Call to Action: Maze Gates / Baffle Gates
Staff Report reaches council on Monday
Trails should be for everyone. But throughout the Township of Langley, maze gates (also called baffle gates or bicycle stop baffles) create unnecessary barriers that exclude families with bike trailers, people using adaptive cycles and mobility devices, cargo bike users, and many other legitimate trail users.
Following Councillor Pratt’s successful April 28th motion asking staff to examine alternatives, Township Engineering has released a comprehensive memo that will be considered by Council this Monday, November 3rd. The report identifies 447 baffle gate locations throughout the Township of Langley and recommends “a $100,000 pilot project to retrofit up to 20 baffle locations, prioritized based on proximity to schools, parks, and recreation facilities, with input from cycling advocates.”
This is a significant step forward for trail accessibility in our community.
Council needs to hear from you. Visit our campaign page at strongtownslangley.org/campaigns/tol/mazegates where you can use our AI-powered tool to quickly generate a personalized email to Mayor and Council expressing your support for the pilot project and elimination of maze gates. You can also craft your own email if you prefer, and send it to mayorcouncil@tol.ca. The page includes all the background information, maps of gate locations, and easy options to send your message via Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or your preferred email client.
This Monday’s Council meeting is a pivotal moment for trail accessibility in Langley. Whether you’re a parent who wants to bike with your kids, someone who uses adaptive equipment, a cargo bike user, or simply a community member who believes public trails should welcome everyone: your voice matters. Take two minutes today to email Council and help make Langley’s trails accessible to all.
At Strong Towns Langley, we believe in “small bets”, incremental improvements that can be implemented quickly. These small bets can then be built upon and refined over time while observing and receiving feedback on the outcome.
The pilot project is in alignment with this approach; it is an affordable option to get the ball rolling right away and see what works. The pilot project will help staff determine whether just removing the gates is sufficient, or whether alternatives are needed like bollards as outlined in the report as Options 1, 2 or 3. Staff and council will also receive feedback from residents on these changes, which helps refine the approach towards their eventual complete removal and/or replacement.
The staff report identifies 362 of the 447 gates as “optional” and suitable for removal or retrofit, with costs ranging from $2,000 to $5,500 per location depending on the approach. Nine other Lower Mainland municipalities are already removing their baffle gates, such as Coquitlam, and the BC Ministry of Transportation recommends avoiding them unless there’s a demonstrated history of motor vehicle encroachment. The Township is positioned to follow this regional trend and create truly accessible trails.
Strong Towns Langley launched a social media awareness campaign this summer featuring short videos that highlight the real-world impact of these barriers. Our introduction video showcases maze gate locations across the Township, while our mobility scooter video demonstrates how these gates can completely block people who depend on mobility devices, illustrating that this isn’t just about inconvenience, it’s about exclusion from public spaces.
We want to give a shout out and thank you to Gaith Sarhan, who has been active at both HUB Cycling Langley and within our group, and has been instrumental in fighting for a resolution for this issue with the Township of Langley, frequently following up with the engineering department. We also want to recognize the efforts of Councillor Michael Pratt who brought this motion and was able to get it passed. And of course, a big thank you to the Township of Langley engineering department for researching and crafting the memo and recommending a reasonable and feasible option to council that has a real chance of success.
Now we’re in the home stretch and we don’t want to see this memo go nowhere: it’s time for a big final push to eliminate maze gates!
Strong Towns Langley is a community group dedicated to making Langley, British Columbia a better place. We advocate for incremental development, sustainable transportation solutions, housing accessibility, public spaces, and responsible growth strategies. Our group is part of the larger Strong Towns movement, focusing on creating financially resilient and people-oriented communities.
To learn more visit https://strongtownslangley.org