Vancouver moves quickly on 'slow streets'

Plans include wider pavements and vehicle lanes set aside for walking and cycling
By David Arminas June 2, 2020 Read time: 1 min
Vancouver to 'repurpose' some streets to help with Covid recovery (© David Arminas)

Vancouver plans to install 50 km of “slow streets” for walking, cycling and for business and restaurant patios as part of a Covid-19 recovery plan.

The western Canadian city said that the plans are to help residents and businesses adapt to the new reality of living and operating through a pandemic.

Already 12km has been set aside, according to media reports.

“We will work closely with businesses and community partners to address needs for space while also ensuring our streets and public spaces remain safe and accessible,” said Lon LaClaire, general manager of the city’s engineering services.

Guidelines for what it calls the “repurposing” of parts of streets will be drawn up this month.

Roads and areas for repurposing include parking spaces and vehicle travel lanes on arterial streets.

Some residential streets will become “slow streets” by allowing local traffic only in order to create space for foot and bicycle traffic, according to the city.

Pavements for queuing at businesses will be extended into kerb lanes to provide space for people to line up and also give pedestrians room to safely pass by.

Short-term loading and pick-up zones will be created near businesses with high turnover of products.

Mass Transit & MaaS

Related Content

  • Authorities play the parking ticket
    April 10, 2014
    Having long been a cause of contention with their constituents, local authorities are now using parking provision to entice shoppers and reduce congestion. To say that parking, and particularly parking enforcement, is a contentious and emotive issue is something of an understatement. Across the globe the discontentment with parking facilities, charges and enforcement is a major cause of friction between local authorities and the residents, businesses and drivers in the area. Recently there was outrage in
    Read More
  • Authorities look to MaaS for new solutions and cost savings
    July 18, 2017
    The structure of society and the way in which our cities work will be completely transformed by Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Finland’s minister of transport and communications Anne Berner, told ITS International’s recent MaaS Market conference 2017 in London. In her keynote address, Berner told a packed audience of more than 200 ITS professionals that MaaS has the potential to help governments around the world meet their big city targets such as the rate of employment, the environment, the efficient use of
    Read More
  • Orange County to manage traffic with trial interoperable CCTV
    September 12, 2014
    Interoperable CCTV can provide early warning of problems and help improve traffic management and incident response as Morteza Fahrtash and Carlos Ortiz explain. California’s transportation system is one of the state’s defining features and Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) strives to improving mobility across the state through the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the network of highway, freeways, toll roads and expressways.
    Read More
  • Widest bridge in the world Port Mann open in Vancouver
    April 25, 2013
    Port Mann Bridge, designed to growing regional congestion and improve the movement of people, goods and transit throughout greater Vancouver, is now open for business. The widest bridge in the world, the Port Mann Bridge located in the metro Vancouver area, in British Columbia, Canada, features an Open Road Tolling (ORT) system, also called All Electronic Tolling (AET), which will ultimately cross all 10 lanes of traffic.
    Read More

Highlighted Content