Thou shalt not pass cyclists on the bridge

May 10, 2012

by intrepid reporter Susanna Grimes

photo credit to Douglas Fraser

As a cyclist, if you have ever been passed by a driver on the Johnson Street Bridge, here is some payback! We saw this today, while doing a traffic count for the Cycling Coalition. The driver passed a cyclist over the double yellow line, right in front of a police car. Well, the officer didn't think much of that, stopped all traffic, and handed out a stiff ticket. Thank you Victoria Police!

Next Recreational Ride: Island View Beach Regional Park

Meet at Serious Coffee (Location Map), 230 Cook Street at 9:45 am for registration. Depart 10:00  am sharp. Sunday, May 13, 2012.

Join us for a 56 K ride to a beautiful, wild, Island View Beach Regional Park. Beach and Dune walks. We will be taking the seaside coastal route which adds a few K and a few (gentle) hills to the standard Lochside Trail route - we don't want to make it too easy, summer is coming and a lot of longer rides are planned, now is the time to start pushing it a little bit! Bring a picnic lunch and walking shoes.We will make a supply and bathroom stop at Mattick's Farm. Return is on the Lochside Trail.

Weather forecast is calling for 20+ C, sunny and not much wind. A great day for the beach!

Route map from RideWithGPS.com.

n.b. the new departure point!

Next Themed Ride: 'Magical' Historical Sites Tour

A great way to end Bike to Work Week and begin the Victoria International Cycling Festival. Come along on one of our most popular bicycle rides led by renowned, local historian John Adams and experience a spellbinding look at Victoria's past on two wheels. The ride begins at Selkirk Station (80 Regatta Landing Location Map) just off the Galloping Goose trail south of the Selkirk Trestle at 10:00 a.m. and ends at the same location at about 2:00 p.m. Be sure to bring a lunch for the lunch stop. The ride is approximately 20 easy kilometres.

NOTES: Participants are required to wear helmets and bicycles must be in good mechanical condition.
All Night Rides require functioning front and rear lights.
There will be rest stops but we recommentd that you bring water and food.
ALL RIDES ARE BY DONATION (SUGGESTED DONATION $5)
For further information call the GVCC at 250-480-5155.
All dates, times and routes are subject to change.

Recent Recreational Ride: Alpine Meadows Bike & Hike

New Bike Box at Harbour & Esquimalt

This is most welcome: A very visible, non-slip and presumably long lasting road surface treatment for cycling infrastructure. It isn't just paint - these are square tiles as you can see in the second picture. Can we expect to see all our cycling lanes and boxes made of this material soon? We can only hope!

If you have any more information on this, please leave a comment.

Velo Village, Saltspring Island

Velo Village is a celebration of rural cycling. It brings diverse cycling communities together to address common challenges, share rural mobility solutions and enjoy cycle-themed art, music, performance and family events.

As a pre-conference event to Velo-City 2012, Velo Village initiates a global dialogue on the ties that bind city cyclists and their country cousins. Its themes of safety, community and connectivity will be brought to life through local exhibits, a one-day rural mobility solutions conference, guided rides, performances, and community-based demonstrations.

The Bike Ferry – British Columbia’s first ever Bicycle-only ferry departs Swartz Bay at 10:00 am, Saturday June 23rd, 2012 and arrives at Velo Village (Fulford Harbour) at 10:35. Fun, games and music on-board for all and a group ride into Ganges. Maximum capacity is 400 cyclists with bikes.

Register early to guarantee your spot.

Safely cyling through roundabouts

Council dismisses move to redesign bridge project

Mayor Dean Fortin said the risks were simply too high to go back to redesign.

"There's risks of [losing] federal funding, risks of not getting completed in time, risks of, frankly, having the old bridge closed [for safety reasons] before we get the new one built," Fortin said.

"Those are risks for our downtown and we do know that economic development studies had said the closure of that bridge for a year would have a minimum $16-million impact on our downtown."

Read the complete story at Victoria Times Colonist

Letter to Victoria City Council

Update - February 17, 15:40: Thanks to everyone who attended the council meeting and emailed their councillors about this important issue. The motion failed 5 - 3. We will keep you updated and involved in all future council meetings when they affect cycling in the Greater Victoria region.

Dear Victoria City Council:

The Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition wishes to express its opposition to recent efforts by councillors to reopen discussion of the design of the new Johnson Street Bridge.

