Who are Vancouver's arterial streets built for?
Granville Street, Oak Street, Knight Street, and other
arterials in the city of Vancouver have been made into 6 lane
roads with narrower than normal lanes, only a single yellow line
in the middle, and poles immediately adjacent to the curb. The
reasoning presumably is that the traffic volume justifies three
lanes in each direction - yet it is legal in most places to park
in the curb lane!
There are many problems with the way these streets currently
function:
- wide vehicles (trucks, buses) often cannot pass each
other
- wide vehicles are constantly at risk of losing their
right mirror on a pole when travelling in the curb lane
- trucks sometimes pass in the left lane but actually are over
the yellow line
- one car parked along a ten block stretch can effectively
render the entire right lane unused, except of course as
a passing lane which encourages unsafe manoeuvres
- vehicles cannot pass bicyclists without changing lanes
It would seem, subjectively at least, that safety is being
sacrificed on the altar of car parking.
A better balancing of needs
The pedestrian currently walks on a relatively narrow sidewalk
adjacent to the "speeding lane" where taxis and others
in a hurry decide that 80 km/h is ok. The bicyclist currently
deals with the same fast traffic and occasional parked cars. The
public transport user often speeds along in the rarely used curb
lane, but often is stuck behind a parked car.
These three categories of road users are the ones that are supposed
to be catered to today, rather than the single driver in her/his
car. The following is a suggestion of a better way which would
change the balance to be more in favour of the environmentally
friendly modes:
- Eliminate all parking on arterial streets.
- Repaint the streets to provide a two foot width dead zone
in the middle, 4 standard width lanes plus two bicycle
lanes
- At major intersections (e.g. Broadway, 41st) retain the
extra lane for a right turn lane.
- Dedicate the right lane to buses and HOV (3+) with
general traffic being allowed in the left lane only,
except for..
- In recognition of Knight Street's nature as a truck
route, dedicate the left lane to trucks and allow general
traffic in the right lane.
Bus stops would require warning markings in the bicycle lanes.
Before
After
James Strickland
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