Quote:
Originally Posted by tybuilding
The New West portion has uneven road and driveway crossings with let downs that are narrow and poorly placed with abrupt vertical changes, asphalt cracking and tree roots, a rail crossing with 2-90 degree turns with poor sight lines, vegetation growth issues and there is a lack of signage around the 3rd Street Overpass where the trail ends with a lot of users not knowing to do and ending up riding on Stewardson Way eastbound until Columbia. Also there is a very narrow section along Stewardson Way which is only really a sidewalk which makes it very daunting to ride, especially against traffic where passing trucks are coming at you with a 60-70km/h speed difference.
In Surrey there is a missing section of Greenway from the Patullo Bridge to Scott Road station which unfortunately will be missing until the bridge is replaced and 110 Ave which is the bike route is awful and cyclists can't activate the light at King George. The guidway is close to the trail which blocks the light from King George and there is a section off street which is getting lighting. There is a corner on the hill which is a blind corner that can use some work. The asphalt is in good shape. The intersection with 132nd street can use a reconfiguration as drivers often whip around the corner turning off King George at 50km/hr right over the trail crossing. |
Agree, these are indeed the two worst sections of the trail at the moment. Basically everything past 22nd St. station is somewhat ridiculous in terms of wayfinding and safety for most riders, especially those who don't do that part of the Parkway every day. They are so bad, that discussing needed improvements to this part of the route would warrant its own thread.
Some comments on the trail
west of 22nd:
-I'm very glad they repaved where they did on the curve south of Edmonds, and on the section parallel to Rumble. These paths were really rooted up and are so much more pleasant to ride now.
-The on-road section on Prenter between Buller and Gilley is in really bad disrepair for cyclists (even by automobile standards! the potholes and bumps are horrible), and the pedestrian path to the side is abysmal--loose, uneven gravel, without enough space between the road and the skytrain beams. Those with wheelchairs, strollers, etc., are basically forced to use the Highland Park Line to reach Edmonds. If we could find a way to connect the multi-use trail all the way to where it picks up again at the end of Irmin, the whole route between Royal Oak and 22nd Station would in my eyes be nearly perfect.
-Between Edmonds and Metrotown Station, there are 4 (four!) road crossings which would be rendered dramatically safer by the addition of pedestrian and/or bike signal buttons: Buller, MacPherson, Royal Oak, and Nelson. Of these, by far the most pressing needs are at Royal Oak and Nelson.
This recent article is right on the mark, and while focusing on Royal Oak, it mentions both of them. As it currently stands, the road crossings here are very wide, and very difficult for oncoming traffic to see, even with the big black/white 'pedestrian crossing' signs in place. And on Nelson especially, traffic is especially fast (not quite 'truck route level' speed, but almost). If they could also add bike buttons at the Victory Bikeway crossings on both these streets, that would also be well appreciated.
-The crosswalk/sidewalk solution near Jubilee Cycle/Dominos is really unfortunate. So many conflicts with pedestrians. I wish there were a way to make this better but I can't think of one. Lol.
-Between Metrotown and Patterson, the issue is definitely one of pedestrian congestion, and I am glad Translink is addressing this now. One suggestion I would make for alleviating this, in addition to the path redevelopment and repaving they are doing, would be to add bike buttons on both sides of the intersection of Beresford and Willingdon. In the future, I anticipate Beresford being a lot like Vanness, but on a larger scale, and thus many cyclists will probably want more space to themselves despite what they do to make the paths less congested. At Joyce-Collingwood on Vanness cyclists are actually prohibited from cycling on the 'path' around the station, and so they must use the road and the bike button no matter what after a certain point. Even in the present, offering a similar solution on Beresford will make cyclists' trips faster, since the pedestrian crosswalk connecting the trails across Willingdon is exceptionally slow and busy, and it will likely remain this way no matter what they do to the trails.
-The part of the trail that connects Patterson with Boundary Road through Central Park is really easy to miss. On my first ride I rode right down the long straight path to Kingsway, not realizing that this would put me on a narrow sidewalk with bus stops and heavy traffic all the way to Boundary. I looked in vain for a way to cross Kingsway and continue on to Vanness, since I assumed that was how it continued (otherwise why build the path all the way down to Kingsway so appealingly?). More signage needs to happen around Patterson so that Parkway users know to turn off into the forest rather than going straight.
-Pedestrian access and comfort between Joyce-Collingwood and 29th Avenue Stations is quite dismal at the moment, and unfortunately the paving they are doing just past Joyce won't yet come close to fixing this. Even if you are mobile enough to walk the gravel trails next to the Skytrain fence, as many have pointed out, the isolation behind the trees becomes a safety/sketch issue. If you're in a wheelchair, you're stuck on the roadway itself, with rather steep hills.
-It is still unclear to me how they are going to fix the pedestrian-cyclist conflicts and the circuitous way bikes have to go on the sidewalks to cross Nanaimo, but I am glad they have at least recognized this as a problem and are working on it. This is one of the areas where, opposite the way pedestrians have no real 'trail' to walk on between Joyce and 29th, cyclists come up to whole areas where they are unsure where the 'path' is, and in any case have to dismount and walk around to figure it out. While pedestrians are already on their feet here and have time to seek out the only pedestrian crosswalk, cyclists search in vain to see whether they really have to go down into the mass of skytrain passengers to cross or whether there is some other solution for them to cross the road (which, they discover, there is not). Not a tragedy, but extremely annoying.
-The hills on Gladstone near Nanaimo, and Penticton near 29th, are extremely steep. I'm sure almost scary for some when going down, and nearly impossible for many when going up. I suppose this is inevitable given how much higher Metrotown is than downtown, but I still wish there could be a way for the climb to be more gradual (or maybe there just isn't
). I often find myself climbing up Ontario and then taking the 45th bikeway back to Metrotown, just because of the climb involved in these 2 hills. Too bad.
-The tree roots are really bad right now on the path through John Hendry park. But the park is beautiful.
and so are the numerous dogs.
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