Most of Stanley Park Drive's temporary bike lane now removed

Stanley Park Drive without the temporary bike lane. (Google Maps)

Just ahead of the start of summer, the vast majority of the temporary bike lane along Stanley Park’s 8.5 km long perimeter road has now been removed.

In a bulletin today, the Vancouver Park Board says its crews have completed the removal of concrete and temporary barriers and previous line marking for the bike lane along Stanley Park Drive.

New lines have been repainted to mark the return of the roadway’s pre-pandemic configuration of two vehicle lanes for most of the roadway. New signs have been installed to indicate the changes in traffic direction.

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The Park Board emphasizes there is a strict 30 km/h speed limit in place across the 1,000 acre park for both drivers and cyclists.

Option C — Stanley Park Drive bike lane. (Vancouver Park Board)

As previously indicated earlier this year, the return of Stanley Park Drive to a configuration that closely resembles the pre-pandemic configuration includes providing an additional vehicle exit out of the park through the West End. However, the Park Board states the process to remove the bike lane on the roadway through Ceperley Meadow is “more complex” and will require further design and implementation work between the Second Beach parking lot entrance to the intersection of Beach Avenue and Park Lane.

The intention is to reduce traffic congestion, as the only option for vehicles is to turn left from Stanley Park Drive onto North Lagoon Drive to reach West Georgia Street, which experiences severe traffic backups. By allowing vehicles to continue straight past North Lagoon Drive, they can turn left onto Park Lane and leave the area through the West End.

“This exit into the West End requires the support of an external contractor due to the sophisticated design components needed to ensure that vehicle and bike traffic can safely co-exist when the temporary bike lane is removed, with the Beach Avenue cycle lane remaining in place,” reads the bulletin.

No specific timeline has been established for creating a Stanley Park exit via Park Lane to help address traffic congestion on West Georgia Street.

Option C — Stanley Park Drive bike lane. (Vancouver Park Board)

stanley park drive bike lane january 2023

Existing design of the intersection of Stanley Park Drive and North Lost Lagoon Drive, with the Beach Avenue exit blocked off for the temporary bike lane, as of January 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The ABC Vancouver party’s majority of Park Board commissioners approved the removal of the temporary bike lane in February 2023. Park Board crews began dismantling the temporary bike lane in the latter half of May 2023.

Businesses within the park have been calling for the removal of the bike lane, asserting that it has impacted their recovery from the pandemic. Traffic congestion within the easternmost areas of Stanley Park Drive was also partially attributed to vehicles following the carriage of Stanley Park Horse-Drawn Tours, which operated on the single-vehicle lane during the roadway’s previous configuration accommodating a temporary bike lane.

The intention is to create a dedicated permanent bike lane that retains two vehicle lanes at some point in the future, but the timeline and funding for such a project are unclear.

The bike lane removal has been criticized by cycling activists, prompting several “Critical Mass” mass cycling protests this year, each attracting several hundred individuals.

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