Portion of Penticton’s bike lane put on $50K ‘sign diet’

The City of Penticton has decided to make some costly changes to the first section of lake-to-lake bike route.

The City of Penticton has officially been put on a sign diet that will cost thousands of dollars.

On Tuesday, city council approved a plan to remove around 40 signs and make other improvements to the first six blocks of the Lake to Lake Route, following feedback from the public and business owners.

The city plans to remove signs along the bike route that have been deemed redundant, which includes some signs that mark crossings and driveways.

“I think it’s twofold. I think one, drivers are finding it super busy and so it’s actually more distracting than helpful,” said the city’s infrastructure general manager Kristen Dixon.

“I think the magnitude of it was, if you follow kind of the strict guidelines around every crossing should be marked, but because of the frequency of the driveways and the crossings, it kind of led to that proliferation of signage that I don’t think anyone expected.”

This follows a call from the council to revisit the design of the bike lane in the downtown area, particularly along the Martin corridor.

According to the city, it will cost around $50,000 to remove the signs and make the other improvements. This is less, however, than the original staff recommendation, which had suggested a $200,000 overhaul and beautification of the bike lane.

“That is going to encompass the sign diet from right from Lakeshore to Eckhardt. So, we’re going to do the entire stretch,” said Dixon.