Burnaby Pedestrian Overpass with Bonus Blossom, Saturday April 18th 2026
All About the Angle at the New Bridge by Brian
Iain writes:-
As the cycling infrastructure continues to grow I thought it would be nice to go and check out the latest bit of capital infrastructure. Not due to open until April 26th this new bridge, Burnaby Pedestrian Overpass, links Burnaby and Deer Lakes. Eventually the Freeway Trail that parallels the highway on the Burnaby lake side will be an AAA trail (all ages and abilities) and that should see this bridge come into its own.
The ride out from Waterfront Station was punctuated by stops on Granville Street Bridge to check out the famous benches and the view, as well as a rocket ship, a sci-fi mural and a mythical cocktail bar. So really this was an infrastructure and public art tour but with the amazing bonus of incredible blossoms, the Kwanzan Flowering Cherry trees are at their peak right now. We were well rewarded.
Ready for the Off at Waterfront by Brian
We were fortunate to be able to stop at Barbara Howard Park - the home of the rocket ship and read something about the incredible story of Barbara Howard- surely worthy of a more significant park.
Always Read the Plaque, image by Iain
It took us a while to get out of downtown before picking up the Central Valley Greenway and heading east to the Christine Sinclair community centre for coffee and cake at Bastion, inside the community centre. Then ‘twas but a short ride to the new bridge, that straddles the highway. We soaked up the bridge ambience, commented about the noise and the unusual fencing arrangement, a stainless steel net. The bridge was an example of “build it and they will come”, plenty of people enjoying the day and the improved inter lake access.
Bridge Doing Bridge Things with Cyclists, images by Isobel
The bridge was the start of hill one of two for this largely flat ride, but this one hill was a bit challenging, especially as it was a couple of blocks on a fairly busy road. Drivers were well behaved though and we made it through to a more residential area where the blossoms really started to burst and we enjoyed beautiful views to the North Shore Mountains. Lunch stop was at Kisbey Park, notable for not having any views, which I felt was quite an achievement, given the plethora of available panoramas. The park approach also featured the only U-turn of the ride - well there’s always one.
Next stop, Metrotown, including a diversion through the library park before having some fun at Reflections public art. Central Park took us past the Korean War memorial and then onto Kanzen Centre, incredible blossom displays. Post trip research showed that the cherry trees started post First World War as gifts from Japan.
Dave and Blossom
Reflecting on Reflections at Metrotown by Brian
Various twists and turns took us to the cut out cows at the site of the former Avalon Dairy before reaching Dumfries, a long, broadly downhill, run to Powell Street (6.5kms in 30 minutes - nothing like motivation) where we diverted to Container Brewing to mull over the day, world events, bicycles and beer.
See the route here from Iain’s Garmin 1040 Solar together with some other photos and check out the Trip Photo Gallery page for more photos from Brian
