Agenda Index City of Vancouver

POLICY REPORT
URBAN STRUCTURE/TRANSPORTATION

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

General Manager of Engineering Services and Director of Current Planning

SUBJECT:

Downtown Transportation Plan

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGERS' COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

There are many existing transportation policies. Key policies include:

Vancouver Transportation Plan (1997), which emphasized the need for increased provision and use of transit, not increasing overall road capacity above the present level, maintaining an efficient goods movement network; traffic calming in neighbourhoods, and providing more comfortable biking and walking environments.

Cityplan (1995), which established major directions for transportation policy within the City including a hierarchy of mode priorities with pedestrians first, then cycling, transit, goods movement and vehicles.

Livable Region Strategic Plan (1995) provided a regional framework for managing growth by increasing transportation choices, building complete communities, achieving a compact metropolitan region and protecting the Green Zone.

Transport 2021 (1993) provided a regional framework for managing the transportation system by integrating land use and transportation policies, applying transport demand management, adjusting transport service levels, and supplying transport capacity.

Central Area Plan (1991) created neighbourhoods and housing closer to the downtown commercial core in part to balance transportation demand and supply and minimize travel across the bridges to downtown.

PURPOSE

This report recommends the adoption of a Downtown Transportation Plan for the City of Vancouver that establishes strategies and actions to meet the city's transportation goals within downtown.

SUMMARY

Downtown Vancouver is faced with the challenge of accommodating growth in population and employment and changes to land uses. The resulting growth in travel and changes in travel patterns must be accommodated within the existing street network. Building more road space is neither desirable nor sustainable.

The Downtown Transportation Plan presents a vision of a highly accessible, economically healthy and liveable downtown. The Plan, developed after an extensive public consultation process, provides a balanced approach to supplying more transportation choices. Many of the recommendations were developed conceptually to ensure that they are viable, but require a report back with additional analysis, public consultation, design details and budget allocations prior to implementation. Implementation and monitoring programs are also recommended to ensure that the goals and objectives of the plan are met.

The Downtown Transportation Plan meets the transportation challenges of the downtown to 2021. It provides the mechanism for moving towards a sustainable transportation system in the downtown that is important to its economic health. The plan provides increased access, while minimizing air pollution, noise levels, and congestion. It will help to keep Vancouver one of the most liveable cities in the world.

BACKGROUND

In June 1999 Council approved the planning process for the Downtown Transportation Plan (DTP). The process included an extensive public consultation program over a 19 month period to address the existing and emerging transportation issues within the downtown.

A cumulative total of 500 participants took part in a series of 17 open houses, workshops and "walkabouts" throughout the downtown to address issues relating to the plan. Numerous meetings were held with stakeholders, such as business, community and resident groups, throughout the planning process. A summary of key messages from the workshops and "walkabouts" is attached as Appendix B.

The consultation process included the publication of three newsletters. The first newsletter introduced the transportation challenges facing the downtown and requested public feedback on general issues and concerns that may require attention. The second newsletter introduced the plan components and requested specific ideas for each component to address the transportation challenges. The third newsletter illustrated the major proposals for the Downtown Transportation Plan and sought feedback on each. In total, over 1,500 people responded to the questionnaires attached to the newsletters. A summary of the results from the three newsletter questionnaires is attached as Appendix C. In general, the majority of theresponses received were favourable to all components of the plan. This was confirmed both from the results of the newsletter questionnaires and in a follow-up telephone random sample survey by Ipsos-Reid. The executive summary of the Ipsos-Reid report is attached as Appendix D.

There were, however, concerns such as the need for and impact of bike lanes, a perceived bias against the car, the economic impacts, the underlying assumptions and overall vision of the plan. In response, the plan has been adjusted to provide additional details in these areas to allow a better appreciation of the issues and understanding of the recommendations.

During the course of developing the Downtown Transportation Plan, the need for a third auto-oriented crossing (also known as the Fourth Crossing) of the Burrard Inlet was confirmed to be excluded from the terms of reference. Also, some transit issues could not be resolved to the extent desired, partially because of the transit strike in 2001. This includes a review and confirmation of the downtown route alignment for the 98-B Line. However, the upcoming Area Transit Plan for Vancouver to be completed in 2003 will provide additional opportunities for reviewing and resolving outstanding transit issues. It is recommended that TransLink be requested to include the recommendations of the Downtown Transportation Plan in developing an Area Transit Plan for Vancouver.

DISCUSSION

Overview of the Plan

The development of the Downtown Transportation Plan (DTP) builds upon the city's transportation and land use policies, which are consistent with regional policies and objectives. The DTP was created in direct response to several major downtown initiatives identified in the Vancouver Transportation Plan.

