Cyclists and pedestrians are going to have Front Street to themselves on weekends from July 4 to Labour Day.
In an effort to create a connection for cyclists and pedestrians from Westminster Pier Park and Sapperton Landing Park, council has authorized staff to proceed with temporary weekend closures of Front Street. While the closure would run on Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays (likely from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.), motorists would still have local access to Front Street businesses via the Front Street Mews and Frontage Road, the narrow road running directly in front of businesses.
“This initiative would provide a highly desired riverfront link between the downtown areas and Sapperton Landing Park and could provide a corridor for various community groups to host events, while exercising appropriate physical distancing in accordance with the direction and orders of the British Columbia medical health officer,” said a report to council. “This portion of Front Street, however, is also an important corridor for vehicular road users, particularly commercial goods movements, and is in proximity to an existing railway corridor.”
In May, Mayor Jonathan Cote suggested it may be worth exploring to see if it’s possible to close Front Street to through traffic on weekends in the summer. He told council there are examples of cities around the world where roads that are very much needed for goods movement on weekdays have been opened up as public spaces on weekends.
“Interestingly, during COVID-19 we are seeing more people wanting to get to our public spaces, including our riverfront,” he said at the May 25 meeting. “I put this forward as a potential opportunity to give it more space and allow people to connect. It might be a good time to do a pilot project to see what might work.”
Based on a review that included consideration experiences related to previous closures of Front Street, a review of traffic data and discussions with stakeholders, staff recommended the closure be restricted to Front Street between East Columbia and Begbie streets. The plan will allow residents to continue to access their homes, will allow to and from access for the Quayside neighbourhood via Begbie Street and will allow vehicles to access businesses on Front Street.
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr supported the motion, but recommended it be amended to add that a clear communication be developed to ensure people are aware that Front Street businesses are open and vehicle access is available to local traffic.
“I just want to ensure that we have a better way of communicating that and doing the press on that so that it is really clear upfront that the business district on Front Street is not closed,” he said. “Front Street is closed for through traffic, but open for business traffic. Every time we try to communicate that, it seems like the media seems to leave that piece out. It really frustrates the few businesses we have on Front Street. Some of them struggle, especially now. I just want to throw that out there in advance.”
