Quote:
Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut
Again, a lack of congestion doesn't mean nobody will use it after the construction's finished, or 5-10 years down the road when the population (and number of commuters) multiplies. We'll always need slightly more road space than the amount of vehicle traffic - especially since we won't see False Creek LRT for at least another decade.
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If we followed this line of thinking that you suggest, keeping the amount of road space slightly larger than traffic, we'd always be gradually increasing the amount of road space. Of course in reality Vancouver has had a consistent decades old policy of not increasing the amount of road space for cars whatsoever. This has been incredibly successful and has resulted in the fact that the vehicle volumes entering the downtown core have not increased since the mid 1960s!
The reality is that people's behaviour adjusts with the amount of road space available. People don't just give up and sit in traffic, they seek out other transportation alternatives. Don't get me wrong, we still need places for cars and we still need a robust road network, but the various road closures we've had in Vancouver over the years has proven that our transportation is very adaptable.
I'll concede the point that, given that it's a good idea to keep the door open for distant future streetcar expansion, this particular road is fine as it is. The city is actually doing a better than normal job in putting in a protected bike lane along one side, though I question if they have any plan at all for the other.
However in general it is disappointing to see the City of Vancouver sort of just tinker around the edges of existing North American urban design methods instead of being more bold and moving in a different direction that has proven to be successful elsewhere. Roughly 33% of the surface area of Vancouver is roads and I think we've seen a lot of evidence that the city could still successfully operate if that number was lower. It's time to start seriously thinking about how we could be more efficient and repurpose (or shrink) roads that are not that significant to the flow of people and goods in the area.
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