The Way Back
My ride home follows more or less the same route, with some modifications. The most challenging part of the trip is navigating the rush hour traffic off the North Shore, which can be mayhem, especially if there has been an accident on one of the bridges. This may seem a rare occurrence, but in fact between the two of them, there are accidents on the bridges on a daily basis. At rush hour this can mean chaos, the kind of chaos that ultimately got me out of a car.
This is an area just entering the lower road (1st Street) from Marine Drive and 3rd Street. It has morphed into a substantial construction site as the City of North Vancouver and a developer swapped properties, giving City road works the south side of 1st, and the developer the north end. The result is a large high density project, which upon completion will hopefully do a lot to improve Marine Drive, one of the North Shore's ugliest stretches of road. For the time being it is a dangerous section of road, where trucks and and cars often cross into the cycle lane, so much so that the lane paint has disappeared.
On 1st Street the bike lane is littered with obstacles - signs, bumps, parked cars and trucks.
The ride after this section is perfect to the start of the Lions Gate Bridge deck. Apart from an errant dog, the Spirit Trail is open sailing, populated with cyclists, walkers, and joggers most of the year.
Part of the Provincial Highway 99 network, the Causeway and Lion's Gate Bridge crossing is typically terrifying and should come with a parachute. As usual the sidewalk is shared between cyclists and pedestrians. Pedestrians can walk in either direction, which means more often than not one comes across a pedestrian oblivious to the world, listening to his music, sunglasses on, walking with his back to vehicle and cycle traffic - insanity. Only in British Columbia, "The Best Place on Earth" can pedestrians walk wherever they please without being responsible for their own and others' safety. The results of such lawlessness can be fatal, as on this stretch of the causeway, where a cyclist was killed trying to avoid an mindless pedestrian.
Cyclists easily gather speed on the causeway, and since the sidewalk is narrow, traffic is loud, and bushes are overgrown, communication between cyclists and pedestrians is challenging - I personally use an air horn, which is useless when a walker has their back to me and is engrossed in their telephone.
The causeway ends here.
No barrier separating cyclists from death at the hands of a wobbly SUV.
The cycle through the West End is a bit busier than in the morning, as most people are out of bed and on the seawall, especially if the sun is showing its face. The most congested area of the Seawall is at the Cactus Club, where cyclists, cars, and pedestrians converge on several square meters of space. This area was not the most intelligently designed, and it still bewilders me as to why Vancouver has not considered removing one of the 7 lanes of roadway that connect Beach Road with Denman to widen the seawall in that area.
Getting from the West End to Burrard Bridge has its challenges, involving riding Beach/Pacific Roads up to the start of the bridge. There is often congestion on Pacific, and motorists almost always speed to get to the lineup as fast as possible.
Burrard Bridge is currently undergoing a renovation, the first in its 81 year history, as far as I know. The roadwork has caused some delays and inconvenience for motorists, this despite the fact the city has made it abundantly clear that Granville Bridge is just two blocks away and has 4 lanes of mostly empty road - people prefer to sit in traffic rather than try a different route.
While the bridge work is still ongoing, the south end of the bridge has been completed. The result is a drastic improvement from the parking lot that once was the gateway to Kitsilano. The new layout moves cars, pedestrians, and cyclists safely and efficiently, all while requiring less road space.
These are a couple of pictures from before, when cyclists and pedestrians shared the sidewalk.
And when the tree and Kitsilano welcome sign sat in the middle of 12 lanes of converging traffic.
And this is how it looks today.
There is still work to do on the Kitsilano side. The Park Board bungled the plan to implement a bike lane in Kitsilano Park, and Cornwall still has no bike lane to connect the bridge to the bike way on Point Grey; however, this is a work in progress. The Councils, mayors, and Squamish Band should be commended for their vision in working to building a safe pedestrian and cycle network in Vancouver and the North Shore. Now if only the Province would get on board and fill in the gaps.
To follow, time for the "big league", your merry cyclist changes it up and goes 2nd Narrows!
This is an area just entering the lower road (1st Street) from Marine Drive and 3rd Street. It has morphed into a substantial construction site as the City of North Vancouver and a developer swapped properties, giving City road works the south side of 1st, and the developer the north end. The result is a large high density project, which upon completion will hopefully do a lot to improve Marine Drive, one of the North Shore's ugliest stretches of road. For the time being it is a dangerous section of road, where trucks and and cars often cross into the cycle lane, so much so that the lane paint has disappeared.
On 1st Street the bike lane is littered with obstacles - signs, bumps, parked cars and trucks.
The ride after this section is perfect to the start of the Lions Gate Bridge deck. Apart from an errant dog, the Spirit Trail is open sailing, populated with cyclists, walkers, and joggers most of the year.
Part of the Provincial Highway 99 network, the Causeway and Lion's Gate Bridge crossing is typically terrifying and should come with a parachute. As usual the sidewalk is shared between cyclists and pedestrians. Pedestrians can walk in either direction, which means more often than not one comes across a pedestrian oblivious to the world, listening to his music, sunglasses on, walking with his back to vehicle and cycle traffic - insanity. Only in British Columbia, "The Best Place on Earth" can pedestrians walk wherever they please without being responsible for their own and others' safety. The results of such lawlessness can be fatal, as on this stretch of the causeway, where a cyclist was killed trying to avoid an mindless pedestrian.
Cyclists easily gather speed on the causeway, and since the sidewalk is narrow, traffic is loud, and bushes are overgrown, communication between cyclists and pedestrians is challenging - I personally use an air horn, which is useless when a walker has their back to me and is engrossed in their telephone.
The causeway ends here.
No barrier separating cyclists from death at the hands of a wobbly SUV.
The cycle through the West End is a bit busier than in the morning, as most people are out of bed and on the seawall, especially if the sun is showing its face. The most congested area of the Seawall is at the Cactus Club, where cyclists, cars, and pedestrians converge on several square meters of space. This area was not the most intelligently designed, and it still bewilders me as to why Vancouver has not considered removing one of the 7 lanes of roadway that connect Beach Road with Denman to widen the seawall in that area.
Getting from the West End to Burrard Bridge has its challenges, involving riding Beach/Pacific Roads up to the start of the bridge. There is often congestion on Pacific, and motorists almost always speed to get to the lineup as fast as possible.
Burrard Bridge is currently undergoing a renovation, the first in its 81 year history, as far as I know. The roadwork has caused some delays and inconvenience for motorists, this despite the fact the city has made it abundantly clear that Granville Bridge is just two blocks away and has 4 lanes of mostly empty road - people prefer to sit in traffic rather than try a different route.
While the bridge work is still ongoing, the south end of the bridge has been completed. The result is a drastic improvement from the parking lot that once was the gateway to Kitsilano. The new layout moves cars, pedestrians, and cyclists safely and efficiently, all while requiring less road space.
These are a couple of pictures from before, when cyclists and pedestrians shared the sidewalk.
And when the tree and Kitsilano welcome sign sat in the middle of 12 lanes of converging traffic.
And this is how it looks today.
There is still work to do on the Kitsilano side. The Park Board bungled the plan to implement a bike lane in Kitsilano Park, and Cornwall still has no bike lane to connect the bridge to the bike way on Point Grey; however, this is a work in progress. The Councils, mayors, and Squamish Band should be commended for their vision in working to building a safe pedestrian and cycle network in Vancouver and the North Shore. Now if only the Province would get on board and fill in the gaps.
To follow, time for the "big league", your merry cyclist changes it up and goes 2nd Narrows!