The North Shore Spirit Trail, the partially completed 35-kilometre recreational pathway intended to eventually link Deep Cove with Horseshoe Bay, may move closer to completion if North Vancouver District council accepts staff recommendation on a revised routing.
Council received an update last month on a range of transportation issues, including the Spirit Trail, which is to be an “accessible, low-lying multi-use path,” according to a report authored by Erica Geddes and Ingrid Weisenbach of the district’s transportation department. The district has been working with the other North Shore municipalities and the Squamish Nation to implement the trail.
The western section of the Spirit Trail in the district was completed in 2012 and has been used extensively by cyclists and pedestrians. Staff have reported some conflicts between vehicles and users of the trail at places where roads and driveways intersect the trail.
There have also been pedestrian and cyclist conflicts. Staff will monitor and attempt to ameliorate these issues, according to the report. Planners had recognized from the outset that the routing of the trail through the most densely populated areas of the North Shore would present the greatest challenges. Rivers and Highway 1 present particular challenges.
Council has expressed concerns that the originally proposed route, which would have included a bridge across Lynn Creek at Crown Street continuing south alongside Harbour Avenue and Barrow Street, would not take advantage of the natural environment and also that it held potential implementation challenges.
A technical review of potential alternatives led staff to recommend council adopt a more northerly route, which would cross Lynn Creek near Hunter Street and travel eastward along Keith Road and Mount Seymour Parkway.
Staff say this route presents the affordability, safety, and good connectivity and user experience. Planning and engineering work remains before the route can be finalized. Council also heard from transportation staff about traffic issues around schools, traffic calming efforts and crosswalk policies.
Transportation staff received 31 requests in 2014 for new crosswalks and the engineering department received 49 requests. Last year, the district installed six new crosswalks. The report notes that, according to the Motor Vehicle Act, pedestrians have a right of way at every intersection, whether or not an intersection is marked as a crosswalk, has special lighting or a pedestrian-controlled light.
