This Coquitlam intersection is set to see its first significant revamp since 2017

It may be time to take two wheels instead of four on your daily commute in Coquitlam. 

Progress on two major bike projects in the city are picking up steam, one week after the city celebrated its annual Go by Bike Week. 

The second phase of the Guildford Greenway project, which will extend separated bike micromobility lanes from Johnson Street to Pinetree Way, is scheduled to begin next month, according to Thomas Thivener, Coquitlam’s transportation manager.

The construction will revamp the Guildford and Pinetree Way intersection for the first time since 2017, when the Lafarge Lake SkyTrain station was completed. 

The current southbound slip lane on Pinetree Way — a lane that allows drivers to turn without entering an intersection — is set to be converted into a separated bike turning lane, a move that Thivener hopes will reduce accidents at the busy intersection. 

“We’ve noticed that it’s one of our top 30 problematic intersections dealing with safety,” said Thivener, citing the volume of vehicle and pedestrian traffic and width of the intersection as the main explanations for the accidents. 

“People, whether they drive, walk, there’s a lot of collisions happening there. We want to address those problems.” 

The move is the first of its kind in the Tri-Cities and will make cyclists feel comfortable around turning vehicles, said Colin Fowler, co-chair of Tri-Cities HUB Cycling. 

“People may know them as Vancouver-style bike intersections, but having a local example is going to be really great,” Fowler said. 

Pedestrian signals at Pacific Street and Town Centre Boulevard are also going to turn into full traffic stops as part of the project, among a list of other improvements in the region. 

The first phase of the project — completed last year — saw separated lanes established on Guildford Way from the Port Moody border to Johnson Street. 

Nelson connection

Cycling upgrades are also coming to the southwest corner of Coquitlam. 

The city is preparing to build a 1.7-kilometre separated bike lane on Nelson Street, connecting Mackin Park to Blue Mountain Park. 

The project will give Coquitlam riders a vital north-south connection that will ultimately run from the Austin Heights neighbourhood to the King Edward Overpass. 

The city held a public engagement survey on the project in the spring, and although Thivener declined to share specific findings before presenting to city council, he said the proposal was well received and construction should begin next summer. 

“Nelson Street is in a pretty decrepit state,” Thivener said. “It’s a bit of a free for all, people are parking all over the boulevard, sometimes into the pedestrian areas. It’s going to be drastically improved.” 

The changes come as Coquitlam has one of the lowest cycling rates in the Lower Mainland. 

Fewer than one percent of all commuters in the city choose to cycle, according to a 2019 ridership report by HUB Cycling. 

The lack of ridership can be explained by the fact Coquitlam doesn’t have a thorough bike network yet, Thivener said. But the completion of the Guildford Greenway and Nelson Street projects may change that rate, especially as the projects advance cycling infrastructure in separate pockets of the city.

While the Guildford Greenway supports cyclists in the Town Centre district, the Nelson Street bike lane, specifically, will connect to the King Albert Greenway — which runs from Blue Mountain Park to Mundy Park — and United Boulevard in southern Coquitlam.

“As these improvements start to finish, these corridors get completed, it’ll create many more new opportunities for people,” Thivener said. “We’ve heard over and over from residents in our surveys, they want this type of safe infrastructure. We can’t deliver it fast enough.” 

 Fowler said he thinks that the cycling improvements are changing the core of the city for the better. 

“The way I see it, it’s the evolution of Coquitlam from a suburban, car-dominated environment — such as the one I grew up in — to a more modern city,” Fowler said. 

He added that the support for the most recent Go by Bike Week, an annual event that features events, education and promotions to encourage cycling in the city, proves that cycling awareness has spread throughout the Tri-Cities. 

“This is the first year in my memory that we have the three main cities in the Tri-Cities offering celebration stations for Go by Bike Week,” Fowler said. 

“It’s all coming together to build a Tri-Cities that allows more people to get around without a car.”