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AT YOUR SERVICE – Protected bike lanes on key Township roads is encouraged by council

Question-and-answer feature calling on those elected to office in Langley
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Do you have a question you’d like to see put to the Langley Township council? Email your idea to editor@langleyadvancetimes.com.

Langley Advance Times is offering this weekly feature called it “At Your Service.”

It’s another forum in which to put questions to our local politicians about key issues facing our community and its residents.

Using a basic question-and-answer format, elected officials will be asked one question at a time and given the opportunity to respond (to a maximum of 250 words) on that said issue.

Alternating between elected groups, Langley City and Langley Township councils, Langley school board, Langley MLAs, and Langley MPs each have a chance to participate.

The answers provided will be published in their entirety online Sundays.

MOST RECENT – AT YOUR SERVICE: New floodplain report coming to council this spring

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QUESTION

Langley Township council was asked: Should future bike lanes on major routes (200th, 208th, Fraser Highway, etc.) be separated from roads for safety and to encourage cycling?

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ANSWERS

Mayor Eric Woodward

A. Thanks for the question. I have a simple answer: “Yes.”

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Councillor Tim Baillie

A. Yes, I believe bike lanes should be separated where possible.

I ride a bike and know how dicey things can get.

I have ridden in Europe a fair bit and it is a model of how places can be adapted for bikes even in older cities.

It is not only the cars that cause problems as bike riders have to get more responsible as you many times see irresponsible behaviour on bikes.

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Councillor Steve Ferguson

A. Yes, wherever possible.

But, as we know, bikes and cars don’t mix very well.

Safety is paramount for both vehicles and especially people riding their bikes.

In winter, conditions are extremely difficult for folks on bikes with snow ice and cold rain!

Vehicles drivers, especially truckers, should always exercise caution when bikes are on the road.

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Councillor Margaret Kunst

A. Yes, future bike lanes on major routes should be separated.

If we want to encourage active transportation in our community we need to make safety a top priority and ensure these routes are as safe as possible.

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Councillor Barb Martens

A. Ideally, protected bicycle lanes increase the safety of cyclists, particularly on travel routes of high vehicle volume and speeds.

Any consideration to incorporate protected lanes into future route planning in the Township of Langley will require deeper analysis that considers the capacity for maintenance and snow removal on these lanes, air quality for cyclists, accessibility from these routes to services, costs, land, and planning a transportation network that is suitable to meet priorities of all users.

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Councillor Michael Pratt

A. Yes.

It is well within our power to build safer bike lanes that actually lead to where people want to get to without always having to use their car.

Simply placing a strip of paint on major roads like 200th Street or 208th Street will do absolutely nothing to encourage people to make trips on a bike or scooter that they might otherwise take with their car.

By combining investments in public transit with safer cycling infrastructure, we can make commuting easier for everyone, including drivers.

We should focus on building bike lanes to useful places where the average rider can feel comfortable and safe on their journey. Besides those who are hyper-confident on a bike or in pretty good shape, most people aren’t going to bike between Aldergrove and Willoughby any time soon.

But, what if we safely connected our schools with residential areas within neighbourhoods, so that kids could start safely getting to school on their own? Or connecting our community centres with the areas we know have a high concentration of senior citizens, so that folks can live healthy lifestyles on their own terms.

We need to be targeted and realistic about how we build our protected bike lanes, and create a network that anyone can use to get to desirable places within our community.

Biking isn’t going to replace every car trip any time soon, but we can absolutely make progress on creating a safer and more efficient transportation network for everyone in the Township.

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Councillor Kim Richter

A. Yes. This will be expensive to implement, but it is needed to change behaviour through increased cycling safety.

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Councillor Rob Rindt

A. This council member failed to reply to this query, prior to deadline.

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Councillor Misty vanPopta

A.Building dedicated cycling infrastructure into our roadways is important. Dedicated and separated bike lanes are needed along busy corridors if we want to encourage cycling.

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UP NEXT

Next week’s Langley school district trustees are being asked: Are teachers asked to do too much when it comes to socializing students, rather than working on core educational tasks?

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Watch for their answers online Sunday.

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Roxanne Hooper

About the Author: Roxanne Hooper

I began in the news industry at age 15, but honestly, I knew I wanted to be a community journalist even before that.
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