10th Ave - Segment 3, Hospital Zone (Alder St to Cambie St)

Key issues for the Hospital Zone

We are committed to ongoing improvements and issue resolution. A 10th Ave Hospital Zone Evaluation Committee will evaluate the project’s impacts following implementation and recommend spot improvements.

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  Maintain safe and convenient patient access to hospital and health services

  Recommendations

  • Create “Hospital Zone” signage, pavement markings, and other treatments, reinforced through road user education campaigns
  • Enhance pick-up/drop-off areas for patients, including longer raised passenger zones in front of the Eye Care Centre and Mary Pack Arthritis Centre
  • Convert 10th Ave to one-way for vehicles between Cambie St and Ash St to reduce vehicle volumes on 10th Ave and maintain the tree canopy
  • Enhance accessible transit options by: 
    • Installing new bus stops for the #17 bus route at Oak St and 10th Ave 
    • Improving HandyDart and patient transfer access

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  Why we think this is a good idea

  Over the past 7 years (2009-2015), there were 69 vehicle collisions reported that involved people walking or cycling, of which 25% involved pedestrians. 

  The recommended design is anticipated to eliminate or mitigate 70-90% of these specific conflicts.

  A quarter of the conflicts are related to on-street parking. The other quarter is related to turning at Oak St and 10th Ave.

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  What we heard

  Emergency service personnel and health service providers shared concerns about proposed one-way vehicle travel between Vancouver General Hospital Emergency Department to BC Cancer Agency.

  We heard from patients that getting to the hospital by transit is challenging. Currently, public transit does not travel on 12th Ave or 10th Ave, which means those using transit to access the Hospital Zone must enter from Cambie St, Oak St, or Broadway. 

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  Improve safety for pedestrians

  Recommendation

  • Improve safety and comfort for patients and other vulnerable pedestrians by installing:
    • New sidewalks
    • Shorter crossings
    • Marked crosswalks
    • Lighting

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  What we heard

  Regular visitors to the area told us the current street crossings need improved lighting and paint, and to be shorter, if possible.

  People walking need people travelling by bicycle or car to yield for when they try to cross.

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  Background

  By installing these improvements, people walking can be more easily seen and yielded to by other road users.

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  Provide parking near health services

  Recommendations

  • Ensure convenient parking is available for patients with mobility challenges, while collaborating with health partners to improve the area’s general visitor parking
  • Allocate on-street disabled metered parking adjacent to Arthritis Centre and Eye Care Centre
  • Help Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) create a new surface parking lot at the corner of Ash St/10th Ave with accessible access to 10th Ave. 
  • Continue to work with precinct partners to improve the area’s general visitor parking.
    • We have worked closely with Vancouver Coastal Health and Blusson tenants to find interim solutions for patient parking, including maintaining some disability parking on site.
  • Aid local resident access by:
    • Retaining resident permit parking and reassign the 900-block of 10th Ave, where possible
    • Reassign this block to the Oak West Residential Parking Permit Zone

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  What we heard

  We heard that distance of parking to the final destination can be a key concern for people with mobility challenges who are leading independent lives and cannot expect to be dropped off.

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  Background

  Parking implications

  On-street parking stalls in Hospital Zone	Existing	Proposed
  Passenger loading	8	20
  Meter parking	157	64
  Disability metered parking	1	11
  On-street resident permit parking	21	17
  New off-street surface parking lot	0	116+
  Total	187	228+

   In addition to on-street parking, there are approximately 4,400 existing parking stalls located in parkades and parking lots within the Hospital Zone. These stalls are not impacted by the improvements to 10th Ave.

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  Plan for future hospital uses

  Recommendation

  • Commit to ongoing improvements and issues resolution including establishing a 10th Avenue Hospital Zone Evaluation Committee to evaluate the project’s impacts following implementation and recommend spot improvements.

  The City will continue to work with VCH on access, circulation, and parking in the Hospital Zone through the VGH Master Plan rezoning process.

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  What we heard

  Future hospital uses should be taken into consideration. We heard that people would like us to continue monitoring the area and use it as an opportunity to further develop best practices through research partnerships.

