Complete the Nanaimo Street Upgrades Project as Promised from Charles St. to East 2nd Ave.

Please see above for original approved Nanaimo St. Upgrades plan. It is 80% complete,  however the city is refusing to finish it.  The uncompleted portion is making Nanaimo St. between Charles and East 1st Ave. extremely unsafe, loud and more polluted.

This would never happen in Kitsilano.  The city needs to finish the project for our East Van community as promised.

We are a group of concerned neighbours and home owners who want to make Nanaimo St. greener and safer for all residents along the Nanaimo St. corridor. To reach this goal, we would like the city of Vancouver to follow through on their promise to narrow the street to 2 lanes of traffic all the way up to East 2nd Ave. 

In 2018, the city proposed the Nanaimo St. Upgrades project to make this happen.  The community wholeheartedly supported this initiative, and many of us invested in properties along Nanaimo under the understanding that the city would live up to its promise to complete the project. 

However, on Aug. 17, 2021, we learned from the city that the project is now deemed "complete" and that the southern limit of construction was changed from East 2nd Ave. to Charles St.  This decision was made without notifying or seeking input from the community.    

As it currently stands, the bike lane heading south on Nanaimo now abruptly ends at Charles Street and 4 lanes of traffic also merge into 2 lanes at the very same intersection.  This creates a dangerous situation as there is a pedestrian crosswalk at Charles and many cars try to navigate the parking spaces in front of the retail businesses amongst the vehicles that are merging into one lane heading north.  With an elementary school only a block away, and many other schools in the neighbourhood, there are significant numbers of kids crossing through that congestion and chaos.  It would be unacceptable if someone were to be seriously injured because the project wasn’t completed as planned, assuming the initial plan was well thought out to maximize public safety. 

There is also now much more noise and pollution between 1st and Charles St., due to the bottleneck of traffic caused by the 2 lanes heading north now merging into 1 lane at Charles and Nanaimo.  To merge, cars speed down the 4 blocks heading north trying to overpass each other before the road narrows.  Neighbours are complaining about the increased road rage and having to listen to screeching truck brakes and honking cars at all hours of the day and night. 

Drivers need to understand that Nanaimo St. is no longer a thoroughfare.  Narrowing the street all the way up to East 2nd Ave. will help them understand this while enhancing safety and livability for residents of the Nanaimo St. corridor.  It will also make life easier and safer for drivers as there will be designated left and right hand turn lanes and it will be clear that Nanaimo is a traffic calmed street.

A project of this magnitude would never have been halted part way on the west side of Vancouver.

We are calling upon the city of Vancouver to follow through and complete the project as promised before someone gets hurt. 

Jenny Dent    Contact the author of the petition