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.