The goal of the DTP is to improve access to the downtown by providing people with more transportation choices, while meeting the challenge of accommodating additional travel demands without increasing overall road capacity. Achieving this goal would help to achieve the vision of a highly accessible and economically healthy downtown, as well as a liveable and sustainable community. Strategies to achieve this goal include:

1. Adjusting the road network;
2. Enhancing public transit;
3. Promoting a walkable downtown;
4. Creating a network of bike lanes;
5. Maintaining efficient goods movement;

6. Managing parking supply; and
7. Implementing intelligent transportation systems.

The DTP balances the various transport modes, and their interactions, within a physically constrained road network. The plan also goes beyond general policies and examines some details to ensure that the various proposed components are physically achievable and can function effectively as part of the overall transportation network. To better capture many of the specific ideas and issues discussed, a section entitled "Conceptual Designs and Spot Improvements" was included within the DTP for future reference.

Overall, in comparison to current trends to 2021, the proposals in the DTP are projected to minimize congestion as measured by the regional transportation model, reduce air and noise pollution, better reflect the needs of the adjacent land uses, and increase accessibility to the downtown. Analysis has determined that the road capacity into the downtown can be maintained at current levels while, at the same time, meeting the needs of a growing downtown population and employment centre. This is largely accomplished with the provision of new and improved transit services, especially rapid transit. Walking and bicycling modes also contribute significantly. Most downtown streets were determined to be functioning well, and under-utilized streets were used to maximize benefits to other modes.

A summary of the main proposals within each strategy is provided below.

1. Adjusting the Road Network

· Confirm the Major Road designations along Hastings, Georgia, Smithe, Howe, Seymour and Main (south of Prior).
· Pursue Burrard Street and Granville Street for potential inclusion as part of the Major Road Network.
· Conduct a future review of other potential MRN streets (such as Main and Dunsmuir) after considering potential land use and streetscape developments.
· Distinguish and recognize the role of important circulation streets and local streets in future street modifications.
· Convert Carrall, Abbott, Beatty, Cambie and Homer Streets to two-way streets to provide better accessibility and to better serve transit and cycling needs without hindering traffic circulation in the area.
· Maintain Granville Street as a transit, pedestrian and service vehicle corridor, entertainment district and future greenway. Transit efficiency along Granville Street should not be diminished.
· Reconfigure Granville Street south of Smithe Street to improve traffic circulation, widen sidewalks, and reduce conflicts.
· Maintain Water and Cordova Streets as one-way streets for a better overall functioning of those streets, including the pedestrian realm.
· Further evaluate Pender Street between Cambie and Howe for potential conversion to a one-way eastbound street to facilitate the creation of a bike lane and permanent parking and loading lane.
· Widen roadways at specified locations to facilitate vehicular circulation.

2. Enhancing Public Transit

· Increase transit priority on Burrard, Georgia, Granville, Hastings and Main Streets.
· Develop a transportation plan for False Creek Flats, including links to downtown.
· Pursue a lower downtown fare zone for transit routes located totally within the central area.
· Construct a rapid transit line from downtown to Richmond (and the airport).
· Enhance the transit hubs at Waterfront Station, Granville Mall, Burrard Station, and Main Street Station to improve transit operations and provide greater comfort and convenience to transit passengers.
· Pursue new or improved local transit service within downtown and the Central Area with TransLink as part of the upcoming transit area service planning process.
· Adjust the Downtown Streetcar alignment to better integrate it as a component of the downtown transit system.

3. Promoting a Walkable Downtown

· Recognize Burrard and Georgia Streets as ceremonial streets and identify streets that are high streets (in regard to retail) or special streets with historical or scenic attributes.
· Develop Granville, Carrall and Helmcken/Comox Streets as the main north-south and east-west greenway routes through the downtown peninsula.
· Establish a network of pedestrian connector routes which would receive higher priority for maintenance and amenities.
· Provide way-finding signs, curb ramps, weather protection, wider pedestrian crossings, pedestrian shortcuts through long blocks, mid-block crossings and pedestrian bulges where required.
· Eliminate pedestrian impediments such as physical barriers or pedestrian holds at traffic signals where possible.
· Improve connections to Central Waterfront, Coal Harbour Waterfront and the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre.
· Widen sidewalks on Davie Street between Burrard and Jervis through future setbacks of new developments.
· Pursue a future comprehensive public realm study for the downtown.

4. Creating a Network of Bicycle Lanes

· Create a network of bike lanes that connect to existing routes and key destinations.
· Provide secure bike parking facilities in keeping with the expected growth in cycling.
· Improve bike access to and across the False Creek Bridges.
· Create bicycle friendly streets along all local streets and bikeways along Chilco and Cardero Streets.
· Provide way-finding signs, coloured asphalt along bike lanes, "bike boxes", showers and change rooms where required.

