Broadway Subway - Millennium Line Extension to Arbutus | U/C

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Wasn't West Broadway always 2 car lanes each direction? (The outer lane is always either a bus lane or parking lane)

that 3rd lane was useful to be used as a turning lane, allowing for free lanes when there are right-turning people. it also prevented buses from blocking those 2 free-lanes when stopped. (there will still be a local bus service on this street).

if there are only 2 lanes, every street with a right turn means the road now becomes 1 straight lane. and if someone is turning left at the same spot? guess what, the whole road is now blocked. and this is a realistic scenario since there are a lot of pedestrians to block right-turning vehicles, and i dont see CoV banning left turns at every. single. street.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

that 3rd lane was useful to be used as a turning lane, allowing for free lanes when there are right-turning people. it also prevented buses from blocking those 2 free-lanes when stopped. (there will still be a local bus service on this street).

if there are only 2 lanes, every street with a right turn means the road now becomes 1 straight lane. and if someone is turning left at the same spot? guess what, the whole road is now blocked. and this is a realistic scenario since there are a lot of pedestrians to block right-turning vehicles, and i dont see CoV banning left turns at every. single. street.

The city isn't against having short right turn lanes, for example Smithe has one almost every street.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by chowhou

The city isn't against having short right turn lanes, for example Smithe has one almost every street.

dont bet on it happening on broadway. i doubt there will be bike lanes, but i doubt there will be more than 4 lanes, 2 each way total. im betting a safe 95% sure to this thought.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Somebody wants to turn right onto Granville/Cambie/Main/etc, they probably should've taken 12th or 16th (7th can work too, depending on context) - that was the case even before construction started.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

dont bet on it happening on broadway. i doubt there will be bike lanes, but i doubt there will be more than 4 lanes, 2 each way total. im betting a safe 95% sure to this thought.

So what would happen to the extra road space?

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

So what would happen to the extra road space?

Parking?

Wider sidewalks?

[Migrant_Coconut]

If the renders are in any way accurate, it's a double row of trees.

On a serious note, the survey also mentioned sidewalk patios/benches, performance space and bus infrastructure, so that should be nice.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

If the renders are in any way accurate, it's a double row of trees.

On a serious note, the survey also mentioned sidewalk patios/benches, performance space and bus infrastructure, so that should be nice.

Sounds like it'll turn from a stroad into a boulevard, nice.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

Parking?

It could be EV chargers? (As have been added to Richards Street. Parking, but with a purpose).

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

Wider sidewalks?

The City's engineers are mostly achieving those where there's redevelopment by getting developers to set their buildings further back. Obviously that's not achieved if there's a heritage building (but not too many of those on Broadway) or a reasonably recent project where a regular sidewalk was installed.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Changing City

The City's engineers are mostly achieving those where there's redevelopment by getting developers to set their buildings further back. Obviously that's not achieved if there's a heritage building (but not too many of those on Broadway) or a reasonably recent project where a regular sidewalk was installed.

Areas like the Lee Building and old Bank building at Main and Broadway are already very cramped. Imagine when there's a busy skytrain station in the area.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Areas like the Lee Building and old Bank building at Main and Broadway are already very cramped. Imagine when there's a busy skytrain station in the area.

Oh we just need to takeover another 10 feet of the Lee Building.

[Jimbo604]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

dont bet on it happening on broadway. i doubt there will be bike lanes, but i doubt there will be more than 4 lanes, 2 each way total. im betting a safe 95% sure to this thought.

Don't be so sure, Kennedy and his councillors have been replaced. We're in a new age now!

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

Don't be so sure, Kennedy and his councillors have been replaced. We're in a new age now!

A new age of expediting current plans instead of constantly redrafting them - so long as the bike lanes don't happen, I don't see what ABC has against more pedestrian space. They might squeeze in more dropoff and taxi/rideshare zones.

[Jimbo604]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

Or there aren't many options to maintain maximum traffic flow over active construction sites?

If Broadway isn't altered to add bike lanes as some advocates want, and instead Broadway has the same number of lanes but a few hundred busses per day are removed from the street, I would say that will be pretty car-forward.

Reminds me of the 01 bus strike and local tv news interviewed drivers in their cars about what they thought about the bus strike. This one guy in a convertible said, "I love it, now there's room to drive!" And he zoomed off. Classic.

No seriously, Translink has likely maxed the number of buses they can put between commercial and Arbutus without downsides like bunching up, etc. With the train reducing that number significantly, I agree, it should clear up a decent amount of road space.

[Jimbo604]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

A new age of expediting current plans instead of constantly redrafting them - so long as the bike lanes don't happen, I don't see what ABC has against more pedestrian space. They might squeeze in more dropoff and taxi/rideshare zones.

That doesn't sound like a party with its roots in the NPA.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

A new age of expediting current plans instead of constantly redrafting them - so long as the bike lanes don't happen, I don't see what ABC has against more pedestrian space. They might squeeze in more dropoff and taxi/rideshare zones.

It's interesting to watch the Broadway and Cambie area for drop offs. Even before the Skytrain construction, the outside lanes were always bus lanes, no parking, etc.

No matter what though, you'll never stop delivery vans, Ubers, taxis, people dropping older people off for medical appointments, and Doordashers from just stopping in those lanes for a few moments.

They painted them red for half a block and it didn't change anything. If you put a big Dr's office or a Chipotle there, people will stop for a minute or two no matter what.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

That doesn't sound like a party with its roots in the NPA.

Half its councillors ditched the NPA and voted for the existing Broadway Plan, the other half never had anything to do with either - whatever they do, I doubt they're rolling back to the status quo.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

That doesn't sound like a party with its roots in the NPA.

People and parties change, what was once considered progressive, special interest, or minority politics may be considered mainstream, centrist, or even conservative nowadays.

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

If Broadway isn't altered to add bike lanes as some advocates want, and instead Broadway has the same number of lanes but a few hundred busses per day are removed from the street, I would say that will be pretty car-forward.

Do you mean advocates like Vancouver City Council, who approved including bike lanes in the future design of Broadway? All of the councilors who returned from that council to this one voted for that amendment.

[Migrant_Coconut]

It was a vote to explore adding bike lanes to Broadway. TransLink (which has the final say) wants at least four lanes for the buses - that means the bikes'd have to eat into potential sidewalk expansion, and that's probably not happening either.