How easy is it to Go By Bike in Nelson and the West Kootenays?

By Jaime Frederick, Local Journalism Initiative

Today is World Bicycle Day and it is also Go By Bike Week in the Kootenays and across British Columbia until June 5. It’s a time when British Columbians are encouraged to leave their cars at home for their daily trips to work, school or the grocery store to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve public health. Those who log their rides at gobybikebc.ca can win prizes and the data help to support advocacy for cycling infrastructure and other active transportation initiatives in their city or town or across the province.

What better time, then, to take stock of Nelson’s cycling infrastructure and get an update on where things are at with initiatives to make the city a more bike-friendly environment?

Listen to the broadcast version of this story, which aired on Kootenay Morning on June 3, 2026:

In the last several years, Nelson has taken several steps to improve its active transportation network, one recent example being improvements to the multi-use waterfront pathway along the 900 block of Lakeside Drive near Chahko Mika Mall. 

Another, perhaps more contentious, project would be the completion, in 2021, of the bike route from downtown Nelson to Lakeside Park along High Street below the campground and along Third Street in Fairview. That project has become a flashpoint in the community since it was implemented five years ago.

Cycling advocates have extolled the virtues of the route, noting it provides families and other cyclists with a relatively safe, flat passage through the city that is off the highway, on a road with a reduced speed limit of just 30 kilometres per hour. 

Chris Kolmel, a downtown business owner who uses the bike route most days when he’s working, summer and winter, says it’s been a game changer for him and a quick commute from his home in Fairview near the high school.

“I think it takes me like, you know, five minutes,” says Kolmel. “And I think if I were to drive, it would probably take seven. I’m grateful that we do have an active transportation corridor and it’d be nice if there was more as we evolve. I think there’s potential for more people to like it once they start using it.

On the other hand, detractors of the bike route suggest it is little used in winter months and presents dangers to both road users and pedestrians. A quick search through posts on the Nelson, BC, community Facebook page shows that, five years on, some Fairview residents are still upset about the changes made to traffic patterns. Some people mention the inconvenience of traffic calming measures, while others are concerned about the turning of stop signs at key intersections, which was done to facilitate speedy progress for cyclists using the route but some think is a source of inevitable calamity.

Rosemont extension

One thing remains clear: change can be hard. And public opposition to the existing bike route may partly explain why the city’s proposed plans to extend the corridor south and west into Rosemont seem to have stalled since the last public consultation about the extension took place three years ago in 2023.

Nevertheless, in July 2025, an Active Transportation Plan Update from the City’s planning department stated that “establishing this route is a key step in creating a safe, connected, and accessible active transportation network.” The plan prescribed separated infrastructure for motor vehicles and other road users and, at that time, city staff noted that the city had allocated up to $100,000 in its annual budget to support what it called “rapid implementation measures.” 

Rapid implementation is an approach that uses material like paint, bollards and planters to install active transportation infrastructure more quickly and at a lower cost than changes to permanent infrastructure.

Still, almost one year on from that July 2025 update, while the city has used rapid implementation in other places, the Rosemont extension remains in the planning stage. At a city council meeting on May 12, Chris Johnson, the City’s General Manager of Community Planning, Climate and Infrastructure, explained the delays.

“The previous plans for that route that were done sort of four or five years ago, they were never taken to a point that was found adequate by the community,” said Johnson. “So there’s some planning going on around additional work and some engagement around that alignment.” 

When asked to elaborate on the status of the proposed extension to Rosemont, the City responded in a statement that it is “currently exploring external funding opportunities to expand the existing internal funding and help facilitate the bike route network.”

They added that “staff are currently looking at how and where rapid implementation measures… can be effectively implemented within the Rosemont portion.”

The city also noted that because sections of Vancouver Street are narrow and winding, not to mention steep, planners are “currently exploring whether a hybrid approach, combining both rapid implementation and permanent infrastructure changes may provide better cycling route outcomes in this area.” This echoes something Johnson had suggested in the May 12 meeting:

“You know, unfortunately, in one area of the big S-Bend around Vancouver [Street], that just wasn’t feasible to rapidly implement it, because there are a couple of choke points and that’s a major transit route, et cetera. So continuing to work through that piece.”

