The proposed effort by Saanich to improve Shelbourne Street for cyclists is a piece of the region’s transportation puzzle, and that’s the problem — there are many pieces and they aren’t fitting together particularly well.
It shows the need for an integrated, comprehensive regional transportation plan. Solutions should reflect the fact that traffic flow is determined by regional forces, not local ones.
Saanich is seeking public input on two proposals that would make part of Shelbourne more bike- and pedestrian-friendly. The shorter-term first option would retain four lanes of car traffic, but would include new sidewalks and a bike lane separated by a physical barrier for 25 per cent of the route.
The second option, a 30-year plan, would see the right-of-way widened, with a bike lane the full four kilometres. Motor-vehicle traffic would be reduced to two or three lanes in some segments.
Either proposal would cost about $10 million, but the price paid would be more than monetary. The first option would mean removing nearly 300 trees. The second option would mean slower bus travel during some periods, and the diversion of motorized traffic onto Cedar Hill, Richmond and Gordon Head roads.
That’s the trouble with the piecemeal approach — solve the problem in one area and it tends to pop up in another. Creating a choke point on one street will force cars onto side streets and through neighbourhoods not geared to handle commuters.
In the rural areas of Highlands, View Royal and Saanich, residents are already complaining about commuters increasingly using narrow, twisting routes such as Munn Road and Prospect Lake Road.
Getting more people to travel by bicycle is a worthy goal. Greater Victoria is tops in Canada for cycling to work — Statistics Canada said 5.9 per cent of commuting in 2011 was done by bicycle. The City of Victoria says 11 per cent of commuting within its boundaries is done on bikes.
But the overwhelming majority of travel in the region is still done by motor vehicle. That might not be ideal, but it’s reality.
European cities are often cited as examples we should follow when it comes to bicycle travel. Just look at Amsterdam, where streets are rivers of bicycles during rush hour.
But Amsterdam has more than twice as many people living in an area about one-third the size of Greater Victoria. And there aren’t any hills to speak of in the Dutch city.
Cities in Europe were established when foot traffic was the norm, and spread out from the centre. Car travel has shaped the evolution of the capital region’s communities.
Trying to force people onto bikes won’t work, but they can be enticed. Many people who travel by car might like to cycle to work — if it became safer and they could use a coherent bike-trail network, not a hodge-podge route that mixes bike trails with dangerous sallies into city traffic.
More people using mass transit would also reduce traffic congestion, but again, people have to be enticed. Imagine high-speed, bus-only lanes along the Trans-Canada Highway. Motorists trapped in the Colwood Crawl would see buses whizzing past them and see a better option for getting to and from West Shore communities.
Traffic will always be a headache for the region, and it’s good Saanich is looking at one aspect. But a bicycle route here and a bit of traffic-calming there are not how we should wrestle with this issue. One community’s solution too easily becomes another community’s problem.
Amalgamation might be a long time coming, if ever, but that shouldn’t stop the region from forming a united front on traffic and transportation.
