Dear Byron the Bicyclist.
Recently I read your letter to Maddy the Motorist in which you were told traffic engineers design roads only for the smooth flow of vehicles.
Well, I am a traffic engineer who doesn’t do that. In fact, no traffic engineer should work in a silo. I work with urban planners and specialists in biking, pedestrian movement and the local people.
In North America, there is a lot of recently developed knowledge on converting to a more bike and pedestrian friendly urban environment. One of many good references is the Urban Bikeway Design Guide, 2nd edition. I recently attended an active transportation webinar by the Canadian Institute of Planners.
Check out Canmore. Like Williams Lake, it has a major highway running through it. At 15,000, its population is about the same as greater Williams Lake. Its downtown area is designed with all of pedestrians, motorists and vehicles in mind.
Signed, Troy the Traffic Engineer
Dear Troy
Thanks for that. It is good to know we have traffic engineers with different perspectives. I just found Canmore’s 2018 updated Integrated Transportation Plan. I should have looked for it before as I was in Canmore in April. We parked on the outskirts of the downtown area and walked into a very vibrant downtown area. Partly due to low vehicle speed limits, it felt pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
One four-way traffic light in the downtown core allows pedestrians to cross the intersection diagonally! I had seen this in Europe but not in North America.
Because Canmore has very expensive housing and seasonal residents, many of its citizens cannot afford to drive. To address that, they plan to improve their transit system and encourage bicycle and pedestrian use.
Signed; Byron the Bicyclist
Bert Groenenberg has been a cyclist for over 60 years.
