Park Board hoping to make Stanley Park causeway safer
Posted June 25, 2013 6:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Vancouver Parks Board is doing everything it can to improve the safety of both cyclists and pedestrians sharing the Stanley Park causeway.
A motion passed Monday night stems from the death of a cyclist on the causeway at the end of May but carries no specific suggestions.
Most supporters who attended the meeting do favour some kind of barrier.
“Separation is what’s going to work hands-down,” says Craig Stewart, a cyclist who spoke at the meeting. “Nothing else really does the trick.”
Parks Board Commissioner Constance Barnes, herself a regular cyclist, says there is no point in waiting for the coroner’s report and cause of death.
“We know how the red tape and bureaucracy works,” says Barnes.
“So am I going to sit around and wait to find out what I already know which is somebody was killed before putting a motion forward?”
The board voted 4-2 to work with all levels of government to investigate safety measures and will look for short term solutions as well.
The board members who passed the motion were looking both short and long-term solutions.
“How do we move forward with this immediately,” says Barnes. “Yes in the long-term we need to look at a lot of different options but right now we need to get something up.”
Barnes put forth the motion and says the time for action is now.
Board members John Coupar and Melissa De Genova voted against the proposal. Both said they favoured waiting until the cause of the cyclist’s crash is known before taking specific action.
