Victoria council approves new bike lanes for Jubilee, Oaklands and Fernwood neighbourhoods

Victoria council approves new bike lanes for Jubilee, Oaklands and Fernwood neighbourhoods
City of Victoria
Once this next phase of construction is completed, 81 per cent of the cycling web will be finished. 

Four new bike lanes are coming to Victoria after council endorsed the designs to extend the city’s All Ages and Abilities (AAA) priority cycling network.

With the city’s new approval, 4.8 kilometres of new infrastructure will be completed in the Jubilee, Oaklands and Fernwood neighbourhoods through a combination of protected bike lanes and shared-use neighbourhood bikeways.

Since the network was adopted in 2016, 13.5 kilometres of AAA cycling facilities have been completed or are under construction. Once this next phase of construction is completed, 81 per cent of the cycling web will be finished.

An additional eight kilometres is slated for construction in 2021 through the Richardson Street, Kings-Haultain corridor, Government Street North and the KimtaRoad/E&N Trail projects.

The new bike lanes

For the Jubilee neighbourhood, three design options were on the table, but council decided on a 1.3-kilometre route of one-way protected bike lanes on Fort Street from Pandora Avenue at Oak Bay Junction to Foul Bay Road.

Another new 1.4-kilometre bike lane will be put in on the Fort Street Central corridor. The recommended design consists of one-way protected bike lanes from Pandora Avenue at Oak Bay Junction to Yates Street with a transition to a two-way protected bike lane from Yates Street to Cook Street.

The Oaklands Connector is one kilometre long and extends from Hillside Avenue to Haultain Street through Doncaster Drive, Pearl Street, and Shakespeare Street. The approved design is a shared road-neighbourhood bikeway that utilizes two existing multi-use pathways.

For Fernwood, a 1.1-kilometre corridor extends from Haultain Street to Begbie Street following Avebury, Oregon and Stanley streets. The plan is to have a shared road neighbourhood bikeway with a short segment of protected bike lanes on Bay Street to support a new road crossing at the offset intersection.

The new bike lanes council approved

The new bike lanes council approved in the Oaklands, Jubille and Fernwood neighbourhoods

Recommendations about the design, scheduling and funding for cycling network projects will be brought forward by staff in the Spring of this year.

Victoria’s clean mobility initiatives

The city’s sustainable mobility strategy, Go Victoria, outlines the need of investing in infrastructure to increase the number of people walking, cycling and taking public transit. The goal is for clean, easy mobility options for everyone and key initiatives include achieving zero traffic fatalities.

The All Ages and Abilities (AAA) priority cycling network directly aligns with the goals, policies and targets in Go Victoria.

READ MORE: Broad Street businesses push to keep street permanently closed to vehicle traffic

Rebecca LawrenceRebecca Lawrence

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