Supports Item No. 1
T&T Committee Agenda
June 17, 1997
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: May 28, 1997
Dept. File No. 255577
CC File No.: 5762-2
TO: Standing Committee on Transportation and Traffic
FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT: Wall Street Area Traffic Plan
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT the following traffic measures be installed on a
temporary basis:
1) No left turn (3-6pm Monday-Friday) for eastbound Powell
to northbound Wall
2) 3-way stop at Eton/Wall
3) Corner bulges, plus 3-way stop at Trinity/Wall
4) 3-way stop at Penticton/Wall
5) One-way eastbound on Yale between Nanaimo and Kamloops
6) No right turn from southbound Nanaimo to westbound McGill
7) Traffic Calmed Area signs at 3 Locations.
B. THAT Council approve the future narrowing of Wall Street,
adjacent to Oxford Park and that staff pursue this narrowing
with the Park Board and adjacent developments(8).
C. THAT the following traffic circles and closure be installed on
a permanent basis:
9) Traffic circle at Nanaimo/Wall
10) Traffic circle at Kaslo/Wall
11) Closure of Wall at McGill
12) Traffic circle at Slocan/Trinity
13) Traffic circle at Penticton/Trinity.
D. THAT following the trial period, area residents be surveyed,
traffic counts be taken and the results be reported to the
Standing Committee on Transportation and Traffic to determine
the permanent plan.
E. THAT the estimated cost of $51,000 for the installation be
provided from Streets Basic Capital Unappropriated Account No.
13/32/9801/999 - Local Area Plans.
F. THAT funding of $500 per year per traffic circle, for a total
of $2,000 per year, be added without offset to the Operating
Budget for maintenance, reduced to $100 per year per circle
for each circle residents agree to adopt.
COUNCIL POLICY
It is a long standing Policy to mitigate the impacts of traffic in local
areas.
Council supports public participation (through surveys, meetings, and
open houses) to encourage neighbourhood based decisions.
It is a Council Policy to implement traffic calming measures on a trial
basis, with follow up survey, before making the measures permanent.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to seek approval for the implementation,
on a trial basis, of the traffic calming plan for the Wall Street Area.
BACKGROUND
- As part of the 1986 Grandview-Woodland Traffic Management Plan,
Council approved the reclassification of Wall Street from arterial
to local status, but deferred development of a traffic calming
plan. Council also declassified Wall as a truck route, when
Commissioner was so classified.
- As part of the 1993 approval of the Port Roadway Project, Council
approved the closure of Wall Street at McGill Street.
- Since 1995, area residents and staff have discussed various traffic
measures to address concerns about traffic volumes and speed along
Wall Street.
- A neighbourhood Open House was held on April 10, 1996. Over 50 area
residents attended to express their concerns about shortcutting
traffic and safety within their neighbourhood.
- From October 1996 to January 1997, staff worked with the
neighbourhood group to review traffic patterns in the Wall Street
area and to evaluate various traffic calming measures and prepare a
plan with the goals of reducing commuter traffic, reducing traffic
speed and improving safety in the neighbourhood.
- Open Houses were held on January 28 and 30, 1997 to gain
neighbourhood input on specific traffic measures developed with the
neighbourhood working group.
- In March 1997 a public opinion survey was distributed to residents
and businesses in the area bounded by Wall, McGill, Nanaimo and
Dundas Streets. A copy of the survey is shown in Appendix A.
DISCUSSION
The neighbourhood area is bounded by Wall, McGill, Nanaimo and Dundas
streets. Since 1986, there have been several street improvements in the
area such as the Cassiar Tunnel, the Second Narrows Bridge redecking,
and the Nanaimo-McGill intersection. Residents have expressed concerns
about commuter traffic using Wall Street to bypass the rush hour
congestion on McGill Street and Powell/Dundas Street.
Area residents have waited patiently for the Vancouver Port Corporation
and the City to finalize the new Port Roadway connection at McGill,
which will eliminate Port traffic from Renfrew Street north of McGill
Street and close Wall Street at McGill Street. The Port Roadway project
is now under construction and it is appropriate to proceed now with the
local area traffic measures.
The recommended plan (see Figure 1, page 7) consists of:
1. No left turn (3-6pm Monday-Friday) for eastbound Powell to
northbound Wall. The benefit of this measure is that shortcutting
will be prohibited on Wall Street and speed will likely decrease.
An undesirable impact is that the restriction may inconvenience
local residents as well and may cause increased local traffic on
other streets due to altered traffic flow. A temporary installation
is recommended and supported by the residents to allow time to
evaluate the benefits and impacts before deciding on a permanent
plan.
2. 3-way stop at Eton/Wall.
3. Corner bulges, plus 3-way stop at Trinity/Wall.
4. 3-way stop at Penticton/Wall.
5. One-way eastbound on Yale between Nanaimo and Kamloops. Area
residents felt the close proximity of the Wall/Nanaimo and
Yale/Nanaimo intersections presented a safety hazard; the one-way
partial closure of Yale between Nanaimo and Kamloops will help
eliminate the conflict between westbound Yale and eastbound Wall.
