[Locked] Burrard Street Bridge Cycling Improvements | Completed

[officedweller]

Just noticed this site on the City's website showing the poster boards from the November 2007 open house:

http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/burrard/index.htm

[deasine]

beat me dammit =P

Interesting about the section pier 1 & 6. I don't think they will ever open it. If they do, they need to really adress safety and security.

[officedweller]

Agreed. There already are staircases in there that aren't used in at least one pier. They would have to build a ribbon staircase around the outside of the tower base to make it safe.

[clooless]

Perhaps I am seeing things, but I was sure that one of the suggested improvements was the installation of an elevator into one of the piers to facilitate pedestrian access to the bridge from False Creek.

[officedweller]

Yeah, that's what Deasine is referring to. Don't know how that could be made safe.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Just noticed this site on the City's website showing the poster boards from the November 2007 open house:

http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/burrard/index.htm

[nikw]

i agree that the complete widening of the bridge is the most practical option, but looking at the renderings, I don't think that the look of the extended sidewalks at the piers goes at all esthetically with the rest of the bridge.

[officedweller]

Thanks for posting the diagrams.

Actually, I think the design looks OK. I did notice that the existing concrete balustrade is deteriorating quite a bit (though that could be in anticipation of this project).
The only thing that's a bit odd to me is the supports for the cantilevered sidewalk at the Main Towers are from above, rather than from below. From the bridge deck, having the supports below the walkway would look better.

I still think that the best solution would be to take one lane and reallocate it as outside bike lanes and shuffle the existing lanes - esp. given the cost of this project.

[David]

yeah, I really wish they had just shut down a lane of car traffic.
I don't understand the problem either. Do Granville or Burrard Bridges EVER have traffic problems!?

[SpongeG]

yeah it bottlenecks at either end

[officedweller]

But not significantly - i.e. maybe a 10 minute wait.
The reduction of Cambie Brdige to one lane each way during Canada Line construction hasn't seriously overloaded Main St. or Granville Bridge or Burrard Bridge - traffic spreads around - the same would happen if just one lane of Burrard is removed.

[officedweller]

Hmmm, no surprise here.....

Cost of attaching bike lanes to Burrard Street Bridge has increased

Tuesday, April 29 - 09:25:00 AM
Shane Bigham

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The cost of attaching bike lanes to the side of the Burrard Street Bridge has jumped from $14 to $57 million, which is a four-fold increase over the initial estimate.

The city had hoped to avoid traffic congestion on the bridge during construction by building along the side of the bridge.

Rising construction costs and changes to the initial plan are blamed for the increase.

[deasine]

It's still a proposal/study isn't it?

[MistyMountainHop]

Why don't they just get rid of a lane like they'd originally planned?

[Stingray2004]

The cost of attaching bike lanes to the side of the Burrard Street Bridge has jumped from $14 to $57 million, which is a four-fold increase over the initial estimate.

Woahh... $57 million just ain't financialy feasible or viable.

Perhaps something more simpler, bikes on one sidewalk and pedestrians on the other and perhaps some simple metal barrier adjacent to the sidewalk providing a better sense of security.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by marmorek

Why don't they just get rid of a lane like they'd originally planned?

I don't agree with taking out one lane - Burrard street is pretty busy for most of the day.

Originally Posted by Stingray2004

Woahh... $57 million just ain't financialy feasible or viable.

Perhaps something more simpler, bikes on one sidewalk and pedestrians on the other and perhaps some simple metal barrier adjacent to the sidewalk providing a better sense of security.

The sidewalks aren't very wide and it feels pretty dangerous biking on Burrard street bridge despite it being segregated from traffic. I did it a few times and even though i'm an experienced biker [or more experienced than others I should say], I'm still scared of fallling to the side or hitting pedestrians. Even if you seperated pedestrians and bikers, you would still have that problem since the sidewalks aren't wide enough.

[nathan6969]

For $57 milllion we might as well buy a car for every single person that bikes across the burrard bridge...and as for taking out a lane, this thing was built 80 years ago, now vancouver is 10 times the size and we wanna make it smaller.

[worldwide]

Originally Posted by nathan6969

For $57 milllion we might as well buy a car for every single person that bikes across the burrard bridge...and as for taking out a lane, this thing was built 80 years ago, now vancouver is 10 times the size and we wanna make it smaller.

funny thing about this is that most of these cyclists probably own a car, or would if they wanted to, but they bike anyways, for obvious reasons.

also theres a lot of bike traffic into downtown. if we bought them all cars we may actually need a new traffic lane or 2

[deasine]

Originally Posted by nathan6969

For $57 milllion we might as well buy a car for every single person that bikes across the burrard bridge...and as for taking out a lane, this thing was built 80 years ago, now vancouver is 10 times the size and we wanna make it smaller.

AHHHHHHHH! *SMACK*

We are trying to make our city have less cars, NOT MORE. We want to make our city more bike and pedestrian friendly, not necessarily car friendly. If we chose to purchase cars for everyone, might as well tear up a few neighborhoods for freeways.

$57 million is a lot of money I agree, but it's a long investment, and a good one. I would prefer to see another pedestrian/bike only bridge however.

[worldwide]

yeah, from english bay to vanier park... they need to build this