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Interests merge in 10th Avenue 'hospital district' plan

Vancouver Coastal Health and BC Cancer Agency endorse Vancouver city staff plan to make the street safer and reduce congestion.

What started off as an anger-inducing proposal to create a bike lane on West 10th Avenue has morphed into a consensus-building exercise that puts the safety of patients in the busy healthcare district first, people involved with the process say.

Vancouver Coastal Health, the British Columbia Cancer Agency and accessibility advocates are all endorsing Vancouver city staff’s proposed new street plan.

hospital district
The plan includes making 10th Avenue from Cambie to Ash one way for westbound traffic.

“It’s a great compromise considering all the stakeholders and the traffic of all modes,” said Stan Leyenhorst of Barrier-free B.C. “The city recognizes we’re trying something innovative…. We’re building an environment so, regardless of ability, you have access, including the senior who has cancer using a walker who is slightly sight impaired and can’t hear well.”

“It’s terrific,” agrees Bruce Gilmore, also of Barrier-free B.C.. By switching the conversation away from bike lanes, the strategy switched to problems that already exist for all users of the busy corridor. “I’m very excited that pedestrians have been heavily factored in, i.e. the vulnerable patient.”

hospital district

The two men were reacting to a Tuesday morning presentation to Vancouver council by Paul Storer, the city’s manager of transportation design and engineering services, and neighbourhood stakeholders. (Plan details are below.)

“This has been a new and unique process,” said Laura Case, chief operating officer of VCH’s Vancouver community. “When we first were walking into this, there was a lot of conversation about bike lanes. This is not about bike lanes. It’s about severe congestion and lack of safety.”

There are numerous healthcare facilities along 10th between Cambie and Oak, including Vancouver General Hospital (and its emergency entrance), BCCA, the Eye Care Centre, Blusson Spinal Cord Centre and the Arthritis Society centre.

hospital district

VCH itself sees seven ambulances an hour pull into VGH's emergency department, with 3,800 patients spread across its “campus”, and 8,000 full- and part-time staff, including 1,800 doctors who need to travel from site to site.

The BCCA sees 800 patients a day.

Add to that the delivery trucks, poor access for Handydart buses, families who come to visit or drop patients off, and thousands of cyclists, many of whom are hoping to avoid Broadway one block north, and you have a narrow street trying to accommodate a myriad of conflicting needs.

“It’s not working well for anyone,” Storer said.

hospital district

Between 2009 and 2015 there were 69 collisions involving vehicles; the new design would have mitigated 75 to 90 per cent of them, he added.

The response to the redesign has been “overwhelmingly positive,” Stephanie Aldridge of the BCCA told council. She especially appreciated that the design takes into consideration the patients’ and families’ stress and anxiety. Like many other stakeholders, she said the BCCA wants to continue to be involved in the redesign project as it evolves.

Council postponed discussion of the proposal to Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m.

10th Avenue plan at a glance

• create a hospital zone. “It’s important for people to recognize it’s a health precinct and there are a lot of vulnerable pedestrians,” Storer said.

• put gateway signs at both entrances

• make 10th Avenue one way, westbound, from Cambie to Ash with a designated bike lane, removing parking on the north side. Storer said this benefits people who are arriving at their destination. “Eastbound traffic is less important because it’s people getting away from the campus.” Barriers will be constructed so cars cannot travel eastbound in the one-way portion of the street. “The last thing we want is an accident.”

• increase parking spaces from 187 to 228

• improve alternate bike routes for the 40 per cent of cyclists who use the street as a thoroughfare, not to get to a destination. “Give people really good options so they don’t have to go through the health corridor,” Storer said. In the first iteration, there was a bike lane from Cambie to Willow. Under the proposed plan the bike lane is the one block from Cambie to Ash only.

• add a new bus top at 10th and Oak

• create better “wayfinding” signage so people know where to go

• improve sidewalks, lighting, and rest areas focusing on the vulnerable

• enhance pick-up and drop-off zones

• increase the number of drop-off spaces for the Mary Pack Arthritis Society from two to four

• increase the number of designated parking spaces for people with disabilities

• move some sidewalks to private property

• create an evaluation committee so it’s an adaptive work in progress. This will allow changes to occur as they arise. “It’s critical we get this right,” Storer said.

• remove three healthy, mature cherry trees and two beech trees; keep the “signature” American elm trees. Storer said the plan saves as many trees as possible; the cherry trees were causing safety concerns on the sidewalks. Fifeteen new trees would be planted.

Storer says that to avoid further congestion, the plan would have to be implemented in stages. “This will be difficult to deliver to ensure good access is maintained,” he said.

If approved, he says the first phase could begin later this year. “The key things are gateway signature signage so people know they’re in a health precinct and [the area] around the emergency department.”