ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: February 23, 1999

Author/Local:R. Ehm/7424

RTS No. 507

CC File No. 5555

TO:	Standing Committee on Planning and Environment
FROM:	General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT:	Yaletown Truck Routes

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council authorize the Director of Legal Services to amend the Street and Traffic Bylaw No. 2849 to redefine the boundaries of the Downtown Truck Area to exclude Yaletown, as shown in Figure 1.

B. THAT Council authorize the Director of Legal Services to amend the Street and Traffic Bylaw No. 2849 to delete Mainland, Hamilton, Homer, Richards, Seymour, Helmcken, Drake, and Davie Street, in the Yaletown area, from the truck route network, as shown in Figure 2.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council approves all amendments to the Street and Traffic Bylaw, a bylaw to regulate traffic and the use of streets in the City of Vancouver.

The Council policy on transportation modes is to give priority to pedestrians, bicycles, transit, urban goods movement, and then the automobile.

PURPOSE

This report seeks Council approval for the removal of Yaletown from the Downtown Truck Area and for the removal of the truck route designation from all streets in the Yaletown area. It also identifies some truck route issues for review in the Downtown Transportation Study.

BACKGROUND

Initiative D9 of the Transportation Plan requests a report on the implications of the removal of truck routes in Yaletown.

DISCUSSION

Yaletown Truck Routes

Yaletown lies within the boundaries of an area defined in the Street and Traffic Bylaw No. 2849 as the Downtown Truck Area (Figure 1). All of the streets in the Yaletown area are designated as truck routes. These designations reflect the importance that truck transportation once played in supporting the warehousing and wholesaling activities in Yaletown.

In recent years, Yaletown has undergone significant changes. Old warehouses and industrial buildings have been renovated and converted into professional offices, upscale restaurants, trendy nightspots and loft-style residences. To preserve and recognize the historical importance of Yaletown's architecture, an eight-block area was rezoned to an historic district in 1986.

To reduce the negative impacts that truck activity can have on residents in Yaletown, Yaletown will need to be removed from the Downtown Truck Area and its streets removed from the truck route network. Mainland, Hamilton, Homer, Richards, Seymour, Helmcken, Drake, and Davie Street, in the Yaletown area, are recommended for removal from the truck route system.

Downtown Truck Area

The Downtown Truck Area enables the majority of trucks making deliveries in the Downtown to complete their trips in the most efficient manner. All streets are available, throughout the day and night, to trucks whose lengths do not exceed 15.25 metres. Truck operators need not restrict their travel to streets that are the most direct route between a truck route and a destination or origin.

Many of the streets within the Downtown Truck Area were designated as truck routes to enable industries dependent on truck transportation to operate efficiently during daytime hours. Without these truck routes, trucks larger than 15.25 metres would be confined to travel in the evenings (ie. 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 a.m.). Trucks larger than 15.25 metres in length are not permitted to travel off the truck routes during the daytime hours, even on streets that would be the most direct route to a destination. Hence the designation of truck routes within the Downtown Truck Area was very specific and meant to serve the needs of area businesses.

Impact to Trucks and Vehicular Traffic

The majority of trucks observed travelling on Yaletown streets have two axles. Neither the current truck route regulations or the proposed changes affect deliveries made by two-axle trucks.

Trucks with more than two axles were observed to be involved in construction activity, garbage/recycling pickup and food delivery. The number of such vehicles on Yaletown streets is small. Diversion of all vehicles with more than two axles onto the remaining truck routes, is not expected to affect traffic operations on these streets.

The majority of trucks with more than two axles, whose destination lies within Yaletown, will not be affected by the change. The change requires that trucks with more than two axles travel to their destinations via the most direct route from a truck route. However, Yaletown is bounded by truck routes on Pacific Boulevard, Cambie Street, and Nelson Street. These truck routes provide multiple access points into the area permitting relatively direct travel to most destinations within the area.

Issues for Review in the Downtown Transportation Study

Priorities for transportation have changed and land uses in the Downtown Truck Area are changing to include more residential units. A review of the truck route network within the Downtown peninsula could explore, among other things, the merits of:

· modifying the boundaries of the Downtown Truck Area to exclude areas of significant residential development;
· deleting the Downtown Truck Area and its unique regulations in favour of a common set of truck route regulations applicable throughout the City;
· increasing the vehicle length permitted in the Downtown Truck Area to be consistent with the common definition of oversize (ie. 20.0 metres).

CONCLUSION

Yaletown should be removed from the Downtown Truck Area in light of the changes that have occurred in land use. In addition, Mainland, Hamilton, Homer, Richards, Seymour, Helmcken, Drake and Davie Streets in the Yaletown area, can be removed from the truck route network without significantly affecting truck deliveries to Yaletown.

A review of the truck route system within the Downtown peninsula and a review of the boundaries and regulations in the Downtown Truck Area, should be undertaken as part of the Downtown Transportation Study.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver