3745 replies to this topic

[Linear Thinker]

Text of the 40k version of a similar motion from City of Victoria that was not endorsed at the UBCM in 2013.

WHEREAS local governments are concerned about resident safety on municipal streets, and lower vehicle speeds reduce the severity of injuries to pedestrians in vehicle/pedestrian collisions;

AND WHEREAS consistent province-wide speed limits promote driver awareness and ease enforcement between municipalities:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM request the Province of British Columbia to amend the Motor Vehicle Act to limit the default speed limit on a highway in a municipality to 40 km/h and allocate implementation funds to assist municipalities in installing signage for higher speeds where appropriate.

 

There is arguably a more sympathetic provincial government in place now, but the UBCM would still need to endorse it.

Link to UBCM Resolution search (use speed).

Interesting the number of times similar motions have been initiated. The results also include provincial/federal responses if the motion was approved at UBCM.

 

<snip>

Vancouver will also be asking the Union of BC Municipalities to lobby the Province for amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act to lower the default speed to 30 km/h, and allow municipalities to increase the default speed through local bylaws and signage.

Edited by Linear Thinker, 15 May 2019 - 11:26 AM.

[Jackerbie]

^ Yah, there's a couple different layers at play. Basically, City of Vancouver will present a motion to the Lower Mainland Local Government Association to gauge support in advance of UBCM in September

[Gary H]

The Bay St. Bridge lane closure begins Tuesday May 21st.

[Coreyburger]

 

Text of the 40k version of a similar motion from City of Victoria that was not endorsed at the UBCM in 2013.

WHEREAS local governments are concerned about resident safety on municipal streets, and lower vehicle speeds reduce the severity of injuries to pedestrians in vehicle/pedestrian collisions;

AND WHEREAS consistent province-wide speed limits promote driver awareness and ease enforcement between municipalities:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM request the Province of British Columbia to amend the Motor Vehicle Act to limit the default speed limit on a highway in a municipality to 40 km/h and allocate implementation funds to assist municipalities in installing signage for higher speeds where appropriate.

 

There is arguably a more sympathetic provincial government in place now, but the UBCM would still need to endorse it.

Link to UBCM Resolution search (use speed).

Interesting the number of times similar motions have been initiated. The results also include provincial/federal responses if the motion was approved at UBCM.

 

<snip>

Vancouver will also be asking the Union of BC Municipalities to lobby the Province for amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act to lower the default speed to 30 km/h, and allow municipalities to increase the default speed through local bylaws and signage.

 

 

But the 30 km/h was endorsed by UBCM in 2018 as part of a larger package of MVA reforms

[Jackerbie]

But the 30 km/h was endorsed by UBCM in 2018 as part of a larger package of MVA reforms

 

Yah, it was part of a suite of recommendations contained in the "Modernize the MVA" resolution. This new one out of Vancouver seems to be a "squeaky wheel gets the grease" scenario. The Province was able to dodge the question by simply stating that any significant amendments to the MVA would require years of work, consultation, etc. By limiting the resolution to a single issue, they may be hoping for a better answer. Unlikely, but hey, don't know until you ask.

 

Also notable is that the Vancouver resolution specifically names all road users, as some councillors thought that the language was vague and could be interpreted as allowing cyclists to travel faster than 30 km/h.

[FogPub]

Anyone know any rationale for the idiotic changes recently made to Cadboro Bay Rd on the long downhill going in to Cadboro Bay village?

 

There's a sidewalk on the road now (rather than just paving the informal trail already existing along that side of the road) marked off by curbstones like you'd find in a parking lot.  And a bus stop halfway down with posts on the centre line to prevent traffic from passing a stopped bus.

 

Bikes are forced to share the car lane, where before the lane was more than wide enough for all and had room for on-street parking as well.

[DustMagnet]

I think this is the section you are referring to:

 

"The proposed walkway is on the roadway because, even with boulevard clearing in some locations, the grades to access the driveways would be unmanageable, extremely steep and costly if we were to provide a sidewalk behind the curb. This is also a temporary facility that can be implemented in the 3-4month period with the current budget we have available, versus a more expensive and involved design which would take years." - https://www.saanich....ects.html#trans

 

It was a cheaper, faster way to protect pedestrians.

[sebberry]

I'm going to take a few minutes tomorrow and share my thoughts with the black hole of 'thanks for your submission' that is the City of Victoria - tonight's drive across the Johnson St Bridge was scary.  Dark, rainy, some twit with his high-beams on behind me and I couldn't for the life of me see the lane markings one bit entering the right curve coming off the bridge - it's atrocious.  I don't recall the last time I felt that uncomfortable.  

[VIResident]

The Bay St. Bridge lane closure begins Tuesday May 21st.

 

CFAX had a pie company and Moon Under Water Brewpub on air - both establishments very close to the bridgework & one lane (east) closure.

Both establishments reported they are usually super busy and as of the closure, dead, no business.  All parking removed from area (apparently the contractor did not ask the parking be removed the City did this on its own accord.) The question raised was why not have alternating lane closure? That got me thinking.  Did we not recently hear View Royal Mayor say they are exploring more traffic measures?  Perhaps City of Victoria and View Royal working together to 'test' traffic patterns with a total shut-down of the east bound lane (going into Victoria) on the bridge?  Morning rush hour comes from the west, many who prefer going through View Royal than using TCH and with the lane now closed..... Feel for those businesses, if today is an example of what they can expect for the next 5 months, well, one has to wonder if they will survive. 