Johnson went on to say that further work should be expected this year, prompting this exchange with city councillor Leslie Payne:

“But it is for 2026? There will be work done in 2026?” said Payne.

“Certainly planning work, yes,” said Johnson.

“Planning. We’ve been planning that for a long time.”

Cycling advocates, such as Solita Work of the West Kootenay Cycling Coalition, share Payne’s frustration with the slow process. 

“For rapid implementation, it ain’t too rapid, is it?” she asks. “I would be highly critical of their lack of rapid implementation in the City of Nelson because the whole point of it being rapid implementation is that, you know what? They can put it in and they can rapidly take it out if it’s not working. So it’s just a matter of, like, put it in on Vancouver Street and see what happens.” 

Regardless of when, or if, the Rosemont extension to the bike route is ever completed, the City says that it “continues to look for other areas where rapid implementation improvements can safely expand the bike route network throughout Nelson, and is exploring funding options for permanent infrastructure.” They added that the planning department will present an update to council in the next few months and will have more information to share at that time. 

Separated infrastructure

Meanwhile, Work and others continue to promote the benefits of separated bike lanes. 

“You just can’t go wrong with separated infrastructure,” she says.

Separated or protected bike lanes have become the modern approach to transportation planning because data shows that they are safer for everyone–motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. As the website govfacts.org notes, “the key feature of these lanes is physical separation from motor vehicle traffic, a distinction that makes them more inviting and accessible to a wider range of people than a traditional bike lane.”

They also note that in cities that have them, protected bike lanes have been shown to lower the number of collisions and reduce injury rates. They cite a multi-year study of 12 cities which “concluded that protected bike lanes reduced traffic deaths and serious injuries by nearly half for everyone on the road.” 

However, Nelson is not a big city, and again in that May 12 council meeting, Johnson suggested that the city is not prepared to meet the challenge of implementing separated infrastructure at this time:

“[T]here just needs to be an understanding, generally, that with our city, how compact we are, it’s going to be very difficult to have the sort of gold standard of active transportation that you might find in Vancouver along the seawall…. If we had enough room to put one of those in, it would not be for a sustained amount of distance within the town, within the city, without removing roads, removing lanes. And sure, we might get there one day. But…. we have shared active transportation corridors and that’s just the way they’re going to be.”

Beyond the city limits

Looking beyond the city, the cycling coalition has advanced projects that they believe would improve active transportation throughout the West Kootenays. Work says she will be making a presentation at the province’s pre-budget consultation meeting in Castlegar on June 15 to advocate that the Ministry of Transportation and Transit should become more responsible for active transportation.

“I’m going to ask them to consider adding all transportation to the Ministry of Transportation portfolio. And then I’m going to make a suggestion on how much of that budget should go towards public and active transportation. No one else is doing it, and I think that that’s probably the most viable way to get any kind of cohesive network built in the province.”

To date the coalition’s most ambitious project has been its plan to connect Nelson and Castlegar with an active transportation corridor, linking the two bigger centres with smaller communities in between. Work says their data shows approximately 12,000 vehicle trips daily between Nelson and Castlegar, and that was from 2019 or 2020. She believes that number has only grown since, and that a project like a separated bike route between the two communities would go a long way to alleviating all that traffic. She admits some people are skeptical about the plan due to the distance between the two larger communities, but the proposed project isn’t necessarily intended for people to ride the whole thing.

“It’s to connect everyone in between,” she says. “You could, if you want to, ride the full 45 kilometres, but what about all the people who live in Thrums? It’s only 5 kilometres away [from Castlegar]. That is a short bike ride. What about all the people in Taghum? That’s 8 kilometres [from Nelson]. It’s a short bike ride. It’s totally doable. It’s flat. I mean, that’s what the [proposed] pathway is for. It’s linking people together on this road where there’s actually no space even to walk.”

