The City of Campbell River wants residents’ opinions on the pavement markings on Highway 19A from 1st Avenue to Maritime Heritage Centre.
The main issue is the bike lane and how it cuts off from 5th Avenue to 6th due to pre-existing parking spaces.
A report presented to the Committee of the Whole says many members of the community have already commented about the lack of dedicated bike lanes. Some have said it’s unsafe.
City staff are now looking at ways to make the corridor safe and accessible to cyclists and drivers.
In a report, staff presented the council with options that could help the situation.
Option 1: Separated bi-directional bike lanes. The report says the city would have to install 3 metre-wide bi-directional bikeways separated by concrete medians from 1st Avenue to the Maritime Heritage Centre.
Option 2: Narrow the driving lanes from the standard 3.3 metres on arterial roadways to 3 metres. Both driving lanes and bike lanes wouldn’t be up to the standards are they would be too narrow but would be safe enough and provide the facility.
Option 3: Enhanced markings, which will see additional “sharrows” (shared arrows) for both northbound and southbound traffic. This will demarcate road space better.
Option 4: Enhanced markings that will create a “sort of a bike lane” by adding a dashed white line along with sharrows to better mark bike space.
Option 5: Eliminate parking on one side of the road, which will allow bike lanes in both directions.
Option 6: Alternate parking bays on each side of the road. This will keep parking on the roads, even if not at the same time, and will also create a bike lane.
Option 7: Eliminate the marked parking area and use painted yellow curbs for no parking areas.
Option 8: No change.
These options will be presented to the public during an open house. Members of the community can also bring their own ideas on how to make the bike lanes safer.
There is no word yet on when the open house will be.
