The new bridge on 6th Street opened a couple of weeks ago. I walked across it and stopped partway to look. East, down the Courtenay River toward the estuary and the harbour, the water wide and quiet. West, toward Lewis Park. Four metres of space for people walking, rolling, and cycling, with nobody revving behind you. It’s a genuinely beautiful crossing, and it connects downtown Courtenay to Simms Park on the other bank in under two minutes.
That connection has always been obvious on a map. The park was right there. What’s changed is how you get there if you’re not in a car.
The idea of the bridge had been around for more than twenty years. Mayor Bob Wells called it “a grassroots community-driven idea” at the June 26 ribbon-cutting, and the history backs that up. It also generated real controversy, particularly around cost.
The original project estimate was $6.8 million. When bids came back after the request for proposals process in early 2025, they came in significantly higher. The city’s director of infrastructure acknowledged that the bids exceeded estimates, with inflation, supply chain pressures, and tariff uncertainty all cited as factors. The budget was updated to $11.1 million, roughly 60 per cent above the original figure. Courtenay-Comox MLA Brennan Day wrote an open letter opposing proceeding at that price. Council voted to move forward anyway.
The funding mix helped make that decision easier: approximately half the cost was covered by federal and provincial grants, including Canada’s Active Transportation Fund and BC’s Growing Communities Fund. The remainder came from long-term borrowing and city reserves. And then the project came in on the revised budget, four months ahead of schedule.
Wells noted, with some amusement, that some residents had been against the project even when it was going to be free. That’s the nature of infrastructure debates. The bridge is open now, and the people crossing it aren’t thinking about the budget variance.
The practical problem the bridge solves is the 5th Street crossing. That bridge has carried vehicles since 1960. For cyclists it means riding single-file in traffic with no room for cars to pass. The pedestrian pathways are too narrow for a mobility scooter and a stroller to travel in opposite directions, and they don’t meet current accessibility standards. In 2020, after examining whether the 5th Street Bridge could be widened and rehabilitated, council decided a dedicated crossing made more sense. The result is a four-metre-wide cable-stayed bridge that opened ahead of schedule.
The plan behind it
The bridge is one project inside a much larger transportation strategy. Courtenay’s Transportation Master Plan, known as Connecting Courtenay, starts from a simple idea: as the city grows, giving people practical alternatives to driving is one of the best ways to manage congestion while improving quality of life.
Within that broader plan sits the City’s 2019 Cycling Network Plan, which maps out infrastructure improvements over twenty years: protected bike lanes, neighbourhood bikeways, painted lanes, and multi-use pathways. The long-term goal is for 30 per cent of trips within Courtenay to be made by walking, cycling, or transit by 2030. The 5th Street Complete Street project and the 17th Street bikeway are already complete. Cumberland Road between Piercy and Grieve avenues is currently being upgraded as another active transportation corridor, connecting to cycling routes on 5th Street, Willemar Avenue, and 1st Street.
The bridge improves the river crossing itself, but broader east-west connectivity beyond Simms Park remains part of the city’s ongoing transportation planning. Better links from the bridge into residential neighbourhoods and the wider cycling network would turn an excellent crossing into a fully connected route. I’m looking forward to seeing how that develops.
The City is currently updating its Transportation Master Plan, with community input continuing through 2026.
The e-bike factor
Lawrence Vea, former president of the Comox Valley Cycling Coalition, made a point at the bridge opening that’s easy to underestimate: the e-bike has changed who’s cycling in the valley. People who haven’t been on a bike in decades are back, and they’re looking for infrastructure that’s actually comfortable to use.
E-bikes have quietly expanded who active transportation is for. Hills matter less, longer trips become practical, and riders who might never have considered cycling five years ago are now using bikes for everyday errands as much as recreation.
Confident cyclists will still take 5th Street. Less confident cyclists (and there are considerably more of them than there used to be) won’t.
The valley’s terrain helps. It’s relatively flat, the weather is mild most of the year, and the scenery along the river corridor alone is enough to make the ride feel like something. What’s been missing is safe, connected infrastructure for moving from one part of the valley to another. The 6th Street bridge is the most visible piece of that added recently.
What’s actually being built here
People moving to the Comox Valley from larger cities often ask about lifestyle. Can you get around without a car? Is there somewhere to ride a bike that isn’t a highway shoulder?
The valley has always had the trails, the rivers, and the pace of life that make an active lifestyle easy to imagine. What’s been slower to develop is the urban infrastructure that supports it day to day.
Infrastructure like this rarely changes property values overnight. What it does change is how people experience a neighbourhood. When parks, downtown, schools, community events, and the riverfront become easier to reach without driving, those everyday trips become part of the lifestyle people notice when they’re deciding where they want to live.
Active transportation infrastructure isn’t only about cyclists. Every person who walks, rolls, or rides across the river is one less vehicle competing for space on the road network. Cities increasingly see these projects as transportation infrastructure first and recreational amenities second.
The bridge, the cycling network, and the ongoing transportation planning together describe a city working out how to grow without simply adding more traffic lanes.
The Simms Concert Series runs on the east bank. Canada Day on the river. The daily foot traffic that helps turn the park into part of everyday life. Getting there from downtown without a car used to mean crossing 5th Street and hoping for the best. Now it means two minutes on a bridge with a view of the estuary.
Details on Courtenay’s Cycling Network Plan and Transportation Master Plan update are available at courtenay.ca. Community input on the transportation plan is open through Let’s Move Courtenay at engagecomoxvalley.ca.
Sources: City of Courtenay (courtenay.ca/6th-street-bridge); CHLY 101.7FM (chly.ca, July 3, 2026); Comox Valley Record; Comox Valley Cycling Coalition (cyclecv.com); Urban Systems / Connecting Courtenay Transportation Master Plan.