More traffic congestion in Kingston? Bring it on, say transportation
expertsKingston
Heritage
By Bill Hutchins
<http://www.kingstonregion.com/news-story/5535536-more-traffic-congestion-in…>
http://www.kingstonregion.com/news-story/5535536-more-traffic-congestion-in…
News – If you think some Kingston roads are congested now, you’d better get
used to it.
The city is in the process of updating its Transportation Master Plan
(TMP), and one of the strategies is to allow traffic congestion to get
worse.
“It’s not nice to drive if the capacity of that road is virtually reached,”
explained Valerie McGirr with AECOM, the consulting firm hired to help the
city map out its long-term transportation needs.
Experts told council that extending local road capacity to its maximum
design is more likely to persuade automobile users to consider alternate
transportation means such as car-pooling, public transit and cycling.
“This is how we further help people make that choice,” McGirr told council
March 24.
The TMP’s first update since 2009 sets new long-term goals to promote
active transportation while reducing reliance on car travel.
In 2004, automobile use was the dominant form of transportation,
representing an 82 per cent share of all commuters in Kingston. By 2009,
the automobile mode share was down to 76 per cent. Experts believe Kingston
can further reduce that figure to 69 per cent by the year 2034.
At the same time, they’re forecasting an increase in active transportation
users (walking and cycling) from a 12 per cent share in 2004 to 17 per cent
by 2034. Public transit is projected to rise from just a three per cent
share in 2004 to 9 per cent in 2034.
Getting people out of their cars and into more sustainable forms of
transportation is a cornerstone policy of the proposed 2015 TMP update,
which council is expected to approve later this year.
A city-funded telephone and online survey of 846 residents conducted last
year identified the top reasons that influence travel choices. The majority
of respondents, 38 per cent, said they were swayed by convenience, 25 per
cent said travel time and 14 per cent said it was the cost.
Regardless of the mode of travel, the survey also looked at what residents
consider as “very important” improvements that need to be made; 48 per cent
want more multi-use trails for pedestrians and cyclists, 42 per cent want
transit improvements along with designated carpool and park-and-ride
facilities, 41 per cent identified building and widening roads, and 39 per
cent favoured more cycling lanes.
The city has already invested millions of dollars to install new sidewalks
and bicycle lanes, and officials promise that more will be done down the
road. At the same time, experts want to increase the threshold by which
traffic engineers determine whether roads need to be widened. The former
standard to determine whether a particular road was a candidate for
expansion was when traffic counts reached 90 per cent capacity during peak
periods. The new standard is 100 per cent.
It’s a standard that’s already been adopted by communities such as Ottawa,
London, Waterloo Region and Burlington.
“This LOS (level of service) threshold will allow the City to defer capital
costs until roads reach capacity,” said a report by director of engineering
Mark Van Buren.
He added: “Given that the population forecasts for the City of Kingston are
forecast to peak in 2034 and then gradually decline, it is reasonable to
adopt a higher level of congestion.”
For example, two-lane Bayridge Drive is already a busy commuter route for
suburban motorists. Yet city officials confirmed they have no plans to
widen Bayridge to four lanes to ease the weekday morning and afternoon
congestion. What they have done, however, is launch a west end-to-downtown
15-minute peak express transit service, and more express busses will be
added this May to the central and east end areas of Kingston.
“We are emphasising the active modes,” explained McGirr during a
presentation to council.
Coun. Rob Hutchison says increased bus service frequency is what the city
should be striving for. “Ten minute service is one of the thresholds where
you see people being willing to leave their cars and that’s why I think
it’s something we should seriously look at.”
While many councillors appear enthusiastic with the active transportation
vision, they are not about to abandon the needs of motorists completely.
In fact, the TMP has identified some key road projects that should be built
over the next 20 years, subject to final council approval. The list
includes the third bridge crossing over the Cataraqui River, completing the
controversial Wellington Street extension, finishing the widening of John
Counter Blvd. with a bridge over the CN tracks, extending two-lane Bayridge
Drive (Sierra Avenue to Creekford Road), extending Cataraqui Woods Drive
east (Centennial Drive to Sydenham Road), extending four-lane Centennial
Drive (Cataraqui Woods to Gardiners Road), widening Highway 15 to four
lanes (Highway 2 to Gore Road) and connecting Leroy Grant Drive (Concession
Street and Elliott Avenue.)
The expensive road projects, coupled with improvements to transit,
intersections and pavement widening for cycling lanes, adds up to $293
million over the next two decades.