The city's timeline to replace the Johnson Street Bridge is very tight and cannot afford any delays borne by revisiting fundamental questions of scope and design.

The GVCC does support re-establishing rail transit on the bridge. However, at this late date amending the JSB Project Charter and revisiting the design of the bridge risks delaying the completion date past March 2016, the deadline to receive $21 million in federal funding. The loss of such funding would inevitably result in the elimination of pedestrian and cycling amenities to reduce the cost burden on local taxpayers.

We urge council to respect the results of the November 2010 referendum and focus its efforts on ensuring the timely completion of this project.

Throughout the recent debate surrounding the Johnson Street Bridge, the GVCC has and will continue to speak in favour of replacing the bridge with a structure that is more pedestrian and cycling friendly.

Sincerely,

Darren Marr
President
Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition

See also: Letter to Council from GVCC member Susanna Grimes

What Have We Done for You Lately?

compiled by Sam Macey

The Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition is a collection of over 300 volunteer members whose primary reason for existence is to get more people riding more often and to more places. This ambition is achieved in short spins and long cycles of various efforts, spearheaded by a dedicated Board of Directors that hold cycling in the highest regard.

Since the last issue of Cycle Therapy, the GVCC, including its Board, Committees and members has, on behalf of all cyclists in the Greater Victoria Area, accomplished the following:

• Elected a new board at our Annual General Meeting on October 16, 2011. If you didn’t attend, you missed a great presentation by CRD’s Leigh Sifton about the soon-to-be-opened E&N Rail Trail.
• Spent several hours locked up in a room on a beautiful Saturday (for some odd reason we call this a retreat) to review and update our focus and advocacy plans for the coming year.
• Welcomed Simon Wigzell, your newest interim Board member appointee.
• Welcomed GVCC member Michelle Kowalski as Advertising Coordinator for Cycle Therapy. She’ll be helping CT grow from a newsletter to a full-fledged magazine.
• Held the Annual Terry van Fleet Memorial Christmas Lights Ride which attracted over 90 riders – our largest turnout in the 14 years we have held this ride.
• Provided free recreational rides almost every Sunday morning.
• Wrote to Vioria’s Chief of Police to enquire about the ongoing investigation into the fatal truck/ bicycle crash near Burnside and Harriet on November 28, 2011 that resulted in the death of cyclist Mark Phillip Metcalfe.
• Wrote to the provincial Ministers of Energy and Mines & Environment regarding the announcement of $17 million in incentives for clean energy vehicles and charging stations, requesting that the scope of the clean energy vehicle program be extended to cover the purchase of bicycles.
• Continued working with the BC Cycling Coalition to identify cycling infrastructure issues on provincial highways in the south coast district. This includes cycling improvements on Highways 1, 1A, 14, and 17 in the Greater Victoria area, including Douglas and Blanshard Streets.
• Invited you to submit suggestions to a poll on our website for cycling improvements to the provincial highways mentioned above.
• Worked once again with the organizers of Ryder Hesjedal’s Tour de Victoria, scheduled for Sunday June 24, 2012. We’ll be helping marshal portions of the Tour. The Tour is the final event in the Victoria International Cycling Festival, which runs from June 1st through June 24th. If you’re interested in helping out, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone 250 590-6325.
• Our Facilities and Infrastructure Committee continues to attend information meetings on the Shelbourne Street Corridor project to ensure that cycling needs are included in the proposed changes.
• Continued working on ways to support the implementation of the CRD’s Pedestrian and
• Cycling Master Plan (PCMP). Began organizing a PCMP working group to promote and help implement the CRD’s PCMP in all local municipalities. If you’re interested in joining this working group, please contact Darren Marr at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Kept maintaining one of the coolest websites in cyberspace: gvcc. bc.ca. Have a peek to get your latest news on upcoming events, or become an esteemed member. We often have a poll where you can add your valued opinions which help shape our approach to current advocacy issues.
• And last but — where beer is present — certainly not least, we held our first Cyclists Lounge at the Pizzeria Prima Strada restaurant (2960 Bridge Street) pizzeriaprimastrada.com/bridgestreet.php. Our thanks to Prima Strada for their support of this event. Check the GVCC website for our next Lounge to meet fellow cyclists and discuss cycling issues.