Reimagineering Downtown streets
Posted on July 8th, 2008 in health, rants, transportation, urban planning, vancouver |
The more I learn about public space, sustainable transportation, and climate change, the more I realize, despite Vancouver being a world leader in these matters, we’ve still got a lot of improvement to do. One of the best places on Earth can be found in Downtown Vancouver - that little slice on heaven on the Burrard Peninsula. But for all it’s wonderful aspects, like the seawall, English Bay, Robson St., Gastown, and Yaletown, one of the major parts that it lags behind in is efficient usage of street space.
Considering how advanced the area is in terms of urban livability, I find that streets Downtown are still primarily designed as car thoroughfares and nothing more. Which is rather retarded considering how car usage in the area has been dropping steadily over the years.
The fact of the matter is that bicycle has seen a resurgence across the world, that fossil fuel powered vehicles will go the way of the dodo, that walking needs to continue to be encouraged, and it is through this sustainable transportation infrastructure that vibrant economies and communities can develop and flourish.
With that said, I reimagineered Davie St recently. Davie is one of several main commercial drags Downtown, and the redesign has taken such usage into consideration. Currently,
- the sidewalk is far too narrow for all the pedestrian traffic it handles,
- the bus route (#6) is overburdened with riders and isn’t the best service possible,
- the road is unsafe for cyclists and skateboarders (both of which I see along Davie all the time),
- and there is a lack of amenities like benches and plants/greenery along the route.
All of this changes with this proposal.
The proposal removes two car lanes and reallocates this as
- an expanded sidewalk (for a total of 4m wide, which is the width of Burrard),
- a physically separated 2m wide greenway (similar to the new Carrall St. redesign),
- a less obtrusive flex space with more area for plants, bike parking, bus shelters, newspaper bins, and public art.
Furthermore, the redesign includes a streetcar line. As many know, Vancouver grew up around the streetcar, and the cheap rail technology is looking better everyday to cities around the world as a way to combat climate change, encourage economic development, and get people out of their cars.
I personally hate riding the bus Downtown simply because it’s so stop-and-go. The drivers don’t make the situation any better because they’ll speed or slam on the brakes, rather than providing a smooth ride - this type of transit service won’t be tolerated in a decade with over 1/4 of the population as seniors. Plus, the route is almost always packed with people! And to top it all off, service isn’t all that frequent for such a busy route.
The streetcar addition addresses this issues as follows:
- Streetcars provide a much smoother ride due to being on rails. With some good training and tough enforcement on the drivers, we could ensure that acceleration and deceleration are smoother than the SkyTrain.
- Streetcars have an economic incentive for development that buses don’t have. This alone could encourage redevelopment and higher densities along the relatively old and low-rise road. This development could also pay for the inclusion of a streetcar.
- With the inclusion of a greenway along Davie, such a safe and convenient route could encourage people to get off transit and onto to human powered transportation like bikes or rollerblades.
So what do you all think? Is Vancouver ready to take the next step and transform Downtown’s streets like Davie from car-oriented thoroughfares to bustling multi-modal public spaces?
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2 Responses
I think it’s a great idea. Portland’s street car system has been a huge success. And with car traffic dropping in the West End, this seems like a logical next step. However, logic doesn’t seem to dictate planning decisions, especially ones that would be politically contentious. Something like this would actually require guts and leadership.
Some problems I foresee:
- economic development alone won’t pay for the reconfiguration of Davie plus the street car system. Someone is going to have to front the bill for this. If the carbon tax money was used for actual carbon-reducing activities, the funding would be easier to find, but as is I’m not sure who has the money to pay for this.
- WERA would be hugely in favour of this - they’ve been arguing for wider sidewalks for a long time. However, the West End BIA would probably oppose it. I’ve seen the same attitude throughout Vancouver. Whenever a reduction in car lanes is proposed, the BIAs freak out - as if cars do more shopping then pedestrians do. Their opinions complete contradict reality (just look at the success of pedestrian only streets like the Stoget in Copenhagen), but that is their view.
- the city seems to prefer gradual improvements, like widening sidewalks using building setbacks, instead of tearing up streets for grand redevelopment. This would be even more problematic with the addition of a street car line, as construction would affect Davie, Denman, and Robson (I’m guessing that’s where it would go). All that construction would really piss people off, especially the BIA.
I’d love to see this happen, but it would take lots of political will at City Hall, plus funding from the Feds and Province. Maybe if Gregor wins the next election the political will will be there, but I don’t see funding coming from the upper levels of government.
Well, the city is doing something like this on Granville now (except for the streetcar, of course).
I don’t see how a streetcar will address two of your points:
1. Drivers are going to drive them as roughly as buses, and training/enforcement isn’t going to be any different
2. What further incentives do developers need on Davie str?! If we want to encourage sustainable development, put a streetcar on Fraser, or Kingsway, or Main, or, even better, in Burnaby/Coquitlam/Surrey. We already spend way to much energy and money on the downtown core, and ignore the rest of the region.