Residents of 32 Avenue are crying foul after a hotly-contested pair of cycling lanes installed here are not being used properly.
As shown in the photo cyclists are often cycling two or three abreast in one of the shrunken car lanes on the suburban Aldergrove street, instead of single file in one of the two cycling lanes. This is in contravention of provincial law.
“Please explain why the folks who we see mostly using 32 Avenue for biking refuse to use the bike lane they are provided,” complained Valorie York, on the Aldergrove Safe Community and Awareness website on Sept. 5.
“They blocked traffic riding side by side, chatting while cars were held up behind them. Two groups I caught doing so on my walk today.”
Parking on both sides of 32 Avenue was recently removed in order to accommodate two lanes each for automotive and bicycle traffic, with one lane left for parked vehicles on the south side of 32 Avenue.
One of the commenters on the website, Christa Van Elswyk said, “Absolutely ridiculous — it seems the crackheads are happy to use the bike lane properly — which is probably because they get a great view of all of our vehicles parked in one nice lane for them. Yesterday at 8 p.m., I watched a crackhead on a bike with sunglasses, a hat and a sweet leather back pack go up and down 32nd looking into vehicles at least three times. I yelled ‘—— off’ each time I saw him.”