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Media
When traffic isn’t traffic
Expanded highways and roadways move more cars, unless you want to hear that they move less cars
By Eric Doherty
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On December 13, Vancouver’s NPA-controlled City Council decided that, while they may claim to be strongly opposed to the Gateway freeway expansion plan, when push comes to shove, what Premier Gordon Campbell and Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon want is what really matters.
Tom Timm, General Manager of Engineering Services, pushed hard for roadway expansion to accommodate increased freeway traffic coming off the provincially-expanded highway. At first his engineers tried to ignore the City policy of not increasing road capacity, largely by claiming that traffic in high occupancy vehicle lanes is not traffic. This resulted in the bizarre farce of having his engineers claiming that Falcon’s scheme would not increase traffic volumes, when their own report, which was in the hands of Council, said that it would. Then they explained away their own study by deciding that the same road widening might not increase overall traffic volumes after all.
To go back to the sordid history of the proposed Grandview road widening, Kevin Falcon’s Ministry of Highways first held a farce of a consultation on widening Grandview, where Ministry spokespeople claimed that Highway One expansion would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and local pollution. Then Timm’s engineering department claimed that Grandview widening was actually a city priority, not just Falcon’s plan, and that it was in accordance with City policy. Then City Council pointed out that traffic is traffic, and that the City’s policy is very clear to anyone who can read, and asked for a report on the greenhouse gas implications of widening Grandview. Then Timm’s boys came back with a report proposing to widen Grandview even more than the first time, which they let slip out was a Ministry of Highways idea. This led to the October 30 vote to ask staff to consider other options that do not result in increased traffic.
So, naturally, Timm’s engineers came back with Falcon’s plan again. But this time they said they would monitor traffic volumes and do something unspecified if volumes increased. I showed up a bit after the scheduled meeting start time of 2 pm and waited for hours before the afternoon session even started. A bit before 6 pm, Council voted to keep meeting until 6:30. After various NPA members deliberately wasted time blathering aimlessly about an issue that they had already decided was going to be approved unanimously, the Grandview widening came up at about 6:20. Councilor Peter Ladner immediately moved an amendment to Timm’s recommendation—to approve the widening but on the basis of assurances that according to council policy there will be no increases in traffic.
So the plan is now to have a $2 billion plus freeway expansion designed to move more traffic, and a roadway widening designed to move more traffic, but no increase in traffic. So are Timm and Ladner going to count cars on the freeway exit then jump out to stop traffic as soon as the volume passes the quota for that hour? Is that the City of Vancouver’s plan to fight global warming?
Thanks to the Vision Councilors who voted against this farce, and to David Cadman of COPE, who was in Bali fighting for real action on global warming, but who spoke very strongly on the issue at earlier meetings. The City of Vancouver also has some very talented engineers, it must be stated, who take global warming and livability very seriously, even when it annoys the boss.
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The Republic of East Vancouver masthead
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