Cycling: Just try shopping on your bike

The latest column in the Maple Ridge News by our Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Committee of HUB: Your Cycling Connection:

Published: February 22, 2013 8:00 AM

Our HUB members are quite excited about the wonderful news that we’re finally going to have a safe cycling connection along Lougheed Highway between 216th and Laity streets, now that funding has been made available by the province, the district and TransLink. The separated path is expected to be complete by the summer.

Another improvement for cyclists is Pitt Meadows’ safe multi-use path connecting Lougheed Hwy. via Ferry Slip Road to the dike system, which is ready to be used. It’s no longer necessary to bike alongside big trucks on Kennedy Road.

We’re often being told to shop local, to support local businesses –meaning small, locally owned businesses, many of which are having a hard time competing with big chain stores.

Our reliance on the car for everything we do changed the way we shop.

Read more...

Bike donations for Rwanda

Russ Carmichael, Director of Operations with the District of Maple Ridge, asked us to post this message, requesting bike donations for Rwanda: 

The Rwanda PREFER Society of Canada is making a call for donated items to any and all who have shown support for PREFER in the past. We will be collecting items for Cathy Emerson, here in Maple Ridge from now until February 20th, to fill a Rwanda-bound freight container. We will gratefully accept donated items or for those who would rather, cash donations will go toward purchasing items we do not receive and/or to pay for shipping costs of the container.

Prefer Society operates a preschool in Rwanda and helps support the community around them. A bicycle is a prized possession in Rwanda and once at the end of it's life it is repurposed for use as a cart or other device.

We are gathering good used bikes over the next week to send in a container on February 23rd.

Please contact Russ Carmichael 604-465-8461 if you have a bike to donate.

Russ is also looking for volunteers to clean and do some light repairs to the bikes before they send them off to Rwanda.

Bike rides in Vancouver area

I just added a link to Vancouver Bicycle Rides under "Great Cycling Sites". If you like to go for group rides throughout Metro Vancouver you can sign up for ride alerts on this site, so you'll get an e-mail three days before the ride happens. It's fun exploring different areas in the Vancouver area by bike, and even more so when doing it in groups of like-minded people!

Bike funding for Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows

Great news! Last Thursday Marc Dalton, MLA for Maple Ridge/Mission, announced provincial funding through the BikeBC program for two projects that will help make cycling safer in our communities. Both municipalities also contribute to the projects, with funding coming from Translink as well.

In Maple Ridge a multi-use path will be built on the north side of Lougheed Highway between 216th and Laity St., to provide a much-needed safe cycling connection so that we won't need to make the detour around Ridge Meadows Hospital via River Road anymore. It is expected that this path will be ready by the summer!

In Pitt Meadows there is funding for a new multi-use path between Lougheed Highway and Ferry Slip Road to provide a connection to the dike system, which means that pedestrians and cyclists don't need to share Kennedy Road with big trucks anymore. This path was pretty much complete already at the time of the announcement.

We're very happy that funding has been made available by the province, both municipalities and Translink for these projects. It's another important step towards a safer and more convenient bike network.

For more information about the projects, check out the press release.

For additional information and maps check out Alex Pope's post. Alex also posted photos of the construction of the Kennedy Road path in Pitt Meadows. Thanks, Alex!

Below some photos taken by Geoff Hancock (thank you Geoff!) at Local Ride bike shop, where the announcement was made.

MLA Marc Dalton, MR Mayor Ernie Daykin and PM Mayor Deb Walters

About 20 people attended the announcement. There's NDP candidate
Elizabeth Rosenau, and BAC member Peter Jongbloed

BAC Chair Alex Pope is all smiles, as is Casey Pope, I'm sure!

Update: an Open House has been planned for Thursday, February 21, from 3 to 8 pm at Maple Ridge Municipal Hall. Click here for details.