ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: July 10, 1996
TO: Vancouver Traffic Commission
FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT: 8th Avenue at Grandview Highway North, Partial Closure
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT the temporary partial closure of 8th Avenue at Grandview
Highway North be made permanent, according to geometric
YF-317, illustrated in Figure 1, with funding of $10,000
provided from Streets Basic Capital Unappropriated Account
13/32/9801/999 - Other Improvements.
B. THAT construction of speed humps be approved for the lane
south of East 8th Avenue between Grandview Highway North and
Victoria Drive, with funding of $1200 provided from Streets
Basic Capital Unappropriated Account 13/32/9801/999 - Other
Improvements.
C. THAT the General Manager of Engineering Services be requested
to monitor traffic on 7th Avenue between Commercial Drive and
Victoria Drive once the partial closure of 8th Avenue is made
permanent and the speed humps are installed in the lane south
of 8th Avenue, and meet with residents, as necessary, to
consider appropriate measures.
COUNCIL POLICY
Neighbourhood traffic controls are approved by Council following
consultation with the community.
PURPOSE
The purposes of this report are to obtain Council's approval to make the
temporary partial closure of 8th Avenue at Grandview Highway North
permanent and to address other related measures.
BACKGROUND
Due to the configuration of the nearby arterial street system, the 1800
block of East 8th Avenue has long been a popular route for
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traffic between Commercial Drive and Victoria Drive, particularly in the
afternoon peak period. In the 1980's approximately 100 vehicles,
predominantly eastbound, were observed using this block in the p.m. peak
hour. This amount of traffic is abnormally high for a local street,
which this block of 8th Avenue is. Both the Grandview-Woodland Traffic
Plan and the Broadway Station Area Plan identified 8th Avenue as
requiring protection from through traffic.
At the 1989 Public Hearing for rezoning the site bounded by Broadway,
Commercial Drive, and Grandview Highway North, Council required that the
developer take protective measures against site traffic using 8th
Avenue. Development of this site has not proceeded. Following the
rezoning, several of the bridges over the Grandview Cut were rebuilt.
To protect against detoured traffic using 8th Avenue, a temporary
partial closure was installed in 1992 (see Figure 1 in Appendix).
After installation of the partial closure, traffic volumes on 8th Avenue
dropped significantly. There is now only a minor amount of shortcutting
evident, with perhaps 3 to 5 (illegal) vehicles entering from Grandview
Highway North in the afternoon peak hour. The 24-hour traffic volume on
8th Avenue is about 450 vehicles, which is lower than average for the
area and roughly half of what it was prior to the partial closure.
DISCUSSION
For a long time, 8th Avenue has been used as an access route to Victoria
Drive and as a bypass to avoid the congestion at Commercial Drive and
Broadway. In the last decade, operational measures on nearby arterials
have pushed traffic onto 8th Avenue, such as dedicating Grandview
Highway North to be primarily for buses. The long-term solution for
retaining traffic on the arterial network would be the addition of
left-turn bays on Commercial at Broadway; however, these could only be
reviewed by Council after further redevelopment around the intersection.
Conditions for residents largely improved once the temporary partial
closure was installed.
Of key importance is what impact the partial closure has had on 7th
Avenue between Commercial and Victoria. From 24-hour counts taken
before and after, it appears that traffic has not increased as a result
of the temporary measure. In 1987, approximately 925 vehicles used 7th
daily, while earlier this year some 1000 vehicles were counted. Such a
change may be attributed to background growth, especially since no
abnormal volumes were found during peak periods, or it may be simply
random day-to-day variation of traffic counts.
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Negative impacts have been found, however, in the lane south of 8th
Avenue. After the partial closure, when the lane was still unpaved,
some 20 through vehicles were observed in the p.m. peak hour. Since
paving occurred last year, however, this number has risen to about 50
vehicles. And, many of these travel in excess of the 20 km/h speed
limit for lanes. With the obliquely-angled entrance to the lane from
Grandview Highway North and the narrow width of the westerly portion of
the lane (10 feet), a potentially hazardous situation has developed.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
To obtain local opinion on making the partial closure of 8th Avenue
permanent, a questionnaire (see Appendix) was distributed to some 90
residences and places of work, and mailed to some 20 non-resident
property owners. That there were 55 responses indicates the importance
of this matter to the community. The key findings were:
* There were 34 (65%) in favour of making the partial closure
permanent and 18 (35%) that wanted it removed.
* For 8th Avenue respondents, 21 wanted the partial closure made
permanent, while 2 wanted it removed. For 7th Avenue respondents,
7 supported permanency, while 11 wanted removal. Others were 6 in
favour of permanency and 5 wanting removal.
* On the question of providing speed humps in the lane south of 8th
Avenue, overall 35 (73%) were in favour and 13 (27%) were opposed.
All sub-groups were in favour: 8th Avenue by 20 to 3, 7th Avenue by
9 to 6, and others by 6 to 4.
A number of suggestions were offered. Those made more than once were:
- Do similar measures on 7th/comprehensive solution (by 3);
- Make 7th one-way westbound (by 2);
- Put speed bump on 8th near Grandview (by 2);
- The lane should be one-way eastbound (by 2); and
- The lane should be one-way westbound (by 2).
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In response to the input received, supplemented by the data gathered,
staff recommend that the partial closure of 8th Avenue be
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made permanent. The design width would be as narrow aspossible to
permit safe passage by westbound motor vehicles, while accommodating a
contra-flow bicycle lane for the upgrading of the 7-11 Bicycle Trail.
The increased length of the choked section of the block and the
permanent treatment as a whole will add to the deterrence of violators;
meanwhile, westbound drivers face a stop sign.
It is recommended that the speed humps be added in the lane south of 8th
Avenue as a necessary complement to the partial closure on 8th. It is
not recommended at this time, however, that the lane be made one-way.
Finally, it is recommended that within 6 months of the partial closure
being made permanent and the speed humps being installed in the lane,
staff will review traffic volumes on 7th Avenue to determine if there is
any diversion of traffic to there, and discuss the results with
residents. Staff are optimistic that impacts, if any, will be slight
since the partial closure has already been in place for some years,
albeit in a temporary format. Should changes result, however, staff
would work with residents on needed measures.
FUNDING AND TIMING
As the measures proposed are part of approved area plans, the entire
funding should come out of General Revenue. The cost of the permanent
treatment for the partial closure is $10,000 and for the speed humps in
the lane $1200, provided from Streets Basic Capital Unappropriated
Account 13/32/9801/999 - Other Improvements. The project could be built
this fall.
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