The Central Valley Greenway turns one year old
The Central Valley Greenway turns one year old
In June, another of our initiatives turned one—the Central Valley Greenway (CVG)!
If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Buzzer’s no-sweat tour of the CVG, I highly recommend it.
First year stats
TransLink’s planning team passed along about the Greenway’s first year: it served an estimated 350,000 bike trips and 300,000 pedestrian trips in its first year, for a total of 650,000 trips. The estimates are based on three automated bike counters, two automated pedestrian counters and on one manually surveyed location—and the automated counters provide hourly counts, 24 hours a day.
So, I’m told the data shows that the seasonally adjusted number of trips on the Greenway is steadily increasing, both absolutely and in comparison to other major bike routes in Metro Vancouver. If you compare the Greenway to more established bike routes, it’s approaching the bicycle ridership of Ontario Street which is the region’s first or second busiest route.
A chart with some stats!
| Location | Bikes | Pedestrians |
| Victoria Drive (Vancouver) | 253,615 | 158,509 |
| Rupert Street (Vancouver) | 178,602 | 111,626 |
| Winston Bridge/Burnaby Lake Park (Burnaby) | 54,362 | 63,510 |
| Cumberland (New West) | 14,600 | 37,960 |
Improvements!
Also, in response to your feedback, new wayfinding has been created and installed along the Burnaby segment of the CVG. The sign’s a bit small in the picture, so just click here for a PDF version of some of the new green route confirmation signage. Yellow destination signage (those yellow “finger signs”) are being installed too.
As well, funding has been allocated by TransLink and the City of Vancouver for a signal at Boundary but the implementation date is not yet determined.
And YES, a new bike bridge has been installed near Still Creek Ave on the Burnaby segment of the Greenway, replacing the rather steep bridge you originally had to use! Look right to see what it looks like.
I used it to ride from Vancouver out to a friend’s birthday dinner near Lougheed Mall. Everyone was totally impressed that I biked out there. But it was pretty easy.
I’m wondering if similar signage has been installed in the pedestrian-only section through Burnaby Lake. If not, does it require additional coordination with Metro Vancouver (since it maintains the regional park)?
How can you celebrate the first birthday of something that still isn’t finished? Try riding through the Cariboo & Government intersection, that is one dangerous intersection where cyclist have to go the wrong way in to traffic ducking under a railway crossing arm.
Or the corner of McBride and Columbia where the solution to illegally turning vehicles nearly killing cyclists was to order cyclists to dismount and walk across McBride. Great, slower targets for the cars to hit.
Sorry politicians, no soup for you. And no public patting yourself on the back until a project is actually finished.
Matt: I’m not sure what to say —- the path does still have its challenges, but the majority is functional, the path does still exist, and people are using it. That is still something to celebrate!
Good to hear about the improvements. I was wondering if your call centre staff know much about it. I got lost (perhaps due to signage problems) and I called Translink to get back on the path but the staff didn’t know a thing about it…I had to direct them to it on Translinks website. In the end I was left to my own devices and I managed to get back on the CVG with a detour.
Brandon: That’s a good question. I’ll pass this on to the planning and call centre staff and ask them to update their CVG files.
Eric: Not sure! I would assume Metro Vancouver would have some say though. My CVG contact has just gone on holiday so it may take a little bit of time to get an answer.
What a successful year! The trail is quite wonderful. And it just goes to show, when bikes are allocated their space away from vehicles people will flock to using bikes.
Always room for improvement though.. cough Burnaby recycling depot by the Willingdon Costco cough. And the aforementioned Cariboo and Government St intersection, I’m not sure how long a sidewalk should take to pour, more than a year apparently.
However, all and all a very enjoyable trail. Thank you to the great amount of effort from the cities, translink, planners, etc for making it happen!
@Jimbo Haha yes! I’d actually call it a garbage depot given how much trash is thrown about everywhere. It was quite alarming when I biked through it the first time.
The Central Valley Greenway has become one my favourite recreational routes to run and cycle. A few weeks ago I took the train out to New Westminster and ran back to Science World – a great half marathon training route that is more scenic and less crowded then the Seawall. The only problem spot is the area near Costco and the Burnaby Recycling Centre. I’m looking forward to that stretch being completed.
I rolled by the trail near the Willingdon Costco/Recycling Center today. Not much has changed in the last six months. The city looks to have started work on extending Still Creek Drive a block east of where it now ends (at the edge of the Costco property). It also looks like there will be a one block extension of Beta Ave from this extension.
The city was working on something at the east end of the recycling center, digging and they have moved the trail a bit.
If only someone knew and could tell us what is going on!
Jimbo: I’ll send the inquiry on! My CVG contact is just on vacation, it might be a little longer before we get the answer from her alternate.
Jimbo: here’s the answer from the City of Burnaby.
Thanks for the update, Jhenifer, good to here things are progressing at the Costco!
Was there an update on the trail at the Government and Carbioo intersection? It looks like a riding surface is coming at some point but last time I rode through the southwest corner was paved it was just dirt.
As some people comment, why are we having a birthday for something not fully born yet. The CVG is a wonderfully optimistic venture, but it is VERY FAR from perfect – please see my critique, suggestions for improvements and YouTube links at http://averagejoecyclist.com/?p=825
Jimbo: the City of Burnaby says that the the paving at Cariboo and Government has now been completed. The paving was contingent upon installation by the rail road company of a key piece to provide a level crossing across the tracks.
That is good news. Has anyone been by the intersection of Cariboo and Government (where you cross the train tracks just east of the Costco by Gaglardi) and can give us an update?
Average Joe Cyclist: Thanks for the link — I’ve forwarded it on to our planning folks so they can help improve the trail.
Thanks Jhenifer for passing on my link! There has been a ton of traffic on that post, so I guess a lot of people really care about this issue. Most people are appreciative of the trail, and use it a lot – but would just like to see some of the dangerous bits sorted out.
Jimbo, I have been past the intersection of Government and Cariboo recently. It has now been paved. I think the only thing they still have to do is some signage, or paint the paving with cycle lane markings – I was confused when I went through as to whether cyclists were allowed on the paving (because usually paving is for pedestrians, and it is usually illegal for cyclists to be on paved sidewalks). I did not realize that it had actually been done FOR cyclists.
Hi Jhenifer
regarding your comment about Burnaby’s plans for Still Creek Avenue and the urban trail:
We were just hoping you could get a bit more clarification. Do they plan to run the urban trail separately, or will the CVG continue to be on a non-sepated lane on Still Creek?
As you will see from my post, plus the many comments, Still Creek is the MOST COMPLAINED about part of the CVG, even now. If the road is extended, traffic will increase hugely, and this bit will become a deathtrap for cyclists, let alone a “greenway.” There are giant trucks constantly parked right in the bike lane, parked cars that reverse into the bike lane, zero law enforcement or safe signage for cyclists, debris on the street – I have always assumed that Translink had plans for this bit to be somewhere else, but has not got to it yet.
I hope I am right?
Thanks
Joe
Joe: hold on for just a bit longer — one of our planners is putting together a very comprehensive answer to your blog post that includes these details and more. It just needs a few final touches and then I’ll pass it along!
Thanks Jhenifer!
[…] for this, Translink! Also, my thanks to Jhenifer at Translink’s Buzzer Blog for passing on the links to my posts to Translink Planning Department, and for bringing back this […]
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