That’s the length of a trial city council approved Tuesday to see if adding a separated bike lane on the busy downtown street will work for cyclists, motorists and businesses.

The lane is the last link in the chain of a downtown bicycle network that will allow a cyclist to ride both ways from Chinatown to Kitsilano along a path protected by barriers such as planters.

The Dunsmuir viaduct, Dunsmuir Street and the Burrard Bridge already have separated bike lanes. The Hornby link will also extend to seawalls on the north and south ends of the 12-block street.

Total cost for the network is estimated at $5 million; the city’s annual budget for transportation-related projects such as roads is $125 million.

When city council unanimously approved the Hornby lane shortly before midnight Tuesday, many spectators remaining in the gallery erupted in applause. The next day, however, NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton said she was going to rescind her vote. She argued work on the lane started before the vote was taken.

Nonetheless, the significance of the moment was not lost on former NPA councillor Gordon Price, one of the last of the 25 speakers to address council, who provided historical context to the move.

After the council of the day in the 1970s quashed a proposal to run a freeway through downtown, Price said every council thereafter supported a new direction in transportation policy that promoted cycling, walking and transit.

“It’s a click moment,” he told council as he stood at the lectern in the chambers. “There are times in the growth of the city when networks begin to fill in, when connections are made, when the infrastructure gets to a certain point where things just go…” He snapped his fingers. “…click.”

The commuter cyclist recalled that people couldn’t walk or cycle around Stanley Park until the seawall was completed in the early 1970s. Then an extension of the seawall was made to Granville Island.

“They are magical moments and they are extraordinarily powerful,” said Price, who served 15 years on council and is now the director of the city program at Simon Fraser University. “It changes how people perceive space, how they move.”

Price was among the majority of speakers Tuesday who supported the ruling Vision Vancouver council’s desire to implement the separated lane on Hornby Street.

Council’s vote was based on a report by the city’s director of transportation, Jerry Dobrovolny, who outlined the importance of increasing alternate transportation modes other than the vehicle.

Since the city’s 1997 transportation plan, when Price was on council, total trips by bikes, pedestrians, cars and transit increased by 23 per cent. The city also saw a 10 per cent decrease in cars entering the city, with a seven per cent drop in vehicles visiting downtown. The addition of the Canada Line in 2009 has seen even bigger increases in transit growth.

“It wasn’t a policy to reduce the number of cars, but as we made the alternatives attractive, and as we provided capacity and support for the sustainable alternatives of cycling, walking and transit, we also saw there was a shift in modes,” Dobrovolny said. “I’m not aware of any other city in North America that’s had a reduction in the number of cars and the tremendous growth in [pedestrian, cycling and transit] trips that have taken place that’s happened in Vancouver.”

But, he acknowledged, the city has no choice but to promote transportation options such as cycling because there is no more road space—unless sidewalks are taken out.

“We’re a fully developed urban area,” he told council.

Cycling trips up as city points to international experience

The separated bike lanes on the Burrard Bridge, Dunsmuir viaduct and Dunsmuir Street have already shown an increasing number of people are choosing a bicycle as their means of transportation.

Cycling trips along Dunsmuir increased from 500 before the route opened in June to an average of 2,000 per day in the summer. In July, the Burrard Bridge recorded its millionth bicycle trip a few days prior to the one-year anniversary of the separated lanes being installed on the span.

The Burrard lane is no longer a trial, with council recently approving $2 million worth of design work to build permanent cycling paths with barriers on the bridge.

For Dobrovolny, the addition of the separated lane on Hornby isn’t so much to provide safer routes for the experienced cyclist. Rather, he said, it’s to attract people who want to ride but don’t feel comfortable in traffic.

Pointing to a study from the Portland Office of Transportation, which found that 60 per cent of people polled fell into this category, Dobrovolny said that group is the city’s target market. “What do we need to do to make cycling an attractive option for that 60 per cent? We feel the answer is separated bike lanes. Separated bike lanes feel safer. They provide a clear barrier between the cyclists and the motor vehicles.”

Separated bike lanes, he said, are now a “best practice” in cities around the world, including New York, Montreal and Copenhagen, which has one of the highest number of cyclists on the planet.

Pernille Herzberg, originally of Copenhagen, moved to Vancouver six weeks ago. She spoke to council Tuesday night and predicted “a revolution of transportation in downtown” once biking is made safe and convenient.

Herzberg said reducing dependency on vehicles makes the city centre more accessible for everybody, including motorists. The shift also reduces the need for parking, a sore point with some business owners on Hornby who will lose 158 metered parking spots on the street.

“In Copenhagen, nobody questions the advantages and positive effects of the bike [network] any longer,” said Herzberg, noting the two cities have similar climates. “Our biggest concern is ironically the space for parking our bikes. I therefore suggest you in Vancouver consider this issue from the very beginning. This will make your bike dreams come true even faster.”