Work says the pathway project stalled due to the Regional District of Central Kootenay’s unwillingness to adopt the plan and support it through the next phase of grant funding. A feasibility study was completed in 2024, but the project could not move forward without local government support.

“So here’s the kicker,” she says. “There was actually a $50-million capital funding grant that we could have gotten, there was a short window of opportunity to do it. I tried very hard to get that grant. But the stumbling block was because we didn’t have an adopted plan, we couldn’t move forward with the application because we had to have approvals from the RDCK board. And I couldn’t get it into a board meeting fast enough to meet the deadline. I worked with the Ministry of Transportation. They were keen to help us do this. And it just didn’t work because we didn’t have an adopted plan.”

Electric bike revolution

Despite the disappointing bureaucratic red tape, people continue to ride bikes throughout the Kootenays. And one thing growing rather quickly is the popularity of electric and electric-assist bicycles, which is actually giving more and more cyclists the ability to travel greater distances and navigate steeper hills. As of 2025, more than 205 Nelson homeowners had taken advantage of the city’s e-bike financing program–which launched in 2020. And whether financed by the City or not, there is certainly no shortage of e-bikes on the roads, altering traffic in the city–both for better and for worse. 

Inspector Jason Jewkes, with the Nelson Police Department, says the number one issue that people contact them about regarding bicycles is youth operating electric bikes, especially those that contravene traffic laws.

“Typically what I’m speaking of is bikes without pedals, that exceed speed limits of 50 to 70 kilometres per hour, and driving dangerously on the city roads within Nelson,” says Jewkes. 

He adds that certain bikes fall under the definition of a motor vehicle within the province’s Motor Vehicle Act. 

“And within that, you’re subject to, you need a requirement of having a driver’s license, the vehicle being registered and the vehicle being insured. And in the province of British Columbia, you cannot get those vehicles insured because they don’t meet all the standards for a motor vehicle.”

He says that parents aren’t always aware, when purchasing these bikes for their children, that the bikes also don’t meet the definition of an e-bike under provincial law. The police department conducts safety visits to schools and bike safety camps to help youth and their parents understand what is legal, what is not, and how to ride safely. Even with pedal assist bikes, or throttle bikes where speeds can reach 30 kilometres per hour, there can be dangers.

“One message the Nelson Police Department wants to pass along to parents is that they need to start teaching safety to their children at a very young age,” says Jewkes. “So, going over the mechanics of their bike to make sure it’s mechanically safe. Going over the safety regulations like having a helmet, wearing knee pads or elbow pads if needed. Your bike needs to have a bell, safety reflectors and or lights. And then going over the rules of the road and hand signals. If we’re starting at a young age, I think it makes it that much easier down the road for when police are having these bike rodeos or safety camps that the kids already have a knowledge base.”

However, from the perspective of cycling advocates, including Work, this is just another argument that supports the need for better cycling infrastructure overall.

“There’s a lot of talk about kids riding these electric bikes and getting in collisions with cars and getting head injuries and stuff like that,” says Work. “And I’m like, well, that’s because they shouldn’t be sharing it with cars! We actually need separate infrastructure.”

Sharing the road

Until that day arrives, Jewkes offers a reminder to all motorists to slow down, take their time and have safe interactions with other road users, especially during Go By Bike Week.

“With the summer season upon us, we’re going to see a lot more bikes out on the road and a lot more kids who probably aren’t used to riding their bikes on the road,” says Jewkes. “So they [motorists] just need to be aware that the kids will be out there. If you see a cyclist, make eye contact with them so that you know that they’ve seen you and you’ve seen them, and you can probably get a good idea of what they’re going to do. We want everyone to be safe this summer. So I think it’s just about taking your time. Have some patience and just recognize that there’s other users out on the road.”

Go By Bike Week continues until Friday, June 5. If you’re interested in logging your rides to win prizes, you can visit gobybikebc.ca. For more information on fun local events organized by the West Kootenay Cycling Coalition, including a Bike Rave on Friday, June 5, at Cottonwood Park in Nelson, and a bikepacking campout on Saturday, June 6, visit westkootenaycycling.ca.