A new bike lane is coming to Kitsilano Beach park.
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation is making safety improvements to Kitsilano Beach Park by installing a temporary separated bike path through the south parking lot at the corner of Arbutus Street and Cornwall Avenue, and upgrading the diagonal dirt path near Balsam Street.
Kitsilano Beach Park is one of the only sections of the 28 km-long continuous path connecting the Vancouver Convention Centre to Spanish Banks that does not provide separate paths for cycling and walking/rolling.
The safety improvements will be completed the week of May 10th.
In order to create the temporary bike path, about 50 parking stalls immediately south of the tennis courts will be temporarily repurposed as a bike path leaving about 200 parking stalls in the south lot.
The move is expected to reduce conflict in the south parking lot, which is busy with people walking, rolling, cycling, and driving. These temporary changes are expected to be in place for about two years until a fully separated cycling path connecting Ogden Avenue to Balsam Street is identified through public engagement and approved by the Park Board.
Park Board and City of Vancouver Engineering staff will seek public input on a fully separated cycling path connecting Ogden Avenue to Balsam Street beginning in summer 2021. This will build on engagement activities that took place between 2013 and 2018 with the public and stakeholders, including HUB Cycling, Kitsilano Point Residents Association, and The Boathouse Restaurant.
Staff expect to provide recommendations to the Board on an alignment for a fully separated bike path through and adjacent to Kitsilano Beach Park in early 2022.
Photo: Anthony Floyd
Last modified: May 7, 2021
It’s a smart idea. Riding a bicycle through a parking lot is never that safe an experience – bikes are hard for backing vehicles to see – and if we want children to be able to use that route, as we say we do, this had to be fixed. Personally, I always ride on the street when I need to get through that area and it’s not because riding on Cornwall is a great delight.
Stupid place for bike lane. Just bike on the seawall. It is a shared path. 50 less parking spaces means 50 people will be looking for parking in the neighbourhood.