Traffic congestion in Kelowna can't be solved by simply adding more roads.
That's what Kelowna Transportation Engineer, Gordon Foy shared with City Council this week.
“The city is expecting to grow by a little bit less than 40 percent over the next 20 years. One of the first challenges that we highlighted is that constructing new roads is quite expensive and difficult,” says Foy. “When we’re talking about the edges of the city, we’re constrained by things like the mountains, agricultural land, bodies of water, specifically lakes. When you move into the centre part of the city, into the core of the city, where most of our trips end up at some point, those corridors become very difficult because we don’t have as much space to widen roads. It makes it so expensive. We can expand those road networks a little bit but we don’t have the ability to expand them by 40 percent.”
Foy was giving results from his Facts in Focus study, named “The Congestion Paradox.” It’s part of the City of Kelowna’s Official Community Plan, Facts in Focus series.
If building new roads is not the traffic remedy, what is? According to Foy, the vision of the Kelowna Transportation Master Plan includes encouraging the switch from cars to other modes of transportation, like public transit or cycling.
“Over the next 20 years, we will combine our efforts in terms of putting our future land use and growth into areas that have the best chances for people to have the ability to shift their travel. We’ll connect those areas with services such as transit and active transportation corridors. If we look across the city, places where people live that are relatively close to work, or are relatively close to services, and there’s good sidewalks, good bike routes or good transit connecting those destinations, people are more likely to make those choices.”
Foy says that the results that were shared with council on Monday are just a starting point in the discussion about lessening the car-centric habits of Kelowna residents. More research is planned this Fall to compile past trends with current traffic conditions. City staff are expected to present the results early next Spring.