Here is a photo of part of the Mosaic bicycle route that connects up with the Adanac bike route pictured next. Speed bumps and a lower speed limit of 30kph due to a nearby school help to make this a safe and pleasant cycling route despite crossing through light industrial areas and being plagued by hills.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 13th 2011.
The popular Adanac bike route as it winds through a more industrial part of the city.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
Even here there are still bicycle and pedestrian controlled traffic lights at busy intersections.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
The City has supported several bicycle themed murals along the route which are genuinely quite nice.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
At Main Street the Adanac bike route ends leaving cyclists with two options for continuing on into downtown Vancouver. The first option is to continue straight on Adanac for another block to where the street merges with Expo Boulevard and there is a painted bicycle lane. Expo Boulevard crosses the Carral Street Greenway cycle track, which connects historic Gastown with the off-street Seawall pedestrian and bicycle route that rings much of the city's waterfront. Ultimately Expo Boulevard turns into Pacific Boulevard that meets up with the Hornby Street cycle track and the Burrard Bridge. The second option is to veer left onto the Dunsmuir Viaduct cycle track that takes one into the downtown core. There is a 50+ foot escarpment that separates the False Creek Flats from the downtown core and the Dunsmuir Viaduct helps vehicles, and now cyclists, make the transition. A lane of road deck space was reallocated to cyclists in the form of a cycle track. The lane had been previously closed off to vehicles as a traffic management experiment so in this instance there was not an actual reduction in road space through the construction of the cycle track. Also, during the 2010 Winter Olympics the entire viaduct and its twin the Georgia viaduct were closed for two months for security reasons and life went on just fine without it prompting a study by City Hall to see whether the viaducts are worth retaining when the time comes for significant mid-life refurbishment some time in the next twenty years.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 13th 2011.
Having crossed the Dunsmuir viaduct, here are a few photos of the new Dunsmuir street cycle track. Up ahead in the next block there is a bus stop with a shelter on one side of the cycle track and a pedestrian median for boarding on the other.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
Here is a photo of the permanent in-street bicycle counters that are used throughout the cycle track network to monitor use. They appear to be the same type of induction loops that are used at intersections to gauge how long the line is for a left turn.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
An after work recreational group of cyclists turning onto the Hornby cycle track.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
Traffic lights for the Hornby cycle track include bicycle symbol lights. Technically these are not allowed under our Province's transportation laws but the City's lawyers essentially said 'just go for it' to the Engineering Department since there is ample precedent for the lights in cities around the world and in several jurisdictions in Canada and the United States.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
Here I'm approaching the apogee of the Burrard Street bridge and one can clearly see the reallocation of a road lane for the cycle track. The concrete barriers are temporary and the City has committed to improving the aesthetics as part of its decision to make this cycle track and bridge deck space allocation permanent.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 13th 2011.
The south end of the Burrard Bridge. On this side of the bridge a vehicle lane was reallocated to cyclists for southbound travel while on the opposite side the sidewalk has been converted into a bicycle-only lane for northbound travel. The sidewalk on the near side of the bridge is now for pedestrians only. Previously cyclists and pedestrians shared the narrow sidewalks of the 1930s art deco era bridge. During the first year of the reallocation trial just over a million bicycles were counted and pedestrian use reached an all time high. North bound vehicles in the same three lanes as before had less than a minute's average delay because of the changes while no delays southbound for the two lanes (one changed to a cycle track) of traffic were recorded, plus transit vehicles have not been affected enough to register in on-time scheduling monitoring.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011.
If the left turn bay pictured above seems a little excessive, believe me when I say that it's often too small.
Taken by SFUVancouver, May 13th 2011.