While that may be the Copenhagen experience, not all local business leaders are ready to embrace a separated bike lane on Hornby. The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and the Vancouver Board of Trade panned the plan, accusing the city of a lack of consultation and not measuring potential economic impacts to businesses.

Laura Jones of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business told council that a survey conducted by the federation revealed Hornby Street business owners feared an average loss of 23 per cent in sales when the lane is open to cyclists.

“That’s a big hit for a small business,” Jones said. “And as you put your hand up [to vote], I’m sure you will tell yourselves that we are wrong. But the last thing I want you to think about as you put your hand up to vote is—what if we’re right?”

Jones said Hornby business owners support bike lanes, such as the existing painted lane on the street, but wanted more consultation on options, including ways of maintaining parking.

The city has said 160 parking spots will be added to Howe and Seymour streets in the same corridor. As well, there are more than 10,000 parking spots in parkades along the corridor.

Vision Vancouver councillors Geoff Meggs and Raymond Louie challenged Jones on the 23 per cent figure and questioned why she couldn’t provide evidence of what effect separated bike lanes had on businesses in other cities such as Montreal.

Jones replied the 23 per cent figure was an opinion of business owners the same way it was the opinion of council that more cyclists are expected to use a separated lane on Hornby.

Louie recalled how a previous debate over removing vehicle traffic from the Granville Mall upset business owners. After the 2010 Winter Olympics demonstrated the popularity of the mall for pedestrians, Louie said business owners now want the area “pedestrianized.”

“It’s not cars people want, it’s the people,” Louie said.

Businesses split on effect of bike lanes

Jeff Martin owns DIPT, a clothing and footwear store at 819 Hornby St., between Robson and Smithe streets. Martin said he draws customers from all over the Lower Mainland, many of whom like to park outside his store.

“It’s a fact that people look for spots close to the business they’re going to,” he said, noting very few cyclists shop at his store. “And eliminating this parking on Hornby will eliminate impulse stop-and-shop customers, which makes up a fair percentage of my business.”

The economic recession has already made it tough for small business owners, who pay enough in taxes, he added.

“So in essence, you’re asking us business people to pay for something that will reduce our business. Even if you decide that this [lane] isn’t going to work and you do take it out—which I question whether that would happen—the damage could have already been done to a lot of the businesses in that trial period.”

Dobrovolny told council that he and his staff have worked with Hornby businesses to address concerns, hosted two open houses, mailed out 4,000 brochures on the plan and received online feedback.

City staff will also hire an outside firm to conduct business impact studies on businesses along Dunsmuir and Hornby as part of each trial. Dobrovolny suspects the studies will look at impacts to businesses in other cities that have the lanes.

When Vision Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer asked Dobrovolny if more consultation was needed with businesses, she remarked his shoulders slumped before he answered the question.

“I know that we’ve spent a tremendous amount of staff time with businesses along the corridor in one-on-one meetings, looking specifically at their needs,” he said.

“I feel that staff has addressed those specific needs along the corridor as best as is possible. It doesn’t meet all of the needs of all of the businesses, but I feel that it’s come pretty close in most of those cases. At the end of the day, there are tradeoffs that are required.”

Although not surprising, others who lined up to support the Hornby lane included Better Environmentally Sound Transportation, representatives of council’s bicycle advisory committee and the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, which has linked with 70 businesses in Metro Vancouver that support cycling infrastructure improvements.

Robert Safrata, who operates courier company Novex Delivery Solutions and West Coast Sightseeing, is one of the 70 businesses on the list. He provided council with another list of 62 names of Vancouver businesses and residents that support the Hornby lane.

Novex’s fleet includes gasoline-electric hybrids, natural gas vans and biodiesel freight vehicles. Safrata said his drivers regularly use Hornby Street.

“I’ve asked our staff what their thoughts are, and to summarize very briefly they have said more cyclists will relieve congestion,” said Safrata, adding that a separated lane will be safer and better for the environment.

Dobrovolny and his engineering staff chose Hornby Street as the preferred linkage to Dunsmuir and the Burrard Bridge because it has medium volumes of traffic, existing bike traffic, one transit stop south of Pacific Street and it is not a designated truck route.

Meggs predicted the Hornby link will increase bicycle ridership.

“One thing that is important to remember is that no one is going to be forced to ride a bicycle downtown,” he said in his closing remarks. “But if we make the right decisions and go about implementation the correct way, no one will be forced to drive a car in the future, either.”

The separated lane on Hornby is expected to open next month. Council will decide six months later whether the $3.2 million experiment was worth it. A report on Dunsmuir is expected sooner.

So far, the city’s engineering department hasn’t come up with a dollar figure on how much it would cost to dismantle the lanes.

mhowell@vancourier.com