Source: www.newwestcity.ca
Image description: Map with the Greenway intervention phases
Happy New Year! What better way to welcome the new year than taking a stroll down the neighborhood. Especially, when it’s a new walkability project!
The Agnes Street Greenway is a part of the City of New Westminster’s commitment to sustainable transportation and climate emergency response. This is a new 1.2-kilometre greenway along Agnes Street to support Active Transportation.
Always excited about new infrastructure advancements promoting walkability, we could not wait to experience it ourselves and virtually take you on a tour. As a part of the engagement process, the City has been installing an interim greenway using temporary materials along a portion of the designated route. The temporary route will run along Agnes Street from First Street in the east, connecting south onto Lorne Street before terminating at Carnarvon Street.
Video shot on relive.cc APP
We took the Phase-1 route. This route connects, in about 15 minutes walk, Queen’s Park with New Westminster Skytrain Station. It is comfortable to walk and a relief from the noisy streets. Owing to the route's elevation, you are treated to great views of the river. We noticed some shared pathways which encourages all road users to be more aware of their surroundings.
The elevation is mostly flat with the exception of Lorne Street where the BC Provincial Court building is located. This area might be challenging due the natural inclination of Lorne and its connection with Agnes by stairs. You might find it safer to share the lane with cyclists in this section because the sidewalk provides access to the Court garages.
If you have difficulty using stairs, we recommend you take a detour through Carnarvon Street until Fourth and then head up back to Agnes. If you are cycling and/or able, you might use the short bicycle ramp/stairway.
Source: BEST
Image description: a mother pushing a baby stroller in front of the Agnes-Lorne intersection
Still under construction, the bike lane intersections look like they will be protected from the vehicular traffic, but they will need to share lanes with pedestrians at certain nodes.
In the images below you can see Agnes-Fourth intersection lined with protected (concrete markers) bike lanes.
Source: BEST
Image description: Provisional intersection Agnes-Fourth
One of the added benefits of this route is that it will expand the mobility choices for the students and staff of the École Qayqayt. The Merivale intersection is a traffic calmed zone (speed limit 30km/h) where the bike lane merges into the curb extension creating a shared space for cyclists and pedestrians.
Source: BEST
Image description: Provisional intersection where the bike lane merges into the sidewalk
Active Transportation allows us to move safely and responsibly in our communities and more so grown in popularity since the pandemic.
So there you have it, our short take on the Agnes Greenway project. Check it our for yourself and we encourage you to share your inputs with the City. It will be considered by the project design team as they create a greenway that is safe, comfortable, and accessible for people of all ages and abilities in this link. Help design your neighbourhood better. More about it here.
Happy walking!
This article is written by BEST’s Isabel Garcia. #walkability
