The City of Burnaby has gone to great trouble to answer my concerns about the Sea to River Route in a reasonable way. However, I have to take issue with one crucial point.
One of my main complaints was that the Sea to River Route simply STOPS at a dead end, instead of pushing through to the new industrial area on North Fraser. The City of Burnaby explains that:
“This has not been a priority for us since this trail had no bike route to link to, southward. However, that is changing (see below). We therefore need to complete this 80-metre section of trail.”
All well and good, it’s great to know that there is hope for the future once there is a bike route to connect to. But let me show you a picture:
This is the bike rack outside Ballard on North Fraser Way. Every one of these bikes belongs to a human being who somehow manages to cycle to work, every day. And Ballard is just ONE of hundreds of businesses in this area. The total number of people commuting to work in this area must therefore be in the hundreds.
So I would say, even though there is no bike route to connect to, nevertheless there are HUNDREDS of compelling reasons for Burnaby to make this a priority – and these are, the hundreds of HUMAN BEINGS on bicycles who at present have no decent route to get to work!
If the City of Burnaby does not want to make this a priority because there is as yet no bike route to connect to, could it not perhaps make it a priority because of the needs of the owners of these bikes, and because of the needs of all of the other cyclists working in the area (such as me)? Please?
I am encouraged that Bby gave this long response. But my daughter works in South Burnaby, and I want to know: Will there be a safe lane for her to bike on SOON? I see lots of promises, but I don’t see any dates??? I also don’t understnand where they are talking about putting these lanes. I can see Marine Drive is being talked about – that is a terrible road for bikes!!! i just hope the options will be sensible and safe, when they finally come. Oh, and I have been paying property taxes in Bby for 42 years now, and we still don’t have sidewalks, let alone bike lanes in my neighborhood! some people like me are pensioners and walk and take buses – Bby seems to think everyone has cars, but I don’t drive anymore. I am afraid because they say there will be lots of snow this year, and I will be trapped in our home because no sidewalks and snow in the road!
You raise an interesting point about the sidewalks, Sid. There are none on my street either, although we are close to a skytrain. My kids walk in the street to the skytrain, and I often see moms with their strollers in the street. I guess when Burnaby was planned, the assumption was that everyone would drive everywhere. Still, as is apparent from the City of Burnaby’s response, they do now seem to be thinking in terms of a more planet-friendly, 21st century approach to planning.
hey dude, awesome, I can see my bike in the photo! do you work near us? Can I help you with this, getting some kind of hookup from STR to north fraser? Hey, I don`t have a problem with getting through, but there`s a couple of girls in my office who are really freaking out. The forest freaks them out.
Let me know.
Word
Hi Mike. Sure, use my Contact Me to send me a message – I often go over to Ballard to pick up some lunch. Some of the women I work with don’t like the forest part either. They see it as dangerous. So do I. Two things could happen to me there in winter: someone could just step out of the trees in front of me and knock me off the bike, mug me, and worst of all, steal my bike. Or I could slip on the ice, fall off, be hurt, and freeze to death before someone found me. If you read Burnaby’s response, it sounds like they are going to bypass that forest bit completely, with a short route from McKay directly down to Marine. Then I guess we are on Marine. For me it would just be a short distance on Marine, thankfully, because it’s like a race track. All the motorists who complain that cyclists never obey laws should check out the speeds there – almost every motorist is breaking the speed limit there, all the time (I believe the limit is 70, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone going that slow)! I personally don’t like being besides speeding cars, even if there is a bike lane. Just takes one of them to lose control, or decide to send someone a text while doing 110, and I would be road kill.