Work to upgrade bike paths and sidewalks on the Cambie Street Bridge are expected to wrap up at the end of June

Sidewalk and bike lane improvements are set to begin on the Cambie Bridge in Vancouver on Saturday

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Starting tomorrow, walking and driving across the Cambie Bridge may take a little longer.

The City of Vancouver is installing a protected bike lane on the southbound side of the bridge while painting lines to separate walking and cycling on the northbound walkway.

“The number of people choosing to walk or cycle over Cambie Bridge has increased in the last decade,” Jerry Dobrovolny, General Manager of Engineering Services for the City of Vancouver says in a release.

“By creating a new southbound cycling lane on the bridge, and separating the walking and cycling on the east side of the bridge, the bridge will be safer and more comfortable for people to use. The solution also improves connections into and out of downtown, is relatively inexpensive, and will have minimal impact to motor vehicle flow. At either end of the bridge, motor vehicle travel lanes will remain the same as they are today and overall vehicle capacity will remain unchanged.”

The work is expected to wrap up at the end of the month.

Crews will also be working to improve connections to the bridge at the south end of the crossing, the city says.

In an effort to reduce the impact on traffic, city staff say the work along Cambie will be done in coordination with special events. Any road closures are expected to take place “outside of peak afternoon travel times and at night,” the release reads.

In July of last year, the city estimates more than 70,000 cyclists took to the bridge, which “provides a critical link between BC’s two larges economic centres and high density neighbourhoods.”

The bike path and sidewalk upgrades were approved in January of this year, and are being done as part of Vancouver’s Transportation 2040 Plan, in which the Cambie Street Bridge was identified as a priority to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety.

To plan your route ahead of time, you can head to the city’s website or use the VanConnect app.