The City of Vancouver is planning to upgrade the bike route along Haro Street in the West End to meet AAA design guidelines.
The work will take place next year as part of water main upgrades along the street, from Denman to Thurlow.
According to the city, “the Haro Street Bikeway is expected to become an important cycling connection between the Cambie Street Bridge in the east, and Stanley Park and the Lions Gate bridge in the west, as well as public spaces along Bute St. in the future.”
However, Smithe Street, which runs west from the Cambie Bridge, eventually turning into Haro Street, only has a bike lane for a portion of its length (from Expo to Richards). After Richards, the bike lane disappears and cyclists are forced to ride in a traffic lane in one of the busiest areas in downtown Vancouver.
Surprisingly, this plan for Haro Street upgrades does not appear to resolve the missing connection between the Smithe bike lane west of Richards and Haro Street.
The upgrades to Haro Street will result in portions of the street allowing one-way traffic only, as seen in the map below.
To learn more about the Haro Street bike lane upgrades, visit vancouver.ca
