Motion to postpone Richardson Street bike lanes shot down by Victoria City Council

Motion to postpone Richardson Street bike lanes shot down by Victoria City Council
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A controversial bike lane plan narrowly missed a roadblock after a Victoria city councillor proposed the idea of delaying the project in Thursday night’s meeting.

Councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe suggested that the city hit pause of the planned bike corridor that will run along Richardson Street from the Oak Bay Border into Cook Street Villiage.

The design was approved by council last year, and would turn the street into a shared bikeway.

The bike corridor is aimed at reducing traffic along Richardson Street to give cyclists a safer route into the core.

The plans haven’t been widely accepted though, with a social campaign emerging in recent months to get the project scrapped with more than 2,000 people signing a petition to have council take a look at the proposal.

RELATED: Victoria public concerned about Richardson Street proposed bike lane design

The motion, put forth by Councillor Thornton-Joe, was supported by Stephen Andrew and Geoff Young but the three were outnumbered by the six other council members and the current project is expected to go through.

The entire bike lane network – including upgrades for Richardson Street, Kings-Haultain corridor, Government Street North and the KimtaRoad/E&N Trail projects – is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
In March, council approved four new bike lanes in Victoria to extend the city’s All Ages and Abilities (AAA) priority cycling network.

Rebecca LawrenceRebecca Lawrence

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