The Case of the Ever Shrinking Sidewalk in the City of Langley

It is also important that the placement of features such as bus stop amenities, garbage cans, bicycle racks, and planters does not reduce sidewalk clear width to maintain accessibility. – City of Langley Master Transportation Plan

The City of Langley has been replacing the street lights around Downtown Langley over the past few years. These new street lights are a marked improvement over the various previous styles of lighting. The City of Langley is even adding new street lights in some parts of Downtown Langley.

These changes are all part of the Downtown Langley Master Plan. Of course, the Downtown Langley Master Plan and the Master Transportation Plan have clear language around enhancing the walkability of Downtown Langley. This includes having comfortable sidewalks.

City of Langley Council signed off on its Master Transportation Plan about a year ago. The plan states that “wider sidewalks (greater than 1.5m) should be concentrated in Downtown, around schools and multi-family areas where more people are and can be attracted to walking.” The plan also spells out that wider sidewalks are needed in Downtown Langley in table 3.1.

With this in mind, I was a bit shocked to see that the City of Langley was actually shrinking the sidewalk width on the north side of Fraser Highway between 208th Street and 207th Street.

New street lights are being install along Fraser Highway. Notice that the sidewalk is barely the width of one person.

The City built small sidewalk extensions into adjacent property, but even with these extensions, it is still under the 1.5 meter minimum standard. The extensions will make for tricky navigation for people using a mobility aid.

The interesting thing is that between the Langley Bypass and 208th Street, the City of Langley installed these new lights without compromising the width of the clear area of the sidewalk.

Section of sidewalk between 208th Street and the Langley Bypass. The street lights do not encroach into the sidewalk.

Besides installing the lights right next to the sidewalk, the City could move the lights and utility poles into the street. This could be done by creating a pervious strip between the road and the sidewalk. This can be done without requiring the costly relocation of the drainage system. This would greatly enhance the public realm.

Example of a pervious green strip from the NACTO Urban Street Design Guide. This could be design to accommodate street lighting and utility poles.

When I see things like the installation of lighting in the middle of the sidewalk, I have to wonder if walkability is truly a concept that is understood at City Hall.

What the Evergreen Line will do to bus service in the Northeast Sector

The Northeast Sector, which includes Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, and Coquitlam, is a major travel destination for people who live in the South of Fraser. With the introduction of the Evergreen Line next fall, TransLink had to update its Northeast Sector Area Transit Plan, Phase 3: Near-Term Priorities. The update contains the following recommendations.

Not surprising, but with the new SkyTrain service, the 97 B-Line will be discontinued. The 190, which provides express bus service to Downtown Vancouver from Coquitlam Centre, will also be discontinued. The 160 will be upgraded to frequent transit service levels between Port Moody and Port Coquitlam. A new bus service will also be introduced between Burquitlam Station and SFU. The 169 service levels will be reduced.

The following map shows all the bus routes that will be impacted by the introduction of the new Evergreen Line service.

Map of proposed changes as a result of the introduction of the Evergreen Line. Select map to enlarge.

This map shows the complete network. It also identifies routes that TransLink wants to improve service levels for, and proposed new routes.

Full Northeast Sector Transit Map. Includes all future service level changes and proposed new routes. Select map to enlarge.

One of the things to keep in mind is that TransLink has no money to expand transit service. Beyond the changes made due to the Evergreen Line service integration, don’t expect much else to change until more funding is secured for transit in our region.

Downtown Langley and Willowbrook: Urban design that makes you walk more or walk less

This January, I purchased a Fitbit. This high-tech pedometer shows me how many steps, and therefor how many kilometers I walk in a day. The device provides me with this information which actually nudges me to walk more than I did previously.

There is a lot of good research and on-the-ground examples of how built-form —how we design streets, public spaces, and buildings— impacts the walkability of an area. The Walk Friendly Ontario project has a great resource section on their website if you want to see on-the-ground examples and read research on this.

One of the things that I’ve noticed over the past eight months is that where walking is enjoyable, I tent to walk more.

For example before I purchased my Fitbit, I would always walk to and around Downtown Langley. I would also walk from the SkyTrain station to my work in the Olympic Village area in Vancouver, and walk to grab lunch. When I went to Willowbrook Mall, I’d catch the bus from Downtown Langley.

With the Fitbit, I found that I would easily walk 3 kilometers while going around Downtown Langley. Also, I would walk about 5 kilometers going between the SkyTrain, work, and a lunch spot. All this walking didn’t seem like a chore, it was enjoyable. The built-form in these areas are geared towards walking.

Since I’ve been wearing the Fitbit, I’ve started to walk to Willowbrook Mall. The stress of walking next to high-speed traffic, combined with the monotony of having nothing to look at but surface parking lots, makes walking from Downtown Langley to Willowbrook an unpleasant experience. I was actually shocked when I found out that it is only 3 kilometers from my house to the Willowbrook Mall area because it feels much, much longer.

An intersection along Willowbrook Drive in the Township of Langley

McBurney Lane in Downtown Langley

Looking at the preceding pictures, where would you want to walk? I know where my first choice would be.

Walking is critically important for our mental and physical health. Check out Happy City for more information about this point. Local government really needs to support community design that encourages walking. This means preserving walkability in places like Downtown Langley, and building new neighbourhoods around walking in places like Willoughby. As the Willowbrook area in the Township of Langley proves, creating a place where people want to walk requires more than just putting in sidewalks.

Strong Canadian Dollar, not fuel cost, drives travel to US in Metro Vancouver

Last December, I compiled information about US-bound person vehicles crossing the border in the Lower Mainland. You can read the full post for more details, but at the time I was trying to see if there was a strong correlation between TransLink fuel tax, and an increase in people heading to the US. I didn’t find a strong correlation.

With the declining value of the Canadian dollar this last year, I thought it would be interesting to see what impact, if any, the lower dollar value would have on US-bound person vehicles entering from the two Blaine, Lynden, and Sumas border crossings. Because I wanted to compare the most recent information, all the chart data is for the month of June between 2001 and 2015.

Border Crossing Metrics for the Lower Mainland, Month of June, 2001-2015. Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics; Statistics Canada. Table 326-0009 - Average retail prices for gasoline and fuel oil, by urban centre, monthly (cents per litre), CANSIM; CanadianForex Monthly Average Rates

Even as the cost of fuel climbed between 2001 and 2005, the amount of vehicles going into the US actually dropped. It wasn’t until the Canadian dollars’ value increased past 90¢ to a US dollar that border volumes started a steady climb. Interesting, it wasn't until the Canadian dollar dipped below the 90¢ mark this year that border volumes started to drop again.

It may seem that the cost of fuel plays a large part in US border travel from Metro Vancouver, but between 2001 and 2005, fuel prices rose while border volume dropped. Between 2008 and 2009, fuel prices dropped while border volume increased.

While the cost of fuel plays a small role in US-bound travel, having a Canadian dollar that is worth more than 90¢ US influences US border crossings the most.