More and more green bike lanes are criss-crossing Kelowna’s streets, with more on the way.
“Right now there’s an $88 million investment over 14 years,” Matt Worona, Kelowna’s active transportation co-ordinator, said.
Bike boxes, which are generally marked by a big green box in front of a crosswalk, are one of the newer features that can be seen on the road.
“When you have lots of cyclists, they stack up behind each other, and they’re all going straight.”
That creates a challenge for drivers turning right, he said.
“Drivers are kind of blindsided a little bit and feel squeezed.”
When cyclists fill the green bike box in front of the vehicles, they can move off at the same time when the light turns green, allowing cars behind to turn right faster, Worona said.
It’s usually accompanied by an advance green for cyclists, which is something the city is looking at, he added.
Cyclists can also use the green bike box to help turn left, Worona said.
- Meter mixup: B.C. woman’s power bill swapped with neighbours for over a decade
- Family says probe into B.C. Mountie’s suicide has left no one accountable
- All London Drugs stores in Western Canada expected to reopen Tuesday following cyberattack
- Protesters outside B.C. court as Nijjar murder suspects make brief appearance
At some of Kelowna’s intersections, right turns on red lights have been banned, but Worona said that decision wasn’t necessarily made because of cyclists.
“It could very well be for pedestrians. Montreal is an example of a place where there is no right-turn on red. They have significantly reduced pedestrian incidents on right turns, and that’s one of your biggest issue points,” he said.
At Ethel and Cadder, the bike lane snakes into the street. Cars that are turning right cross the bike path before the intersection.
“What we don’t want to do, is we don’t want to have that incident where someone’s coming up and they’re kind of turning over a cyclist that’s going straight. That kind of conflict is very challenging,” Worona said.
If a cyclists and vehicle arrive at the same time, the cyclist has the right of way, he said.
“The vehicle is crossing over dashed lines.”
Worona said that as the city tries out different types of bike lanes and markings, it will add details that are missed along the way if needed.
“We’re learning as we go, and I think all of North America is learning,” Worona said.
“Experiments are how you build a new transportation system,” he added.
Comments