VICTORIA -- As the City of Victoria continues to roll out its expanded cycling network, one regional mayor says his council has been left in the dark when it comes to planning.
Plans for the Richardson Street bike lane include a barrier at the Victoria-Oak Bay border that will suppress automobile traffic on the street.
While transportation staff with the City of Victoria have been sharing plans with staff at the District of Oak Bay, Mayor Kevin Murdoch says there has been no consultation between his council and councillors in Victoria.
“This is not about, 'We don’t want this,'" Murdoch said. "In fact, that is a very clearly a logical place to add biking infrastructure."
But, he added, “the fact that the final design that came forward was blocking off… all Oak Bay traffic at the border was a surprise for us."
Murdoch said the district would like to discuss the decision with Victoria, saying "that design has a significant impact on our community, and so we’d like the chance to have a discussion with them.”
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps says the cycling network was designed with input from the public as well as staff members from Oak Bay, but she is planning to address Murdoch’s concerns at a Victoria city council meeting later this week.
“I think probably it would be good for our staff to go and present to Oak Bay council and say, 'You know, here’s what’s happening and here are the implications,'” Helps said.
“But at this point we’re not changing the design.”
If given final approval at this week's regular Victoria council meeting, the new cycling infrastructure will be included in the city's 2021 financial planning process in the fall.