[Jason-L]

CFAX had a pie company and Moon Under Water Brewpub on air - both establishments very close to the bridgework & one lane (east) closure.

Both establishments reported they are usually super busy and as of the closure, dead, no business.  All parking removed from area (apparently the contractor did not ask the parking be removed the City did this on its own accord.) The question raised was why not have alternating lane closure? That got me thinking.  Did we not recently hear View Royal Mayor say they are exploring more traffic measures?  Perhaps City of Victoria and View Royal working together to 'test' traffic patterns with a total shut-down of the east bound lane (going into Victoria) on the bridge?  Morning rush hour comes from the west, many who prefer going through View Royal than using TCH and with the lane now closed..... Feel for those businesses, if today is an example of what they can expect for the next 5 months, well, one has to wonder if they will survive. 

Pie Company would be Saltchuck. 

[jasmineshinga]

I personally plan to visit Moon and Saltchuck more often while the closure is on, they might not be so crowded I can't hear myself think anymore

 

Also, damned fine beer and pies, they're already part of my regular rotation.

[vortoozo]

The question raised was why not have alternating lane closure? 

 

This was addressed in one of the media articles about the closing, I forget which one. There were several reasons including BC Transit routing, emergency services access, traffic flow studies, predictability, etc.

 

If alternating traffic were in place, Bay Street would get backed up and customers wouldn't be able to access the businesses from Bay either. And the Vic West side would get gridlocked since there's really nowhere to stop all the traffic.

Edited by vortoozo, 21 May 2019 - 02:52 PM.

[Mike K.]

Wouldn’t it make sense to have alternating traffic based on the time of day? Ie, eastbound from midnight to noon, then westbound from noon to midnight? Or whatever?

Adding an additional eastbound lane to the JSB in the AM would also help. It just feels like the City is simply indifferent to the situation. We’ve got options. Let’s use them.

[vortoozo]

Wouldn’t it make sense to have alternating traffic based on the time of day? Ie, eastbound from midnight to noon, then westbound from noon to midnight? Or whatever?

 

Not if you consider BC Transit routing & emergency access requirements.

Believe the closest fire station to Vic West is the one on Bay & Douglas, so a clear path across the bridge at all times makes a lot of sense.

[Mike K.]

BC Transit has already switched the 14 to the Johnson Street Bridge, and emergency vehicles would have the same access regardless of whether traffic is flowing one way or the other, I think? I mean westbound fire trucks can still cross the bridge if traffic is flowing one-way eastbound; crews would stop traffic if the lights and sirens are approaching.

[AllseeingEye]

BC Transit has already switched the 14 to the Johnson Street Bridge, and emergency vehicles would have the same access regardless of whether traffic is flowing one way or the other, I think? I mean westbound fire trucks can still cross the bridge if traffic is flowing one-way eastbound; crews would stop traffic if the lights and sirens are approaching.

This was actually done about 2-3 weeks ago; in that BCT did a good job communicating and arranging well in advance the route changes.

 

This morning it actually wasn't too bad although last night trying to get home ~ 5pm there were huge crowds of riders waiting at lower Yates for that bus. Normally that would number 20-30 people. Last night was closer to a 100+. I even managed to get my mug on CHEK tonight for 30 seconds and add my literal .2 worth of observations on how the commute played out on Day 1.

 

Tonight we decided to walk home from our downtown offices to our place on the Gorge/Selkirk neighborhood; took about 35 minutes. Got some exercise in the process and I think I'm going to start riding my bike once the warm weather locks in for a few weeks.

 

That all said I know from the Esquimalt Road side it was a s*** show with traffic backed up from the Johnson Bridge to HEAD Street...wowza!

Edited by AllseeingEye, 22 May 2019 - 05:16 PM.

[rjag]

And now we all pay the price for lane reductions and more traffic lights that arent synchro'd....add in the mess on Wharf and its an anti-car lovers wet dream that they've created. Just wait until VR starts with their roadworks....

 

Its going to be a long summer

[AllseeingEye]

/\....not to mention the major sewer extension work currently slowly but surely snaking its way through our neighborhood, and within a few days destined to emerge onto Tillicum Road just south of the bridge.

 

What was funny on that CHEK piece tonight was a comment by Barb Desjardins I believe about commuters using alternate routes "like Tillicum" to access the city core in light of the bridge work: yeah....good luck with that once the heavy equipment is done on Selkirk: next stop....Tillicum.

[VIResident]

Don't forget, a few short weeks from now school kids will be out and the travel trailers will be locked & loaded!  Throw in a few thousand RV's on our roads in the heat of the summer = fun times. 

[sebberry]

I'm all for the red light cameras, I would put them on as many intersections as I could.

 

I'm OK with the speed cameras at intersections as well, you should be slowing down and paying close attention at busy intersections.

 

When I put on the brakes for a yellow light the first thing I do is look in my rearview mirror to see if I am going to get rammed.

 

And we could nullify the need for both with proper timing of intersection light phases.  

 

There's nothing like staring at the traffic lights approaching a stale green paranoid you're going to get caught up in that 'decision zone' where drivers either brake too hard or run the yellow to avoid the cameras.