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  Improve cycling routes

  Recommendations

  • Improve alternate bike routes to allow people to bypass the Hospital Zone including:
    • 14th Ave
    • Off-Broadway bike route such as 7th Ave
    • A new north-south route west of Oak St
  • Create an environment where people of all ages and abilities feel safe and comfortable cycling by: 
    • Installing raised bike lanes on both sides of 10th Avenue
    • Improving street crossings
    • Encouraging slower cycling
  • Actively promote the new routes through construction

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  Why we think this is a good idea

  The Vancouver Cycling Safety Study (2015) highlighted 10th Ave bike route as having a high number of reported collisions relative to other routes.

  Improved cycling routes will provide attractive alternative options for people travelling by bicycle east-west along the Broadway Corridor. Improvements to 10th Ave will provide safe and comfortable travel for people cycling to the Hospital Zone.

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  What we heard

  Alternative routes are needed for people cycling in through the area to destinations that aren’t the Hospital Zone. 

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  Minimize impacts to street trees

  Recommendations

  Proposed safety improvements along 10th Ave were designed to minimize the loss of street trees.

  Trees removed will be replaced with new trees. We select and plant trees based on current best practices, to avoid problems such as heaving of sidewalks and roadways.

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  Why we think this is a good idea

  Maintaining the healthy mature tree canopy is a key objective of the 10th Ave Corridor Project. 

  However, some removal and replacement of trees is required to accommodate:

  • Safe access and improved site lines for vehicles entering and exiting driveways
  • Two-way vehicle travel, on-street parking, realigned sidewalks and protected bike lanes
  • A new traffic signal
  • Commercial loading zones and expanded passenger loading zones

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  What we heard

  Providing safe access for vulnerable patients is a high priority. We heard that trees lining 10th Ave are a signature element of the street. Also, there were concerns that new trees may pose a hazard to people with mobility challenges, if too close to passenger loading zones and along sidewalks.

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  Past updates

  June 2019 – Final Evaluation Committee meeting and report on findings

  Staff and researchers reported back to the Committee on the completed monitoring efforts of the 10th Ave. Hospital Zone, Phase 1 construction as well as a draft set of proposed improvements to 10th Ave. in response to findings from the study. The final report summarizing these findings and next steps will be posted online this summer.

  • Evaluation Committee meeting minutes – June 21, 2019 PDF file (161 KB)
  • Final report PDF file (5 MB)

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  April 2019: Evaluation Committee meeting

  Staff met with the Committee to share preliminary findings from the data collected both before and after construction of Phase 1.  The researchers from UBC and SFU also presented their initial research findings.

  • Evaluation Committee meeting minutes – April 17, 2019 PDF file (232 KB)

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  November 2018: Start of collaboration with UBC/SFU

  Researchers from UBC and SFU were retained to study the interactions of crossing pedestrians and people driving or cycling along 10th Ave, the results of which will be a part of the overall study of the corridor.

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  October 2018: Evaluation Committee guided visit

  On October 25, City staff led members of the Evaluation Committee on a walking tour of 10th Avenue between Oak St and Cambie St.

  • Notes from 10th Ave Evaluation Committee guided visit – October 25, 2018 PDF file (3.6 MB)

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  April 2018: Evaluation Committee meeting

  On April 23, City staff met with members of the Evaluation Committee to address questions and concerns about the construction of 10th Avenue and identify aspects of 10th Avenue that they would like to see monitored in the coming months.

  • 10th Ave Evaluation Committee Meeting Minutes – April 23, 2018 PDF file (136 KB)

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  May 2017: Council approval

  On May 17, 2017, Council approved the recommendations for the improvements between Oak Street and Cambie Street. The recommendations will improve safety and comfort for people walking and cycling in the Hospital Zone.

  • Read the Council report with appendices PDF file (11.5 MB)
  • Read the Council meeting minutes, May 16 PDF file (169 KB) and May 17 PDF file (181 KB)
  • View the staff presentation PDF file (7.9 MB)
  • Watch the video clips from May 16 and May 17

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  December 2016 to March 2017: Refined design and joint review with Health Care partners

  We undertook a joint review of the recommended corridor design for the Hospital Zone from November 2016 with Vancouver Coastal Health, BC Cancer Agency, and Provincial Health Services Authority.

