Comox-Helmcken Greenway gets the okay
Posted December 13, 2012 6:11 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Very soon, driving on a stretch of road in downtown Vancouver will be difficult.
City Council has approved phase one of the Comox-Helmcken Greenway.
“We approved unanimously the Comox Greenway and now that it’s approved, construction will likely start in the New Year,” says Councillor Kerry Jang.
“The priority is to have safety for cars and pedestrians. So part of it, of course, will be separated bike lanes; other parts will be made specifically for pedestrians. We got feedback for benches around the greenway and landscaping.”
Christine Ackermann with the West End Residents Association is glad to see the city is moving forward with this project. She says fewer cars are what the neighbourhood needs.
“We’ve been long time advocates of reducing our dependence on cars and getting on foot and being more active in our transportation. Getting on our bikes and those kinds of things,” explains Ackermann.
“I think it’s important for promotion of an active lifestyle and hopefully going to feed in to other initiatives that we’ve been proposing, for example, reducing speed limits to 30 km/hour,” she adds.
She doesn’t think it will be a burden on drivers, explaining many in the neighbourhood don’t rely on cars. “There’s lots of ways to get in and around downtown without using our car. There’s always going to be exceptions for drivers who need to drive to work for various reasons, and that’s fine.”
The project will cost the city about $5.5 million. Construction for the route linking Stanley Park to Burrard Street will start in January. Completion will all depend on weather.
The second phase of the project, if approved, will connect to False Creek through Yaletown.