Don't destroy Arlington BridgeHistoric structure can be converted to
pedestrian/cycling corridor
By: Catherine Mitchell <catherine.mitchell(a)freepress.mb.ca>
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/dont-destroy-arlington-br…
It was a good start to another season, even with the double wipeout, on the
same day. Getting on the bike March 9 was a personal victory -- I'm not one
of the ninja cyclists grinding the gears through the dead of winter. (Thick
skin; stout heart. Not me.)
Construction season has also started early on Route 90 this year. They're
working on sewer drains north of Silver Avenue, and there's more work to
come this summer. I'm already hating the drive, hating the person behind my
wheel. Cycling's good for the heart.
Which brings me to the Arlington Bridge: It's not on my work route, but
it's on my mind. It's 103 years old, and they want to tear it down.
The city posted a public list of options, but it's clear the administration
sees it coming down. It's crumbling, and a do-over is cheaper.
The deck is corroded. The trusses may be salvageable (they still have to be
assessed) but if the bridge is to be widened, that's not possible. A wider
bridge would require rebuilding the piers that are supported on timber
piles more than a century old.
"If you're going to invest in another bridge for vehicles, you would have
to rebuild the piers," says project manager Brad Neirinck.
All prohibitively expensive.
So, what they are mulling over (even amid talk of moving the CP rail yards;
a generational project if ever it materializes) is whether to raise a new
bridge over the CP rail yards at Arlington or move the crossing to another
location, reviving the option of a bridge at McGregor.
I agree designing a vehicle bridge would see the existing span pulled down.
But we should wait to see how the numbers line up before condemning
Arlington outright. The city is expected to produce a report in the fall.
Neirinck was skeptical the superstructure -- the lattice-like work of
riveted steel beams that gives the span its profile -- could be saved.
But it should stay.
We've got to stop putting cars before people, and Arlington Street is a
good place to do that.
This busy bus route is technically too narrow for the two lanes of traffic
either way that happens every rush hour. A better option is to turn the
curb lanes and sidewalks into pedestrian/cycling corridors.
The Arlington crossing can be part of the corridor, although its approach
is steep. The bridge, closed to trucks and buses since 1972 because of deck
deterioration, sees about 15,000 vehicles per day. That can be shunted,
partially to a rebuilt McPhillips underpass, facing a re-do of its own
because its clearance is too low.
A bridge at McGregor/Sherbrook would be the more natural conduit to
residential expansion in Winnipeg's northwest because McGregor doesn't
narrow to a glorified goat path the way Arlington does.
Turn Arlington Bridge into a pedestrian/cycling bridge. Illuminate the
girding, tear off the sidewalk cages that imprison walkers, and turn the
bridge into a venue for public events, as other cities in North America
have done with decommissioned rail/vehicle crossings.
The cities of Newport, Ky., and Cincinnati, Ohio, did exactly that to
preserve a gorgeous, trussed rail bridge opened in 1872 across the Ohio
River. Closed to cars in 2001, it was painted purple, and for a short time
people could walk up and over the five truss humps (purplepeoplebridge.com).
At 2,670 feet, the crossing can be rented for wedding receptions,
fundraisers and dinners.
New York's Walkway over the Hudson (walkway.org) was opened in 2009 after a
mammoth rebuild to save a 127-year-old rail crossing abandoned after a fire
in 1974. At more than two kilometres, it is the world's longest, elevated
pedestrian bridge and has given life to a state historic park.
These are laudable conservation efforts that make the case saving Arlington
is possible. In other cities, new pedestrian/cycling bridges are becoming
architectural installations. Austin's Pfluger Bridge, on the Colorado
River, is more a park than an overpass and has been credited with some of
the best views of the cityscape and its sunsets.
Have you seen how a retiring sun can set rail yards and its cars shimmering?
It's Winnipeg's time to step into the 21st century, to defer to its growing
cycling community. This is an opportunity to stitch together a historic
divide.
City council's Build Canada wish list is an aggressive vote to move more
steel on the roads faster. But there's got to be room in a city to slow it
down. Divert it. Give residents a space on Arlington to connect by pulling
together the North End, inner city and the south. The gritty, storied
stretches of Logan and Dufferin there are loaded with potential for rebirth
as a hub of human activity. Let's start talking about that.
Catherine Mitchell is a Free Press editorial board member.
catherine.mitchell(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @wfpcmitchell
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 1, 2015 A9
