The City of Mission’s second phase of public engagement for the proposed 7th Avenue Greenway has kicked off.
Planners are showing off three design options for feedback from the community. The options will be refined following public input.
A survey will be available to Missionites to complete until July 25, an open house took place on July 11, and people can register for a virtual open house on July 15, taking place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The greenway has been identified as a high priority for Mission for nearly 20 years. Following direction from council in 2020, staff were to start the design process for a 6.5 kilometer route for 7th Avenue, connecting Hatzic in the east, to Wren Street in the west.
“There aren’t a lot of similar opportunities,” said Brian Patterson, consultant for Urban Systems. “It provides a direct, continuous and relatively flat east-west connection.
“The corridor is envisioned as a spine in the (city)’s active transportation network”
| The three segments of the proposed 7th Ave Greenway. |
Over 360 Missionites participated in the first round of engagement earlier this year. The top priorities identified were parking and loading, traffic flows and safety; the top issues were safety, parking availability and high traffic speeds and volumes.
Intersection safety, lack of lighting, vehicle speed and noise and the condition of sidewalks were listed as main challenges for people who walk along 7th Avenue. Almost half the respondents said they do not currently bike along the street.
The greenway would directly connect a large number of parks, schools, religious buildings and community facilities. These include the Mission Leisure Centre and Fraser River Heritage Park – which were, by far, the most popular destinations identified by the survey.
“It’s not just for cyclists, this is really a street for everybody … from eight-years old to eighty-years old,” Patterson said.
He said there is only a “very small slice” of Mission’s population using any form of transportation other than motor vehicles, and this is a function of civic design.
A total of 66 per cent of respondents said they typically drive along the road, while 56 per cent said they usually use the route to access recreation or exercise activity.
If the greenway is built, 52 per cent of respondents said they were likely to walk, wheel or cycle along the route, while nine per cent were already doing so.
| Survey results from the first round of public engagement, |
RELATED: More details on 7th Avenue Greenway
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