Crews have begun work on Gibsons Way between lower Gibsons and the North Road intersection after council voted July 26 to award a $1.53-million contract to BA Blacktop.
The work is mainly a watermain rehabilitation project being paid for, in part, through the federal-provincial Clean Water and Wastewater Fund, but it will also include new sidewalks, bicycle lanes and a section of multi-use pathway.
Council also approved several committee recommendations on cycling infrastructure at the July 26 meeting, including: postponing the addition of southbound advisory lane markings on Shaw Road, going forward with cycling improvements on North Fletcher, Harmony Lane and Gower Point Road (at a total estimated cost of $23,500), and that Gibsons and SCRD staff coordinate efforts to develop a plan for future work that fits the requirements of the Active Communities grant program.
The main advocacy group for Sunshine Coast cyclists, Transportation Choices Sunshine Coast (TraC), is not ready to endorse the Town’s plan.
In a presentation to the committee of the whole meeting the week before the July 26 vote, TraC’s Jody Schick asked council to “put the brakes on this plan and go back to the drawing board.”
“We think there’s opportunity here to have lower cost options that put money where it’s really most needed,” Schick told councillors. “It’s hard to be standing in front of you here not supporting a plan for cyclists and pedestrians. It’s not our first choice.”
Schick said TraC would be more supportive of trying to get more resources for improvements to the combined Gibsons Way/Highway 101 corridor, instead of focusing on the lower section of Gibsons Way. He said the group recognizes the Town’s desire to combine the improvements with watermain and other work being done through grants, but added, “The costs of doing it improperly seem to be much, much higher, especially when you’re considering building sidewalks and multi-use paths.”
Coun. Stafford Lumley also questioned the effort being put into the cycling component on lower Gibsons Way, given that he doesn’t see getting to the point of having proper cycling lanes in both.
“We want bike lanes; I just want to make sure we check ourselves,” Lumley said. “This is not Vancouver, there’s just not the number of cyclists, nor will there be in the immediate future, that can traverse from lower Gibsons to upper Gibsons. We have to just make sure we’re dealing with reality.”
Director of engineering Dave Newman said he didn’t think the plans for the work on Gibsons Way are too ambitious. “I don’t think this is overly ambitious. By far the bulk of this work is to deal with pedestrian [safety] and paving and so on. The bike accommodation – it’s just paint,” Newman said.
