No flying cars in 2015, but auto king in Saskatoon

ANALYSIS

Imagine Saskatoon with a lot fewer vehicles.

Coun. Pat Lorje suggested this week the city consider a future where fewer people will feel compelled to own their own car or truck.

"By 2030, your automobile will be your smartphone," Lorje said at Monday's council meeting.

By then, some expect ride-sharing programs like Uber to take a bite out of vehicle ownership. And we waited until 2015 to get the flying cars from Back to the Future to no avail.

But what will Saskatoon city council do in a Utopian future with far fewer automobiles? Ponder the bigger philosophical questions, presumably.

Monday's meeting, as with most gatherings at city hall, was almost totally consumed by vehicle traffic. And if it's not traffic, it's parking. All revolving around the almighty car.

That's no surprise in a city where registered vehicles outnumber people 251,196 to 244,526, according to recent SGI numbers.

A city where considerations to accommodate the car are greatly diminished seems far in the distance.

In the meantime, Monday's latest council meeting left Ward 6 Coun. Charlie Clark "flabbergasted" after council voted 6-5 to reopen a road council had decided to close four months earlier.

Council voted 8-2 in May to close the west end of Ninth Street East in Nutana in response to a neighbourhood traffic review. Five councillors switched sides on the issue when asked to vote again on Monday.

Councillors Eric Olauson, Tiffany Paulsen, Randy Donauer and Troy Davies voted to reopen the street so motorists can access the Idylwyld Drive freeway via Lorne Avenue after voting to close it four months earlier.

Coun. Ann Iwanchuk switched the other way. She, along with Mayor Don Atchison, voted to keep the street open in May, but she wanted to respect the traffic review process on Monday. Lorje missed the vote in May, but voted to reopen Ninth on Monday.

Clark said he has been left with a "mess" in his ward. The temporary barricade will soon be removed by city crews. The roundabout that had been in place for about two years at McPherson Avenue and Ninth was taken down Oct. 2 when the barricade was installed.

Now what? An exasperated Clark suggested on Twitter Wednesday night that those who want a new solution to Ninth Street traffic contact Olauson, who put forth the motion to reverse the closure.

Prior to the Ninth Street flip-flop, council had discussed a new plan to improve 33rd Street.

A couple of speakers and three councillors — including Lorje and Davies — spoke against increased traffic on 33rd, saying they do not want to see the roadway become another 22nd Street.

Concern about 33rd becoming a so-called major arterial roadway has started to rise in response to the city's growth plan to accommodate half a million people.

That plan includes a new bridge across the South Saskatchewan River that would connect 33rd to lands east of the University of Saskatchewan that are slated to be developed over the next few decades.

Even though the bridge could be more than a generation away from becoming a reality, it's already causing people to fret. About increased traffic.

'Over-my-dead-body' bridge

Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill has called the proposed span the "over-my-dead-body" bridge so concerned is he over the possible impact of more vehicles on residential neighbourhoods in his ward.

Farther down 33rd, the city's newest business improvement district could be threatened by higher traffic volume, a spokesman warned council.

Lorje suggested a new bridge would be a waste of money and represents old-fashioned thinking where cities are designed to accommodate the car. The bridge is seen as necessary to introduce Saskatoon's proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) system.

The BRT would claim two dedicated lanes on the University Bridge, according to current plans, meaning another bridge would be needed. No timetable has been set for the BRT and similar systems in other cities in Canada have cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Lorje suggested combining BRT lanes with carpool lanes as a way to remove the necessity for another bridge. Calgary's Centre Street includes a rush-hour high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane that also accommodates buses. Check it out here:

http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/Roads/Pages/Traffic/Traffic-management/HOV-lanes/Centre-Street-HOV-lane.aspx

As an aside, Atchison pitched carpooling as a way to weather the absence of buses a year ago after council voted to lock out transit employees.

Maybe residents are still opting to carpool because it does not appear transit ridership has recovered.

The City of Saskatoon wants 20 per cent of residents to walk, cycle or take the bus to work. That would nearly double the share that did so in 2011.

Perhaps city hall wants fewer vehicles just to save on money, effort and time spent on council's agendas, such as  Monday's 702-page monster.

Lorje said she got the HOV lane idea from an International Downtown Association conference in San Francisco this fall that was also attended by a few other Saskatoon councillors.

It's valuable that city council understands where urban planning is headed. But in Saskatoon it seems like the only way to get to this idyllic urban design destination is by car.

With 2016's municipal elections less than a year away, anyone thinking of a run should know that those who do not want to spend a lot of time talking about cars, traffic and parking need not apply.

ptank@thestarphoenix.com

twitter.com/thinktankSK

Source: No flying cars in 2015, but auto king in Saskatoon