July 28, 2017

Arbutus Greenway Hints – Te Whitanga Bridge

Thanks to Dale Bracewell from City of Vancouver for this speculation on an aspect of the Arbutus Greenway’s design.
The upcoming detailed design of the new Greenway will need to address many issues, with one of the toughest being the intersections with motor vehicle arterials (Broadway, 12th Ave, 16th Ave, 25th Ave, and so on).  But the biggest of them all is 41st Ave, where the intersection is already busy and complex (41st, East Blvd and West Blvd and now the Arbutus Greenway).
Could a possible answer look like this, a grade-separated crossing?  The Te Whitanga shared bridge in Auckland, New Zealand.

The current intersection at 41st is either clumsy or frightening for people travelling on foot or on two wheels on the Greenway.

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Leave a Reply to Dan RossCancel Reply

  1. The trick will be to get grades where they are reasonable … and what about the possibility of the light rail line … this would suggest more utility in roads going downward instead of everything else upward?

  2. It always work better to keep all things at grade. It’s better to make it work by slowing everyone down. Allan Jacobs tried to get this point across during his consultations with the COV a decade ago. People couldn’t buy his point, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t correct. Grade separations are perhaps alright for highways – just not part of urbanity!

  3. I think bridges are for over rivers, railroad tracks or highways. 41st is a local arterial. It just needs traffic lights and good design.
    It has always been awkward with the two crossings but now with a third between them the problems are becoming more obvious.
    Probably what to do is transform it into a simple intersection. Close off access to 41st on East Boulevard. Decide just where the future tram will be and leave space for it. Design the rest around that.
    This could be something to ask folks about at the upcoming open houses.
    How about a temporary closure of East Boulevard to see what happens.

    1. Would it be an option to make West Blvd one way southbound and East Blvd one way northbound? That could simplify turning movements for vehicles and also the frequent crossings along this stretch.

  4. At first I was a big advocate of an underpass. An overpass would be monstrosity and would not be used by the majority of active users.
    After watching the intersection every Saturday morning since March and actually using it this this morning, I have changed my mind about an underpass. This intersection is a critical part of Kerrisdale and to by-past it would be take something away from the community and the AG users. Many design solutions will improve the safety of the interactions between the active users and motor vehicles.
    The focus must be on keeping the community alive and promoting a positive vibe on the streets. Motor vehicles travelling though Kerrisdale are guests and hence the streets must designed to reduce capacity and their impact on the community.

  5. I dunno… This type of thing has been solved elsewhere. Have a look at, for example, Avenida 9 de Julio in Buenos aires: https://goo.gl/maps/WVUzi6dAG242
    It’s all about phase separation and timing on the traffic lights. They could restrict turning movements if they wanted to increase level of service for vehicles (I know, I’ll put a dollar in the jar).

  6. Broadway will be the real technical challenge. 41st St is only a political one. The street’s not that busy by comparison. It’s not that wide. Bridge, underpass, and at-grade options can all work fine. Choose the option that knots the fewest knickers and run with it.

    1. Broadway will have a subway station below grade, with ramp access. Make it accessible from both sides of the street, something not in the current plan. Then align the ramps with the Greenway and join the ramps to make it a pass through.

      1. Walking and cycling ramps under Broadway, connecting the Arbutus Greenway north and south of Broadway. MLBE subway access off the midpoint of that tunnel, with two escalators and an elevator. Access at that point to the secure bike parking space that is a part of the proposed station design.
        Depth of the station and train platform? Don’t know. Roundhouse station may provide some clues.

      2. Any underpass as described will force the station deeper which is not good for transit riders. Stations should be as close to street level as physically possible. Ideally the bored tunnel can be much deeper so the system can benefit from gravity assist. Works well on relatively level corridors like Central Broadway.
        Grade separation for peds and bikes is just a way to keep cars dominant and fast moving instead of making them conform to the needs of other users of public space.
        Keep the greenway at grade.

      3. The station wouldn’t have to be deeper if it wasn’t on the same footprint as the tunnel. They could be beside each other, since the station should be close to Arbutus and the ramps would be aligned with the greenway, just east of Arbutus.
        Grade separation here wouldn’t eliminate at grade crossings at the intersection, it would supplement them.

        1. The alignments cross each other so it would have to share the footprint.
          The station could be held short – well east of Arbutus to avoid the collision. But that would cut it off from future extension to the west and UBC.
          I’m not in favour of extending it to UBC. But I also think it unwise to put an obstacle in the way of a future extension.

        2. Sorry, Ron, I don’t understand the collision comment. We are dealing with different elevations here. The station comes to ground level, but has a concourse directly under the Burrard roadway. This concourse could extend east to the Arbutus Greenway, where it would have ramp access from both sides. The subway tunnel is much deeper, if it is a bored tunnel, and wouldn’t see the access ramps as an obstacle.

        3. If you eliminate the concourse you eliminate a whole lot of stairs/escalators/elevators. Ticketing can be at grade. Easier and faster access for passengers.
          They just eliminated (at huge expense) the intermediate concourse at Main Street-Science World.

    2. 41st is very busy with UBC traffic (made even worse this summer by the city’s poor planning on the SW Marine closure).
      If done right, the bridge could make a dramatic entry arch to Kerrisdale, I’d wager many active users of the bridge would enjoy the view from up there as well.

  7. This might a bit of a late comment: the scale and character of this green area is more reminiscent of a filled-in canal such as those found in Amsterdam, say Palmgracht https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Amsterdam,+Netherlands/@52.3818479,4.8833906,138m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47c63fb5949a7755:0x6600fd4cb7c0af8d!8m2!3d52.3702157!4d4.8951679 East Boulevard ought to be one way, and the wacky double left-turn lane should be converted to a traffic circle with lights (a Spanish system), and a big raised pedestrian/cycling controlled crossing down the centre.

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