The City of Burnaby will be updating its 22-year-old transportation plan.
Councillors OK’d the framework for the update at last week’s council meeting.
As part of her presentation, senior planner Renée de St. Croix noted the update will be divided into three phases and will be spread out over the next two years.
Under the current transportation plan, adopted in 1995, a lot has been achieved, according to de St. Croix, including bike routes like the Central Valley Greenway, the Millennium and Evergreen SkyTrain Lines, and HOV lanes on parts of Hastings Street and Willingdon Avenue.
But a lot has changed since the ’90s, including a larger population, she said.
“We’re projected to grow by approximately 125,000 people and 60,000 jobs by the year 2041, and this will result in increased demand for our transportation services.”
Other issues a new transportation plan will address are the car-sharing economy and electric vehicles.
Coun. Nick Volkow shared concerns about autonomous cars.
“I can foresee that turning into a disaster. ... With all the fun hackers out there right now, I can see a lot of issues on that,” he told de St. Croix.
She responded by saying the city would look at that technology as it arises.
“It’s less about putting in policy that would dictate what we would do with that particular technological advancement, rather, it would allow us to, if it comes available, look at how we might implement such a thing. But at this point in time, the technology just isn’t there yet,” de St. Croix explained.
Coun. Sav Dhaliwal said a question to keep in mind when revamping the transportation plan is, “What kind of community do we want?”
“We want people to go live in the city, go from one town centre to another without having to say, ‘Well, it’s going to take me two hours by bus. I’m not going to bother. I’ll drive,’” he said.
But Mayor Derek Corrigan noted it’s not possible to “build your way out of congestion.”
“We’re not going to be able to solve that quintessential issue of how you can move your car more quickly through our community,” he said. “I think a lot of the issues we’re going to deal with is cooling expectations that there’s a magic bullet for any of this. I think we’re going to have to look at this as a strategy that’s going to take a long period of time to implement and one that is never going to satisfy everyone as we develop it. But it has to be done.”
What the renewed transportation plan will do is improve movement through Burnaby’s town centres and improve the north-south connections, according to Corrigan.
The update will be a large task, he said, adding it’ll be tough for staff to wrap their heads around the issues and bring in the different modes of transportation in the city, all while knowing “this could all change in the future.”
The mayor said the city has made some “bold decisions” when it comes to transportation, including a decision on Willingdon linear park, where staff decided not to create an additional lane of traffic. Instead, parks and a cycling and pedestrian-friendly road will be put in.
“I think we’ve done something that is a bold change in attitude and one that emphasizes that we’re prepared to look at different kinds of options.”
Corrigan encouraged the public to get involved in the process as it moves forward.
“Because in the end, it affects everybody. Ultimately, transportation involves every person in our community in one way or another,” he said.
