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New Lougheed bike lane in Port Coquitlam

The $75,000 bike route is part of a highway widening project in front of Dominion Triangle.
bike

Cyclists heading west along Lougheed Highway in Port Coquitlam will soon have a new bike lane in front of Dominion Triangle.

Last night, a city committee voted to spend $75,000 to include the dedicated bike lane on the north side — between Sherling Avenue and Ottawa Street — as part of a highway widening project this summer.

The move is to help cyclists connect with the newly opened Evergreen Extension in Coquitlam, said Coun. Dean Washington, who chairs the city's budget and infrastructure (BIN) committee.

And it's part of the city's new mandate to make PoCo more "livable" — one of three strategic priorities for the municipality as it develops its 2017 and '18 work plans.

Washington said staff are confident they can recoup up to half the costs for the bike lane from TransLink and other agencies.

According to a report that went before BIN, cyclists have called on city hall to link  the two roads to make Lougheed safer. As a result of Monday's approval, the total cost of the highway widening project will be $375,000.

City council okayed the widening last fall in its 2017-'18 capital plan.

Now, it's deliberating a two-year operations plan, of which a draft will go before BIN on March 14. Public consultation is expected to take place between March 27 and April 9 with the final bylaw reading set for May 11 — four days before the provincially mandated deadline.

(By comparison, Coquitlam city council passed its budget last December with a 2.13% lift to property taxes and Port Moody is proposing a 5.1% jump in July, a result from the loss of a $1.3-million grant from the closure of Burrard Thermal.)

Washington said PoCo has opted for a two-year budget cycle to make the organization more efficient. "It's taking us a little bit longer to get things in place but everything will run more smoothly once we get things going," he said.

As well, having a longer outlook makes it easier for department heads to coordinate upcoming programs and services — not to mention more transparency for the taxpayers, added Karen Grommada, PoCo's finance director. "It is hoped that moving to a two-year time frame will provide staff with more time to deliver rather than develop the business plans," she wrote in an email.

Meanwhile, BIN on Monday also reviewed the city managers' move to better service levels. During last December's budget presentations, several department heads spoke of the need to improve delivery — both internally and externally.

However, Washington said more study needs to be done on that front and staff are expected to have a new service model for next year.

jcleugh@tricitynews.com