deasine
July 25th, 2008, 12:52 PM
400,000 extra car trips a day expected for 2010 Games
That's the number of additional car trips Metro Vancouver will see each day during the 2010 Games. It's a 15% increase over the usual, and planners are looking at ways to get your car off the road
Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, July 24, 2008
The 2010 Winter Games will generate an extra 400,000 trips a day in Metro Vancouver, and planners are trying to find ways to keep residents off the roads to accommodate them.
City of Vancouver assistant engineer Jerry Dobrovolny said Wednesday the extra trips will increase traffic by roughly 15 per cent in Vancouver, which normally sees three million trips a day.
In all of Metro, with six million trips a day, the percentage increase will be smaller.
A draft of the Olympic traffic plan won't be released until fall, but Dobrovolny said these measures are on the drawing board:
- There will be no parking at Olympic venues. Everyone attending will have to travel by bus.
- The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games will operate an almost parallel bus system that will essentially double TransLink's bus fleet on Vancouver roads.
- There will be dedicated bus services from downtown Vancouver to ski venues such as Cypress Mountain and Whistler.
- At certain hours, the Sea-to-Sky Highway will be a bus-only route, although the road will not be completely closed to local traffic.
- Vancouver will clamp down on residents of the Hastings Park area who usually rent out their yards for parking during big events.
- Some traffic arteries in the city will have Olympics-only traffic lanes.
- Simon Fraser University and the University of B.C. will shift and extend their spring breaks to coincide with the Games, reducing traffic and freeing up capacity on TransLink buses and SkyTrain.
"It is a different transportation system that we will be working with during the Games," Dobrovolny told a seminar at the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region conference.
He would not reveal some details of the plan, such as which major arteries will have dedicated Olympic lanes, and what street closures will be required to accommodate security zones around Olympic venues.
Dobrovolny said transportation planners have formed a committee of business groups to encourage downtown firms to explore telecommuting options for workers or shift work schedules and deliveries around the evening rush hour in particular, which will be prime time for many Olympic events.
The challenge, however, is to minimize the impact of the Olympics on residents and keep businesses, such as the Port of Vancouver, running as usual.
"We need to operate the Olympics within the confines of a fully functioning urban centre," Dobrovolny said. "So business needs to continue on through the Olympic Games, and residents -- we've got a very large resident population in downtown -- need to be able to go about their days."
Dobrovolny said information will be a key tool. The city and Olympic organizers will make it clear to visitors that driving to events will not be an option, and that there will be no public parking at venues.
TransLink is a key partner of the plan, Dobrovolny said, and will operate its system at rush-hour levels for longer hours during the Games and is working to make its fleet expansion plans coincide with the event.
In Whistler, visitors and village residents are being warned that the parking at their homes or hotels will be virtually the only parking available to them during the Olympics, and driving to events will be impossible.
"[Transportation] won't be business as usual, given the scale of the event," Dobrovolny said, "but it is important we minimize the impact on residents and business to every extent possible."
depenner@png.canwest.com
Source: The Vancouver Sun/CanWest
Credits to Mr.X for first posting this article on SSP
That's the number of additional car trips Metro Vancouver will see each day during the 2010 Games. It's a 15% increase over the usual, and planners are looking at ways to get your car off the road
Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, July 24, 2008
The 2010 Winter Games will generate an extra 400,000 trips a day in Metro Vancouver, and planners are trying to find ways to keep residents off the roads to accommodate them.
City of Vancouver assistant engineer Jerry Dobrovolny said Wednesday the extra trips will increase traffic by roughly 15 per cent in Vancouver, which normally sees three million trips a day.
In all of Metro, with six million trips a day, the percentage increase will be smaller.
A draft of the Olympic traffic plan won't be released until fall, but Dobrovolny said these measures are on the drawing board:
- There will be no parking at Olympic venues. Everyone attending will have to travel by bus.
- The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games will operate an almost parallel bus system that will essentially double TransLink's bus fleet on Vancouver roads.
- There will be dedicated bus services from downtown Vancouver to ski venues such as Cypress Mountain and Whistler.
- At certain hours, the Sea-to-Sky Highway will be a bus-only route, although the road will not be completely closed to local traffic.
- Vancouver will clamp down on residents of the Hastings Park area who usually rent out their yards for parking during big events.
- Some traffic arteries in the city will have Olympics-only traffic lanes.
- Simon Fraser University and the University of B.C. will shift and extend their spring breaks to coincide with the Games, reducing traffic and freeing up capacity on TransLink buses and SkyTrain.
"It is a different transportation system that we will be working with during the Games," Dobrovolny told a seminar at the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region conference.
He would not reveal some details of the plan, such as which major arteries will have dedicated Olympic lanes, and what street closures will be required to accommodate security zones around Olympic venues.
Dobrovolny said transportation planners have formed a committee of business groups to encourage downtown firms to explore telecommuting options for workers or shift work schedules and deliveries around the evening rush hour in particular, which will be prime time for many Olympic events.
The challenge, however, is to minimize the impact of the Olympics on residents and keep businesses, such as the Port of Vancouver, running as usual.
"We need to operate the Olympics within the confines of a fully functioning urban centre," Dobrovolny said. "So business needs to continue on through the Olympic Games, and residents -- we've got a very large resident population in downtown -- need to be able to go about their days."
Dobrovolny said information will be a key tool. The city and Olympic organizers will make it clear to visitors that driving to events will not be an option, and that there will be no public parking at venues.
TransLink is a key partner of the plan, Dobrovolny said, and will operate its system at rush-hour levels for longer hours during the Games and is working to make its fleet expansion plans coincide with the event.
In Whistler, visitors and village residents are being warned that the parking at their homes or hotels will be virtually the only parking available to them during the Olympics, and driving to events will be impossible.
"[Transportation] won't be business as usual, given the scale of the event," Dobrovolny said, "but it is important we minimize the impact on residents and business to every extent possible."
depenner@png.canwest.com
Source: The Vancouver Sun/CanWest
Credits to Mr.X for first posting this article on SSP