streets, or on off-street paths. I would recommend coming over the Lionsgate if you can stomach the climb, taking Chilco over to the Beach bike lane, crossing the Burrard bridge, and then following Seaside as far as Spanish Banks.

I also really like the BC Pkwy and the CVG. If you're feeling like a very long ride you can do a loop through Burnaby and New West. Those paths are great from a safety perspective so you just need to figure out how to get to them. 1st through OV and then GNW through Mount Pleasant feed directly into the eastern terminus of the CVG (both are protected) so if you're coming from DT it's pretty easy to get onto them.

The longest on-street bikeway worth its salt may be Adanac/Union/Dunsmuir/Mellville. Protected everywhere with heavy traffic volumes and good local streets once you pass Main.

Thanks, yes, Seaside is quite pretty along the inner harbour. I used it a few times last year while doing a loop over the North Shore bridges. Lions Gate is always a treat, although it's a bit cushy now with those fancy "separated sidewalks" and "viewpoints". I recall the original sidewalks alongside the traffic lanes, racing along while constantly listening for the sound of a passing bus or truck with its windy wake threatening to pull you into traffic...

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Thanks, yes, Seaside is quite pretty along the inner harbour. I used it a few times last year while doing a loop over the North Shore bridges. Lions Gate is always a treat, although it's a bit cushy now with those fancy "separated sidewalks" and "viewpoints". I recall the original sidewalks alongside the traffic lanes, racing along while constantly listening for the sound of a passing bus or truck with its windy wake threatening to pull you into traffic...

I've only known the bridge with the cushy separated lane. I can't imagine doing the south-bound climb at 15 kph and being passed by a vehicle doing 70

[WarrenC12]

That bike lane looks significantly wider than the sidewalk. Interesting choice.

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

I've only known the bridge with the cushy separated lane. I can't imagine doing the south-bound climb at 15 kph and being passed by a vehicle doing 70

I can't speak to the north viaduct, which was rebuilt in 1975 to widen the lanes and the sidewalks. (I wasn't old enough to be biking solo across the bridge at that time.) However, I did cross the old centre section on a regular basis in the 80s as we would head downtown on our bikes for fun. The north viaduct was a relatively straightforward climb but then the path narrowed as you switched to the suspension bridge, with a narrow (1.3m vs 2.7m now with separation) sidewalk. The original car lanes were narrower too (2.9m versus 3.5m now) so there wasn't any breathing room between the sidewalk and trucks/buses in the curb lane. We would be looking and listening for those vehicles as we rode and would commonly stop and hold on to the railing as they passed. Much less stressful than if one is travelling at top speed along the sidewalk as they pass!

You can see the difference on page 9 of this report:

Lions Gate Bridge TAC report

EDIT: If you follow this link, it goes to an image bank with a shot of the old deck; you can see the curb lane with a Blue Bus in it. I can't say if that's one of the special-build narrow fleet West Van uses, but regardless it still fills the lane.

[scottN]

Originally Posted by Lexus

How do you define uninterrupted? You can find a good long stretch on HWY 17, its shoulder considered a bike lane.

If you have to stop and look around to figure out which way the bike lane goes next, it's not "uninterrupted" This disqualifies Central Valley Greenway and BC Parkway and every bike route in Richmond.

[Lexus]

Originally Posted by scottN

If you have to stop and look around to figure out which way the bike lane goes next, it's not "uninterrupted" This disqualifies Central Valley Greenway and BC Parkway and every bike route in Richmond.

Than my favourite of all times Vancouver - Whistler.

[madog222]

CoV is looking at improvements to the Portside Greenway, chiefly for the missing section along Powell between McLean Dr. and Wall St.

Initial public engagement is open through May.

https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/portside-greenway

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

...I did cross the old centre section on a regular basis in the 80s as we would head downtown on our bikes for fun.

The engineering design and actual construction done to replace the centre span of the Lion's Gate Bridge without closing the bridge down for months still ranks for me as one of the most impressive projects that this region has seen.

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

The engineering design and actual construction done to replace the centre span of the Lion's Gate Bridge without closing the bridge down for months still ranks for me as one of the most impressive projects that this region has seen.

Yes, if I recall correctly they only missed their morning deadline to reopen for rush hour once or twice over the course of the project. It was fascinating to watch the work progress; the engineers took what they learned from the LGB and applied them to the 2015 "Big Lift" project on the Angus L MacDonald Bridge in Halifax.

[GMD]

I see that the trees on the South side of St. Johns have been chopped down in Port Moody to make way for the coming multi use pathway from the junction with Barnet Hwy to the Moody st. overpass.

Not a big project, but a small step in the ongoing 'taming of the stroad' that is St. John's through Port Moody. I think the province gets a good bang for the buck funding these small municipal projects. The protected bike lanes on Guildford is part of the same funding batch, and likely a bigger impact on being able to get around the tri-cities safely without being encased in tonnes of steel.