After a nearly two-year closure, Lower Gibsons’ Glassford Road is to reopen.
Gibsons council voted on April 18 to install traffic calming measures and reopen the road to traffic
The plan is to install five speed humps on Glassford (two between Dogwood and Gower Point Roads, two between Dogwood Road and Maplewood Lane and one between Maplewood Lane and Gower Point Road), paint shared use bicycle symbols on the roadway and post signage marking a 30 km/hr speed limit and “Local Traffic Only”. The estimated cost is $50,000, according to a staff report.
A pedestrian trail along the length of Glassford Road is to be considered as part of the Growing Communities Fund options and Active Transportation Plan. Consideration of repaving Dogwood Road is deferred until the traffic master plan is done.
While staff presented an option for keeping the road closed, they recommended reopening to through traffic.
A summary of the latest survey – this one circulated in March – noted that 58 per cent of respondents were in favour of the option to reopen Glassford Road (notably the majority of the 29 Glassford Road residents who responded to the survey were in favour of keeping the road closed while the remaining 69 Gibsons residents were largely in favour of reopening).
Fire response, snow plow and waste collection access, and concern of creating a non-compliant cul-de-sac were among the other considerations noted in the staff report.
Glassford Road was closed in summer 2021 as a six-month trial traffic calming measure. Ahead of summer 2022, the barricades were moved from the northern mouth of Glassford to the road’s intersection with Blain Lane. Public engagement has been ongoing since.
Coun. Stafford Lumley was the sole vote against the motion Tuesday evening.
The barricades of Glassford Road will stay up until the calming measures are implemented, Gibsons communications coordinator Bronwyn Kent told Coast Reporter by email. "For timeline, we can’t say for sure until we have a better sense of timing from our contractors, however we are eager to work on this project as soon as possible."
