Burrard Bridge - A Bridge Too Far

It’s a balmy June evening and a river of colour is flowing South up the three lanes of the Burrard bridge. Bicycles, hundreds of them, are jingling and swaying. They ride on mountain bikes, racers, tandems, cruisers, crazy choppers, kiddie bikes with their training wheels, bike-powered music machines, a bicycle-shopping cart hybrid, in-line skates, and skateboards. It’s bike month and this is the biggest of the year’s Critical Mass rides that start off from outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on the last Friday of every month.

“Thanks for walking!” calls a smiling, waving woman from her bike to a group on the sidewalk. The walkers smile back with sheepish bewilderment. Occasional cars, coming in the other direction, toot their horns, waving hands thrust out of car windows, in apparent support.

The cyclists stop under the square arch of the bridge. Dismounting, they grab their bicycles and then lift them in a wave of wheels and swinging handlebars above their heads - the “cyclist’s salute”. Excited shreaks, yells and singing bells ricochet off the dusty, concrete abutments and latticed steel struts on either side of the bridge. Photographs are taken, and then, with the distant sound of car horns growing to a crescendo, cyclists peel off from the pack freeriding downhill to join Burrard street for the slow climb up to Broadway.

This picture of happy, confident cyclists cruising blithely along is very different from the lone, bowed pedal-pusher that motorists often find themselves swerving past on the road. A tide of humanity is still rolling along the Pacific Boulevard entrance on the downtown side of the bridge as the front of the pack is snaking its way slowly up Burrard to the South.

The moment is tinged with added poignancy for those activists who for years have participated in traffic studies, workshops, meetings with city officials, and ongoing public debate, but have yet to see any improvement to what is one of Vancouver’s busiest bridges for pedestrian and cycling use. In spite of the setbacks, this euphoric scene alone shows how far cycling has grown in Vancouver.

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Jane Lister was cycling home along the busy cycle-pedestrian route on the Burrard bridge at rush hour, when she swerved to avoid a pedestrian, fell off the raised curb, and landed in the path of a mini van (watch interview). “I broke all the ribs on my left side, and had punctured and collapsed lungs…my head kind of got trapped between the car and the curb,” she told the CBC last year, in a highly critical story on the safety of Vancouver’s pedestrian-bike lanes, in particular the Burrard bridge crossing. Lister sued the city for damages and settled for an undisclosed sum out of court. Yet, in spite of this accident a few years ago and, say city staff, other incidents where cyclists have come off the path without serious injury, there’s been no decision on Burrard.

So why has it taken so long, particularly when the council states in all its news releases on transportation policy that pedestrians and cyclists are a top priority?

Councillor Fred Bass, a regular cyclist himself, sums up the problem in one word. “Timidity.”

For many cyclists Bass exemplifies a more progressive spirit in City Hall. He sometimes rides on the monthly “masses” (he’s even been spotted pumping the tunes on the pedal-powered music machine) and since selling his car during Vancouver bike month in June 2003, he has been getting around by bicycle “most of the time.” He’d like to see a more proactive approach on this and other issues encouraging cycling. “The tendency of city hall is a very conservative one of seeing what currrent use is, rather than seeing where things are heading,” says Bass.

“Burrard Bridge is Symbol of Civic Unity” is how one headline ran in The Vancouver Sun on the eve of the Burrrad bridge opening on 31 June 1930. It doesn’t seem that way now. While all parties agree that an upgrade is necessary for the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, the debate rages over how the bridge can be upgraded while maintaining its heritage values. Apart from replacing the original, decorative lamps that used to be mounted on the concrete railings with street lamps, the composition and outline of the bridge with its distinctive towers and trussed steel arches is little changed. Heritage Vancouver, who have been vocal oppontents of one upgrade option to expand the sidewalk outwards for pedestrians and cyclists, would like it to stay that way and are even investigating how to restore the original lamps.

Another upgrade option, which Bass advocates, is to give two traffic lanes to cyclists. Bass says it would be the most cost-effective solution and could even be in place within a month or two. But the business community is alarmed about the impact that would have on the flow of goods and transit into the city.

