Victoria’s transition to being a more bike-friendly city will take its next big step this month. Construction is set to begin on the Fort St two-way bike lanes.
Similar to the Pandora two-way bike lanes (unveiled in May) the Fort Street cycling corridor will be separated from motor traffic using a combination of paint, bollards, parked vehicles, and concrete barriers.
Cyclists will also be given dedicated traffic signals. Additionally, at intersections and driveways, green paint will mark out the bike lanes.
According to Scott Cunningham of CTV News, the “traffic snarls (and) parking headaches” begin on September 25.
https://twitter.com/ctvnewsscott/status/907727874559541254
Another Chapter in Victoria’s Ongoing Bike Lane Saga
Victoria has a notoriously turbulent relationship with two-way bike lanes, and the Fort St installment is no different. This project, in particular, garnered opponents due to its removal of parking spots along a business-heavy downtown corridor.
Other citizens raised concerns about the project’s implementation so soon after the addition of the Pandora two-way bike lanes.
However, at the City Council meeting during which the Fort St project was approved, Lisa Helps argued that the importance of a “complete network” of bike lanes is important in the long-term.
“People want us to just wait for Pandora and see how that goes,” Helps said. “The real point of this project is that we have a complete network… A network doesn’t work with just one spoke. We need the entire network to be built.”
