Vancouverites have been complaining about the City's slow streets program since temporary plastic barriers were first put in place in 2020.
However, the network of yellow concrete "banana barriers" brought in as replacement has been causing conflict between motorists and anti-vehicle advocates.
Slow Streets was first launched in response to COVID, according to transportation staff, to make space for people to more easily exercise and access businesses in their neighbourhood. Three years later, some locals are still struggling to work with the added infrastructure.
"The initial orange water-filled barriers were being moved too easily, posing safety concerns when knocked out of place," transportation staff tells V.I.A. in an email. "To transition to more permanent infrastructure and reduce maintenance costs, the orange barriers were replaced with yellow concrete barriers in February 2023."
Even with the change to concrete, locals are still reporting concrete barriers being knocked out of place by large vehicles such as fire trucks, garbage trucks, and ambulances.
Transportation staff assures that they continue to monitor locations but confirm that since being installed, three different locations have had their barriers displaced: McLean, north of Hastings; Alder, north of Broadway; and West 14th Avenue, east of Cambie.
Locals have also expressed concern over vehicles getting stuck between the narrow barriers and have shared photos online of the damage left after cars collide with the concrete.
Regardless, staff say they have not replaced any of the Slow Streets barriers but they are making changes to some locations, including shoring up the barriers in locations where they are being moved.
In the case of the Alder barriers, the Slow Streets spokesperson says they will be moving the barriers further back from the intersection to accommodate loading for businesses on Broadway.
"We will also be installing object markers to increase visibility," they share. "However, most locations are working as intended – we have collected qualitative data on behaviour and plan to collect quantitative data (speeds) this fall."
One Vancouverite has alleged that the barriers block emergency vehicles from accessing certain streets but the City argues that this is not the case, claiming that prior to the installation of the slow street barriers, staff worked closely with VFRS to ensure emergency vehicles and other large vehicles are able to navigate the barriers without issue.
This story has been updated with new information provided by the City of Vancouver.