“City staff told us in a presentation that we had to one of our committees in March that there would actually be…conservatively a one hundred per cent increase in traffic congestion,” says the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association’s Charles Gauthier, who is planning to commute “once or twice” a week by bike from his Marpole home for the first time.

Council has an opportunity to decide (again) soon, when city staff present it three options, probably at the end of this month. The third option, which Heritage Vancouver would also be amenable to, but that would require significantly more work and expense, is slinging a pedestrian and cycle route under the bridge. The bridge was originally designed for a low level rail crossing which was never built.

Twelve years since the electorate voted for an upgrade to the Burrard bridge, a decision could be imminent. However, doubters suggest that with an election coming up this year it will be a long wait before we see the Vancouver mayor ride the first bicycle across a new Burrard bridge cycleway, just as his predecessor drove the first car across the bridge back in 1930.

“I really hope it doesn’t take a tragedy for them to decide to do something,” says Bonnie Fenton, Chair of the Bicycle Advisory Committee, a group of volunteers that advises staff and council on cycle policy. Fenton favours converting two traffic lanes for cyclists, but like many who have followed this tortuous path, she and the Committee would simply like to see a decision on the bridge and construction start this year.

It would be an important symbolic and psychological breakthrough, and Fenton hopes could provide an added impetus to the Bicycle Advisory Committee’s goal to increase cycling in Vancouver “10% by 2010”, an increase from the current level of 3-4%.

The Committee says the council reacted positively to a recent presentation of their plan.

“Their hearts are in the right place. It’s just a question of putting their wallets there,” says Fenton. Plugging gaps and upgrading the exisiting cycle network, improving bikes on transit, and better marketing of routes are some areas that Fenton sees room for improvement. “It’s going to take a bigger vision, and a larger understanding and a real push to make this happen. It’s not just building bike lanes. It’s not just engineering solutions.”

Councillor Peter Ladner, a regular cyclist, reckons we’ll have a realistic view of how feasible the 10% goal is as a succession of new downtown bike routes open on Burrard (southbound), Richards, Homer, Hornby, Beatty, Cardero and Chilco. “A combination of high density development and protected bike lanes is a potent combination for increasing cycling,” says Ladner.

As for where the “right balance” is between cyclists and other road users, as a driver too Ladner is wary of appearing too punitive to motorists. On the Burrard bridge question, he favours widening the sidewalk outwards with a pinch point in the path around the central towers. He sees taking two lanes away from motorists as “an unfair trade-off” for the drivers and transit especially with plans for restricting traffic on the north end of Granville bridge.

Paul Landry, CEO of the British Columbia Trucking Association, an organisation that represents 800 fleets operating 13,000 large commercial vehicles, also questions the wisdom of removing existing road space. “Almost everything that goes into and comes out of Vancouver goes by truck, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to restrict our activity because it would be choking off a lifeline,” he says.

Giving up road lanes to cyclists is understandably a touchy subject for BCAA too. Yet, it’s a sign of the times – high gas prices, global warming, road congestion – that even an organisation representing motorists is advising members to curb their car use. “People become very dependent on their cars, and as a result of that they see very few alternatives,” says Trace Acres, of BCAA. Acres points out that BCAA’s own studies show that drivers in the Lower Mainland are “very open” to making fewer non-essential “discretionary trips.”

Perhaps a case of the left hand not seeing what the right hand does? Then again, eco-minded organisations like Vancouver Co-operative network, where irregular drivers (like councillor Bass) share a small number of vehicles among a large number of members, also belong to the BCAA.

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Richard Campbell, resident boffin on cycling for Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (BEST), is in the process of shifting some 250,000 copies of Freewheelin’, a new magazine-style guide with cycle maps for Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and Richmond. Cardboard boxes clutter the corridor of the non-profit’s West Hastings office. It is just one of the many awareness-raising activities Campbell is involved in as BEST’s Director of Active Transportation. Campbell is also responsible for getting the word out about next month’s Vancouver Bike Month, which sees myriad events from the “Commuter Challenge” on Clean Air Day on 8 June to funky bike festivals across town.

