With the paint barely dry on the new two-way bicycle lane on Pandora Avenue, the city of Victoria is ready to dive into another project that is likely to be just as contentious: a bike lane on Fort Street.
Today, council is expected to approve a plan for a similar two-way, separated bike lane on the north side of Fort, at a cost of $3.19 million. It will run from Wharf Street to Cook Street, and will reduce the 500- and 600-blocks of Fort to one vehicle travel lane.
Making room for bikes will squeeze the space for cars, and the uncertain domino effects anger merchants.
The lane will be separated from traffic with a combination of paint and bollards, parked vehicles and concrete barriers. Dedicated traffic signals will be installed for cyclists, and green paint will be used at intersections and driveways. Some parking spaces will be wiped out, including 18 in the 500- and 600-blocks of Fort.
Businesses are worried about access for customers and deliveries, and with good reason. Unlike many cities, downtown Victoria doesn鈥檛 have a network of alleys where delivery trucks have access to the backs of businesses. Everything has to come in from the street.
Business owners were unhappy, saying their concerns were being ignored, so Mayor Lisa Helps wrote letters of apology to 120 merchants. Although she promised better consultations, some business people say they got nothing more than lip service.
These days, it seems that no one is happy with public consultation unless it results in the decision they want. However, the merchants have legitimate concerns that all the competing uses of the street can鈥檛 be accommodated without someone suffering.
Indeed, a staff report acknowledges that the design 鈥渞eflects a series of stakeholder feedback and comments, but is unable to accommodate all requests due to safety, costs and design trade-offs.鈥�
From the complaints by merchants, it appears that 鈥渦nable to accommodate all requests鈥� is something of an understatement.
Relations between drivers and cyclists are among the most bitterly debated topics in Greater Victoria. The question of how and whether to improve cycling infrastructure is one piece of a larger argument.
To many, it鈥檚 obvious that cars are the dominant form of transportation, and wishful thinking about a greener, fitter future won鈥檛 change that; constricting vehicle lanes will only slow traffic without expanding the number of cyclists. To cycling supporters, it鈥檚 obvious that bikes are the way of the future, and if we build the lanes, the cyclists will come, as they do in Europe; reaching for the future requires bold action.
Is it possible to reach for the future without turning hardworking business people into collateral damage? Perhaps the city could take a pause and give the Pandora bike lanes a chance to be tried and studied. We might learn something about how they work in Victoria before moving on to Fort Street.
The counter-argument, of course, is that the cycling network won鈥檛 work effectively until it is a network, and city staff have already studied carefully. Helps says studies elsewhere show that increased bicycle traffic is good for business. Not surprisingly, that claim is met with skepticism on Fort Street.
Promoting cycling and protecting cyclists are worthwhile goals as we try to reduce our dependence on cars, but the merchants of Fort Street shouldn鈥檛 have to pay the cost of reaching those goals.