6. No right turn from southbound Nanaimo to westbound McGill.
7. Traffic Calmed Area signs at 3 locations. To advise non-local
traffic of traffic calming measures, "Traffic Calmed Area" signs
have been tried in the Mount Pleasant area to provide initial
notification of traffic measures installed within the area. The
neighbourhood working group requested these signs be installed for
the community at keylocations such as Wall/Powell and
Renfrew/McGill. It is recommended that three of these signs be
installed at strategic locations on the border of this area for the
six month trial period.
8. Narrowing of Wall Street, adjacent to Oxford Park. Residents
recommended the narrowing of Wall Street in front of Oxford Park.
This narrowing will not occur at this time, but will be coordinated
with any future park improvements or adjacent developments. Staff
from Engineering Services will pursue the future narrowing of Wall
Street with the Park Board as part of the consolidation of Oxford
Park and with adjacent developments.
9. Traffic circle at Nanaimo/Wall.
10. Traffic circle at Kaslo/Wall.
11. Closure of Wall at McGill. The permanent closure of Wall Street at
McGill Street was first approved by Council in 1993 as part of the
Port Roadway Project. Residents recommend it be closed now to
eliminate the westbound commuters shortcutting through Wall Street.
The permanent closure will be coordinated with the New Port
Overpass, currently under construction.
12. Traffic circle at Slocan/Trinity.
13. Traffic circle at Penticton/Trinity.
The recommended traffic plan as detailed above was developed jointly by
the area residents and Engineering staff. The plan has received popular
support in general throughout the public consultation process; local
residents indicated their willingness to adopt the plan on a trial basis
to evaluate the effectiveness.
The Greenways Plan identifies a greenway called the "Harbour Route"
along Burrard Inlet connecting Portside Park to New Brighton Park. The
section between Victoria Drive and New Brighton Park will likely use
Wall Street. There are already a number of small parks located along
both sides of Wall Street. The traffic calming measures, once in place,
will assist when Wall Street is developed as a greenway in the future.
Greenways staff have reviewed this plan for consistency.
PUBLIC OPINION SURVEY
A total of 2420 surveys were distributed in March 1997; 433(18%) were
returned, which is a typical return rate. The results of the survey
show support for all measures, and are summarized below:
In Opposed Undecided
Favour (%) (%)
(%)
1) No left turn (3-6pm 241 (56) 176 (41) 16(3)
Monday-Friday for
eastbound Powell to
northbound Wall
2) Narrowing of Wall Street, 276(64) 137(32) 20(4)
south of Oxford, as part
of the Oxford Park
consolidation
3) 3-way stop at Eton/Wall 313(72) 102(24) 18(4)
4) Corner bulges, plus 3-way 306(71) 104(24) 23(5)
stop at Trinity/Wall
5) Traffic circle at 326(75) 85(20) 22(5)
Nanaimo/Wall
6) 3-way stop at 310(72) 96(22) 27(6)
Penticton/Wall
7) Traffic circle at 316(73) 85(20) 32(7)
Kaslo/Wall
8) One-way eastbound on Yale 272(63) 110(25) 51(12)
between Nanaimo and
Kamloops
9) Closure of Wall at McGill 265(61) 136(31) 32(8)
10 No right turn from 257(59) 137(31) 39(10)
) southbound Nanaimo to
westbound McGill
11 Traffic circle at 306(71) 79(18) 48(11)
) Slocan/Trinity
12 Traffic circle at 301(70) 82(19) 50(11)
) Penticton / Trinity
In Opposed Undecided
Favour (%) (%)
(%)
13 Traffic Calmed Area sign 330(76) 49(11) 54(13)
) at Renfrew / McGill
14 Traffic Calmed Area sign 325(75) 55(13) 53(12)
) at Penticton /McGill
15 Traffic Calmed Area sign 337(78) 47(11) 49(11)
) at Wall/Powell
The comments from the survey indicate that many people are concerned
about traffic speeding along Wall Street (27 responses), the road
surface conditions (30 responses) and the need for a traffic signal at
Powell and Wall (19 responses). Once the concerns with traffic and
speeds are dealt with, it will be possible to address poor street
surface conditions through the Local Improvement Program, either through
local residents initiatives or possibly through City initiatives.
Staff will continue to monitor the operation at Powell and Wall in order
to determine if a signal is needed at this intersection.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The costs for the various traffic calming measures and work items are
detailed as follows:
Permanent traffic circles $ 39,500
Temporary calming measures $ 6,000
(Including signs)
Before and after traffic counts $ 4,000
Distribution costs for pre and post trial
Opinion Survey $ 1,500
TOTAL $ 51,000
Funds for this work are available from Streets Basic Capital
Unappropriated Account for Local Area Plans.
The landscaping in the four traffic circles requires maintenance funding
of a total of $2000 per year ($500 per circle). It will be necessary to
increase the Operating budget by $2000 annually, unless residents agree
to adopt maintenance of the circles; in that case the total maintenance
funding could be reduced to as low as $400 annually ($100 per circle).
The permanent installation of the corner bulge at Trinity/Wall and the
partial closure of Yale/Nanaimo would cost an additional $11,000 if
these are supported after the trial period.
CONCLUSION
Shortcutting traffic and traffic speed have long been the major issues
for the Wall Street area residents. The proposed traffic plan has been
developed with the residents to address these issues and is supported by
the majority of survey respondents for a trial period. Following the
six-month trial, traffic counts will be taken, another opinion survey
will be conducted, and the results will be reported back to Council.
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