A paved but off-street and carless space where cyclists can safely practice their riding skills is coming to the vacant Tower Mall redevelopment site in central Vancouver. A grand opening of the new Heights Bike Garden is set for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at 5411 E. Mill Plain Blvd.
What’s a bike garden? It’s a kid-sized, model streetscape where fledgling bike riders of any age can safely sharpen their skills — or just tootle around in confidence, knowing no cars will cross their paths.
“The intent is to help children learn the rules of the road without being on an actual road,” city project manager Amy Stewart said. “They’re also known as traffic gardens, and they’re all over the country, but I believe this is the first one in Southwest Washington.”
The Heights Bike Garden is almost two blocks in size, Stewart said, making it one of the largest in the U.S. Its little roadways, intersections, roundabouts, stop and yield signs, pedestrian crosswalks, and other features were recently painted by volunteers onto a section of the Tower Mall parking lot surface, just east of River Maiden Coffee.
