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Vancouver city staff plan to make changes to the pedestrian area at Yew Street in Kitsilano following complaints that the setup was causing confusion for drivers and cyclists.
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In a tweet Thursday, staff said they were determined to make the pedestrian pilot project a success. The project, which began last month, has shut a two-block stretch of Yew Street across from Kits Beach to traffic in a bid to make it more pedestrian friendly.
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“We’re starting to make changes to ensure everyone who visits the area can enjoy the space safely,” the tweet said.
The plan is to remove the concrete island at York Avenue and Yew Street “to help reinforce the new traffics patterns for drivers,” staff said. Those will be replaced next week with coloured blocks and flexible bollards (short posts used to create a barrier) to “support the traffic restrictions.”
Residents told Postmedia earlier this week that the blocks aren’t big enough to be barriers for cars and were causing confusion for drivers. One resident counted seven drivers going through the barricade in a 10-minute span.
Business owners first pitched to the city the idea of turning this part of Yew Street from Cornwall Avenue to West 1st Avenue into a walking promenade, and there was a lot of enthusiasm about the “open street concept,” according to ABC party Coun. Lisa Dominato.
Dominato said the city is open to feedback from businesses and residents during this pilot period and that the intent is to create more of the public spaces that were successful during the pandemic when people couldn’t meet in their homes.
For more on this story, read “Yew Street pedestrian pilot project in Kitsilano leaving drivers and cyclists confused.”
More to come…
ticrawford@postmedia.com
—with files from Joanne Lee-Young