In a simple office room, more like a school room, he explains that while council is already going further than the recommendations made by staff, “10% by 2010” is going to require a “fundamental shift” in the way things are done at City level.

“There is support, but it tends to be on a project-by-project basis. I think what is needed is some stronger policy. Give staff some clear direction about when trade-offs have to be made between vehicle access or say facilities for cyclists and pedestrians,” says the casually attired Campbell, who is no relation to Larry or Gordon, although he shares their ease with policy detail.

It is a sentiment that is echoed by other bicycle advocates. Jack Becker, director of the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, doesn’t see elected members as the stumbling block. He suggests that the people planning and implementing projects need a “better toolkit” to achieve the goal of a sustainable urban transport system that compares with European models like Berlin, Munich, Copenhagan, or Amsterdam where trips by bicycle, rather than any other form of transport, including foot, are 10%, 13%, 20%, and 28%.

Campbell cites as an example of where a clear policy would help, proposals for the curling and aquatic centre development at Riley Hillcrest Park. He expects a surge of traffic moving along the central North-South Ontario bike route to the complex’s entrance. “It’s an ideal situation where if you didn’t have that access there, or maybe even looked at closing the street to motor vehicle access on Ontario, you could really encourage people to come by bicycle, or by walking. But it doesn’t appear that they are looking at that,” says Campbell.

Campbell gives another example: the “green village” project at SE False Creek, site of the Olympic athletes’ village, where sustainability was supposed to be a watchword. “It was essentially designed around a grid for automobile access into each and every one of the buildings based on the principle that while people that take transit may have to walk two or three blocks to get to their transportation, people that use private automobiles, that theoretically we are discouraging, they get to drive right into the building, or they get to park right in front of it and have great access to that,” he says.

He preferred an alternative where people would have to walk to parking at the development’s perimeter, leaving the roads into “the village” clear for people and deliveries. “You’re probably going to think twice: ‘Oh yeah! Maybe I’ll just hop on the streetcar (a streetcar will pass nearby), or maybe I’ll just walk the whole distance as it’s not really that far,’” says Campbell. “It is not surprising that people drive, because we’re making that the easiest thing to do…”

Campbell may have an edge, but he doesn’t come across as bitter. He tempers his criticisms with praise. For a city of its size, he believes that Vancouver is one of the most cycle-friendly in North America, pointing to the network of cycleways that has been developed over the last decade, and plans for the cycle-pedestrian way on the new RAV bridge crossing from the foot of Cambie street to Richmond.

For several years, he has been a cheerleader for the Central Valley Greenway which will eventually run 25 kilometres from Science World to downtown New Westminster. Why is it so good? “It’s the only option East-West pretty much that is mostly traffic separated. Some sections are on road, but those will probably be pretty low levels of traffic. It is relatively flat, and because it parallels the railway line there’s relatively few intersections, which means cyclists have to stop a lot less.” It’s also scenic. “It goes through a really nice part by Burnaby Lake and along Burnett River.”

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There’s no doubt that the quiet application of organisations like BEST, the Cycling Advisory Committee and Vancouver Cycle Coalition, have helped bring cycling to the fore in Vancouver. But promoting alternative transport can be a grinding and thankless job, especially for unpaid volunteers. Bev Ballantyne, of Putting Pedestrians First, who was one of the first to start lobbying for improvements to the Burrard Bridge and is an outspoken critic of the City’s treatment of people who simply want to walk around the city, is not surprised that pedestrian activists are few and far between. “It’s not very sexy, is it?”

Conrad Schmidt, a former computer programmer and cycling activist, would probably agree. Having lost patience with the conventional activist route of petitioning and debating the nitty gritty of individual projects with municipal staff, Schmidt has been drawn to more theatrical happenings like Critical Mass which have more of an immediate impact. He was instrumental in making the World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) an international event: the ride, which originally started in Spain, was like an off-shoot of Critical Mass, although this ride had the effect of slowing cars going in both directions.

