Public consultation on the province’s plan to make the Stanley Park causeway safer for cyclists is set to begin next month in Vancouver and it would be “very surprising” if it didn’t include a fence to stop riders from hitting the road, according to an expert. The Transportation Ministry had promised to unveil its plan by late last spring, but instead scheduled a public consultation for Dec. 2.

The redesign comes after the May 2013 death of a 61-year-old North Vancouver woman who was killed by a bus when the bicycle on which she was commuting veered into the roadway.

The Lions Gate Bridge and the causeway are under provincial jurisdiction.

A spokeswoman for the ministry said it “has taken a bit longer than expected as we have collaboratively worked to balance the technical requirements of an expanded sidewalk with minimizing the impacts to the park itself.”

Erin O’Melinn, executive director of HUB, told The Sun her Vancouver-area cycling education and advocacy group “would have liked things to happen quicker, but I know that a lot of stakeholders are involved here.”

She said she expected the path to be widened and a fence to be erected to stop anyone from falling into the roadway, and she hopes to have at least one side of the causeway covered by next May’s Bike to Work Week.

The consultation session is to be held on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 2:30 p.m. at the Coal Harbour Community Centre.