U-Bicycle Expansion and completing the E&N Trail connection
by Mary P Brooke, West Shore Voice News
Thursday, August 16 ~ LANGFORD. Cycling and trails are meeting with a lot of progress in Langford.
This is taking a bit of emphasis away from vehicle commuting and the frustrations that Langford and west shore residents are experiencing on the two main corridors from the west shore into core areas like Victoria and Saanich (notably Highway 1 and Island Highway/Colwood Crawl commutes both early morning and late in the day).
This promotion of trails and use of community-shared bicycles is a further acknowledgement that many west shore residents are dependent on commutes to employment and post-secondary.
Langford Mayor Stew Young told a crowd at Belmont Residences today that over the past 25 years more than 30 kilometres of bike lanes have been built in Langford. Mayor Young acknowledges the support of the development community in helping to make that possible.
To make use of those bike lanes, the U-Bicycle initiative is timely. “With a population over 40,000 now, the density is there,” Stew Young told West Shore Voice News. “Development is paying for the bike lanes. And now Belmont Residences and Ledcor are helping bring this service to Langford,” Young said. “Without density we wouldn’t have this. There’s a lot of economic activity in Langford (to support it),” he said.
The U-Bicycles (including E-bikes) and now also electric scooters are available at the U-Bicycle station at the Belmont Residences sales centre at 915 Division Avenue (corner of Jenkins Avenue). “People can ride them to work, or use them here for recreation,” says Eric Gerlach, VP Development, Belmont Residences. The U-Bicycle service is available throughout Greater Victoria, serving all demographics, explained Gerlach.
Langford Councillor Lanny Seaton is quite pleased with finally seeing Phase of the E&N Trail connector (construction starting soon, for completion in September 2019). “We’ve been after them for 10 years,” he said today with reference to CRD which is responsible for the trail development. Starting next fall, residents will be able to cycle into Victoria core areas. “It’s a two percent grade all the way,” said Seaton, because it follows the rail grade.
The first phase of the E&N Trail (started in 2009) was to distribute the construction activity amidst the various impacted municipalities (Langford, View Royal, Victoria, Esquimalt, and the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations), says Brett Hudson, Manager, Planning, Resource Management and Development, CRD Regional Parks. That way “the benefits were spread over the region,” says Hudson.
Meanwhile, Langford Mayor Stew Young continues to push for High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on the Trans Canada (Hwy 1). Last week the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) reiterated that ‘bus shoulder lanes’ are being installed as part of the McKenzie Interchange Project. Stew Young reiterated his view that HOV lanes right from Langford into Victoria would reduce vehicle commuting time more than the ‘bit of reduction’ that the McKenzie Interchange will provide. MOTI says the McKenzie Interchange will reduce commute times by as much as 20 minutes for some commuters (that project is due for completion at year-end 2019).
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