Victoria’s new protected bikes lanes officially opened this weekend with a ribbon cutting ceremony outside city hall, to celebrate what is the first phase in a multi-million dollar project.
It was an opportunity for the public to come down for free bike rentals, giveaways and the chance to learn more about the #BIKETORIA project.
Cyclists have been utilizing the bike lanes for the past two weeks, having been opened to the public on May 1. They run for more than one kilometre along the length of Pandora from the 1400-block of Store Street all the way up to the Cook Street intersection.
In addition to green intersections and concrete barriers, there are new traffic signals for both bicycles and drivers, new bus stop locations, reconfigured on-street parking and mid-block pedestrian crossings.
Pandora is just the first phase that will see an existing budget of $7.75 million used to build at least 5.4 kilometres of protected bikes lanes in the downtown core by the end of 2018. Other corridors expected to be part of phase one include:
- Fort Street (Wharf Street to Cook Street)
- Wharf Street (Pandora Avenue to Government Street)
- Humboldt / Pakington (Government Street to Cook Street)
- Cook Street (Pandora Avenue to Pakington Street)
You can learn more about the project on the City of Victoria’s website.
