In spring 2020, Grand Boulevard Park experienced an influx of pedestrians and park users. To accommodate the additional demand, all of the pathways within the Park were dedicated for the use of pedestrians. The northbound vehicle travel lane on West Grand Boulevard was closed to continue to provide space for cyclists and other mobility device users to travel up and down the boulevard separated from vehicle traffic.
Today, recreational interest remains high with over 100,000 pedestrian trips per year along the outside pathways. The City has maintained the lane closure on West Grand Boulevard to continue to provide space for pedestrians in the park and comfortable cycling infrastructure. Vehicle access for property owners and visitors is maintained in the southbound direction.
Community Engagement
In summer 2021, staff engaged the community to understand how these changes impacted residents and users of the area. Response from the community was supportive of the changes and minor modifications were made based on feedback to improve functionality. No further changes are being considered at this time, but staff will be assembling the data collected and feedback from the community to recommend next steps to Council.
East and West Grand Boulevard
While East and West Grand Boulevard are parallel streets they have different intended purposes within the road network. Because of the connection to the Upper Levels Highway and areas to the northeast such as Lynn Valley; Grand Blvd East is classified as a major arterial roadway that is intended to accommodate transit and heavier traffic volumes. The role Grand Blvd West in the roadway network is to enable local access and connection to higher volume arterial routes. It is not intended to support high volumes of traffic.
For this reason, closing a lane on West Grand Boulevard was considered an appropriate trade off to balance the demands of the transportation network in the area.