5. Maintaining Efficient Goods Movement

· Modify the downtown truck route system to provide more direct links across the downtown.
· Delete the truck area south of Nelson in recognition of new residential land uses.
· Ensure adequate off-street loading spaces are provided, and where none exist, provide additional on-street spaces where necessary and practical.
· Increase fees and eligibility limitations for municipal commercial plates to reduce on-street demands for loading zones.
· Maintain the one-way entry to rear lanes where they currently exist and remove rear lane encumbrances where possible.
· Manage tour buses and motor coaches on a case-by-case basis to maximize flexibility in resolving conflicts.

6. Managing Parking Supply

· Regularly review commercial and residential off-street parking standards within the downtown to ensure that adequate, but not abundant, parking is provided to meet needs.
· Request TransLink and the GVRD, in consultation with municipalities, to develop and implement a regional parking policy to help achieve regional liveability and transportation goals.
· Update Section 5 of the Downtown Official Development Plan to better reflect parking deficiencies within the downtown.
· Adjust on-street parking regulations to balance the use of the curb lane for traffic flow, customer or resident parking, transit operations or bike facilities.

7. Implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems

· Pursue the application of intelligent transportation system technologies to make downtown travel more convenient and safe, particularly by pedestrians, cyclists and transit passengers. These include the use of new detections systems at traffic signals and the provision of up-to-the-minute traveller information through wireless technology, roadside displays, or the internet.

Plan Evaluation

An evaluation of the transportation network was completed using the downtown sub-area model of the regional EMME/2 transportation model. With the implementation of all recommended changes in the Downtown Transportation Plan, the model shows that the plan will help reduce overall traffic congestion by encouraging more transit ridership. Assuming regional transportation demand management measures are implemented, the model shows that average vehicle speeds in 2021, in comparison to 1996, would increase by 3 percent and average transit speeds would increase by 14 percent. This result is significant considering that, while number of trips made into the downtown increases, there is no increase in road capacity and additional facilities are provided for pedestrians and cyclists. The analysis also indicates that the implementation of regional transportation demand management measures and a rapid transit line to Richmond contribute significantly to minimizing congestion in the downtown.

From an environmental perspective, the Downtown Transportation Plan should have a positive impact. Air quality and noise levels within the downtown should remain acceptable given the projection of no increase in automobile traffic, the continued use of trolley buses and future use of rapid transit. A model for assessing the streetscape environment in relation to land uses and traffic was developed. The model concepts will be used during the implementation of various components of the plan to ensure compatibility between land uses and transportation, and that high-quality pedestrian environments are created.

The above shows that a highly accessible and liveable downtown can be achieved despite the constraints. Ultimately, downtown can become the most accessible regional town centre and remain economically competitive.

Implementation

Many of the recommendations in the Downtown Transportation Plan provide a specific course of action. However, the recommendations need to be reported back with additional analysis, public consultation, design details and budget allocations prior to implementation. Many, like painting lane lines on the roadway, adjusting the traffic signal control system, andconstructing corner bulges are an application of existing traffic management tools and can be implemented relatively quickly from a reallocation of existing resources. Others, like the application of intelligent transportation system and constructing a rapid transit line, are more complex and require more time and resources.

To begin the prioritization process, a number of proposals to be pursued in the short term (within three years) have been identified. It is recommended that the Engineering and Planning Departments report back by January 2003 on an implementation program that includes priorities, resources and timing.

Public Response

The public has been engaged throughout the downtown transportation planning process and the response has been positive. Although many diverse opinions were heard, the recommended Downtown Transportation Plan reflects the desires of and is supported by the majority. Some of the outstanding concerns relating to specific details can only be further addressed during the implementation process. Others relating to the actual benefit or result of the changes can only be determined through monitoring after implementation. Therefore to address potential ongoing public concerns and to ensure progress is made in attaining the goals and targets of the plan, it is recommended that the Engineering and Planning departments regularly monitor the implementation of the Downtown Transportation Plan and report back with updates, as required, to address new issues or reflect new Council policies.

CONCLUSION

In furthering the city's transportation goals and objectives as outlined in the 1997 Vancouver Transportation Plan, and consistent with other city and regional policies, an extensive public consultation process was undertaken to develop the Downtown Transportation Plan. From the public input received and analysis completed, proposals have been developed that moves towards actual implementation. Most of the proposals build upon past work to ensure that the transportation network will serve the downtown well to 2021. In fact, past trends are promising, but there is a need to keep striving for the best transportation network possible. With the anticipated growth, this plan moves towards a more balanced transportation system. It will help to minimize congestion, increase accessibility, improve liveability, and achieve a sustainable transportation system. All these are key to the overall health and economy of the city's central business district and will contribute to Vancouver's status as one of the most liveable cities in the world.

- - - - -

APPENDIX A - TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPENDIX A - PART 1 - Executive Summary, Transportation Challenge & Foundation of the Plan

APPENDIX A - PART 2 - Components 1-4

APPENDIX A - PART 3 - Components 5-8

APPENDIX A - PART 4 - Ideas, Evaluation and Funding

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX D

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