  The purpose of the joint review was to find ways to better meet the needs of emergency services, patients, and visitors to the Hospital Zone.

  The refined design responds to concerns we heard about:

  • Emergency vehicle access between facilities
  • Patient access and vehicle circulation to health services
  • Parking and passenger loading close to key facilities for people who need it

  Changes to the design include:

  • Maintaining two-way vehicular travel on 10th Ave west of Ash St (previous proposal was west of Willow St) 
  • Maintaining vehicle travel on Heather St between 10th Ave and Broadway
  • Providing on-street disability parking spaces where needed
  • Through statutory right-of-ways, realigning the sidewalk and bike lanes to accommodate two-way vehicle travel, retain some:
    • On-street disability parking 
    • Mature trees 
  • Recommendation to improve the Off-Broadway bike route on 7th Ave by:
    • Creating a new north-south bike route west of Oak St
    • Formalizing the parallel route on 14th Ave to provide attractive alternatives for people travelling through the area 

  View the Hospital Zone Partners Collaborative Process Summary PDF file (4.3 MB)

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  November 2016: Open houses: Proposed designs - Segments 3, 5, 7

  We held open houses on November 23, 26, and 29 to share the recommended designs for three segments of the 10th Ave Corridor, including the Hospital Zone. View the open house materials:

  • Welcome, Supporting Policy, Why 10th Ave?, 3 Segments PDF file (5.2 MB)
  • Hospital Zone: Introduction PDF file (2.8 MB)
  • Hospital Zone: Recommended Design PDF file (13.4 MB)
  • Quebec St to Guelph St, Proposed Design PDF file (7.5 MB)
  • Commercial Dr to Victoria Dr, Proposed Design PDF file (6.9 MB)
  • Timeline, Future improvements, Next steps PDF file (1.7 MB)

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  July and October 2016: accessibility sessions

  Building on what we heard from you at public open houses held in April, we formed an Accessibility Working Group to discuss access in and around the Hospital Zone.

  View the summary reports from the July 15 and October 13 sessions:

  • Accessibility Working Group Session July 15, 2016 Summary PDF file (608 KB)
  • Accessibility Working Group Session October 13, 2016 Summary PDF file (722 KB)

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  April 2016 Design options open house

  We held two public open houses on April 23 and 26 to present three design options for improvements to 10th Ave, between Alder St and Cambie St. Over 160 people attended and provided feedback on the options. We also launched an online questionnaire between April 23 and May 15, 2016.

  1. Welcome, timeline, supporting policy, Hospital Zone, what we've heard, and AAA bikeway PDF file (4 MB)
  2. Access and circulation PDF file (3 MB)
  3. Design options PDF file (2 MB)
  4. Uni-directional bikeway option (one-way bike lane on both sides of the street) PDF file (9 MB)
  5. North side bi-directional bikeway option (both bike lanes on the north side of the street) PDF file (7 MB)
  6. South side bi-directional bikeway option (both bike lanes on the south side of the street) PDF file (8 MB)
  7. Next steps PDF file (240 KB)

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  Fall 2015: Listen and learn

  We asked for input on how you walk, bike, and drive on the 10th Avenue Corridor. Open houses were held on October 29, November 2, and November 7. An online questionnaire was open from October 29 to November 1.

  Public feedback included:

  • Support for improvements that improved safety and visibility
  • Concern about safety and confusion of traffic circles for people walking, cycling, and driving
  • Concern about lack of lighting 
  • Concern about uneven, heaving sidewalks and road surface
  • Request to alleviate school pick-up/drop-off traffic congestion
  • Request to preserve street trees
  • Suggestion of selective one-way streets

  View the open house information boards PDF file (7 MB)

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  Summer 2015: project launch

  We held two launch events on July 20 and 26 to hear your thoughts on the 10th Avenue Corridor and Vancouver's bike routes, and share how we're planning to make the Corridor better for you.

  Together with Momentum Magazine, we presented the #ThisIsHowWeRollVan photo booth sweepstakes. Participants walked or cycled to the booth, got their photo taken, and entered to win great prizes!