Schmidt saw the potential to raise awareness in a fun, satirical way. The Wholesome Undie, where cyclists rode through the downtown in their underwear to show their disapproval of the Molson Indie, had been considered very successful in getting the message across, because it was funny. Schmidt used the web to contact cycle groups around the world. They organised. “It wasn’t very difficult,” says Schmidt, who says over 60 cities will be participating in this year’s “Northern Hemisphere WNBR”.

Around 130 naked cyclists rode through Vancouver on the third ride of its kind last year, in spite of the rain. The media were out in numbers: many of course wanted to know if was uncomfortable riding naked. “It’s more comfortable riding a bicycle naked without a seat, than driving a car,” quipped Schmidt. He was speaking ethically, of course.

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Cyclists come in all political hues. Take Kevin Falcon, the Minister of Transport for the BC government. Falcon, a self-described “avid biker”, sometimes commutes the ten-minute ride to his Cloverdale office, and often takes to the hills on his mountain bike. “I probably ride more than anyone in the legislature,” he says, on the phone from his riding in Cloverdale. Falcon says he wants to encourage more cycling. He points to the Cycling Infrastructure Partnerships Program for funding, to the tune of $2m over 18 months, cycle facilities on a 50-50 basis with municipalities. It doesn’t compare as well with the NDP government’s $2m a year from 1995-2001 for municipal cycling projects, and the program was unfunded until last year by the Liberal government, but Falcon promises that there will be “significantly more” funding for cycling under his watch.

But Falcon’s plan to drive through the $3bn Gateway Project, including twinning the Port Mann bridge and expanding Highway 1 to at least 8 lanes from Langley to Vancouver has eclipsed those initiatives and aroused a storm of criticism, none more so than from sustainable transport advocates.

Groups like the Liveable Region Coalition, which includes BEST, acknowledge that there is a pressing need for a solution to ease the flow of goods along the usually congested Port Mann corridor. They argue for a range of alternatives to highway expansion and bridge twinning, focussed on reducing the high number of single occupancy trips: introducing public transit across the Port Mann, upgrading rail infrastructure, and congestion charging. The LRC calls the Minister’s way, chosen with minimal public consultation, a recipe for urban sprawl and greater congestion.

Councillors Bass and Ladner agree that highway widening won’t solve congestion along the corridor. “It’s giving up too easily,” says Ladner. “We know that it doesn’t solve the problem, it just puts it off for another five or ten years.” Build it, and they will come.

Undaunted by the opposition, and steeled by strong support from organisations like the BC Truckers Association, Falcon continues the hard sell: public transit can’t be introduced without a twinned Port Mann, nor bike paths, nor High Occupancy Vehicles lanes.

Falcon insists that getting people out of their cars remains a top priority. “It’s one of the reasons I fought so bloody hard for the RAV line, because the RAV line means we are going to get 100,000 people out of their cars and into public transit. It’s the equivalent of ten lanes of freeway coming into Vancouver.” But, at the same time Falcon’s “balanced approach” includes providing for those motorists who “use their car to make a living” too. “We have to be careful to understand that not every job is an 8.30 to 4.30 in Vancouver, with the house nearby,” says Falcon.

To cyclists like Schmidt, Campbell, Fenton, and the mass of individuals that congregate on the last Friday of the month outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Minister’s plans cast a shadow over welcome traffic calming initiatives in Vancouver. ICBC reports show that car ownership has levelled out and in fact dropped in Vancouver last year. But any increased roadspace for cyclists in Vancouver could start to evaporate with a greater influx of traffic from outside the municipal jurisdiction.

Campbell envisions the congestion that will be created along main roads forcing motorists down cycle routes and minor roads favoured by cyclists, particularly around exit points in Burnaby and East Vancouver. As cycle routes become more dangerous, more people will drive their cars instead, and so the vicious circle continues.

Viewed beside the Gateway Program, the debate on the Burrard bridge may pale in significance. But the underlying theme - how serious are we about reducing our car dependency? - is the same. It’s just that the stakes are higher.

Links
Bicycle Advisory Committee
http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/civicagencies/bicycle/

You Never Bike Alone - Vancouver's Critical mass

Originally Published in the Vancouver Courier newspaper