Burnaby Transportation Plan Update
Did you know that the City has a Transportation Plan?
Our current Transportation Plan is over 20 years old. It’s time for an update, and to think about the “big picture” for the future of Burnaby’s transportation.
Phase 1 is now complete. Thank you for all the great input! Here is what we heard »
Council has adopted the new Vision, Themes and Goals which will form the foundation for the development of an updated Burnaby Transportation Plan.
Research and analysis for Phase 2 has begun.
On July 10, 2017 Council adopted the recommendations in the Burnaby Transportation Plan Update report.
The development of the updated Plan will take place in three phases over several years.
Consultation for Phase 1 took place from August 1 until November 30, 2017.
- 2017 Events
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| August 19 |
City Hall Farmers Market |
| August 24 |
Civic Square |
| September 24 |
Burnaby Village Museum |
| September 30 |
Edmonds Recreation Centre |
| October 5 |
McGill Library |
| October 19 |
Bob Prittie Library |
| October 28 |
City Hall Farmers Market |
| November 2 |
Cameron Recreation Complex |
| November 16 |
Tommy Douglas Library |
| November 25 |
Bonsor Recreation Complex |
| November 30 |
City Hall |
- Phase 1 Reports
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| March 12, 2018 |
Burnaby Transportation Plan Update: Outcomes from the Phase 1 Public Consultation and Phase 2 Scope |
| March 12, 2018 |
Appendix to Council Report: Phase 1: Setting A Direction - Public Consultation Summary Report |
| July 10, 2017 |
Burnaby Transportation Plan Update |
The Vision, Themes and Goals for the renewed Plan as approved by Council on March 12, 2018, are outlined below.
Vision
The vision for the updated Burnaby Transportation Plan considers the question: “What if Burnaby’s streets were not just corridors for movement, but public space to be enjoyed by all?”
In Burnaby, all travel choices are enjoyable and the transportation system is the foundation of our thriving public spaces and our quality of life. The transportation system not only moves people and goods between destinations but provides places for people to meet and participate in city life. It is a balanced and inclusive system that offers accessible and safe mobility in support of a healthy, green, prosperous, and connected community.
Themes and Goals
Accessible: access and choice
The “accessible” theme is about providing access and choice to users of Burnaby’s transportation system.
- Theme Description
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Access can be considered in three ways: locational, physical, and financial.
» Locational access refers to whether a person can get to their destination using the transportation system.
» Physical access refers to the concept that everyone, regardless of age or physical ability, has the mobility they need to live their daily lives.
» Financial access refers to the notion that the transportation system is affordable for the majority of people, and that economic means is not a barrier to mobility.
Choice within the transportation system enables users to walk, cycle, take transit, drive, or any combination thereof, to reach their destination. It is about providing viable transportation options to people and businesses so that they have mobility to participate in their daily activities.
- Theme Goals
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An accessible transportation system can:
» provide people with multi-modal options to access their homes, jobs, shops and businesses, educational opportunities, extracurricular activities, and other destinations;
» provide travel options that are easy, reliable, and flexible; and,
» provide inclusive access and choice for people of all ages, abilities, socio-economic levels, and backgrounds.
Safe: safe and secure mobility
The theme of “safe” mobility is about reducing the risk of harm for users of Burnaby’s transportation system.
- Theme Description
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Safety relates to physical dangers that can be present, perceived safety concerns, and user comfort. When it comes to transportation, people choose how they get around based on real or perceived safety and comfort. For example, a person may be more likely to walk to work if the walk were enjoyable, separated from vehicles and bicycle traffic. The same person might choose to take transit or drive instead if the sidewalks are not complete, or they are located directly beside busy traffic, or there are no features that provide interest or enjoyment along the way.
When it comes to transportation safety and security, each mode has its own challenges.
» For drivers, a safe and secure transportation system is one that manages speeds and reduces conflicts with other cars and other modes of travel.
» For walkers and cyclists, it is one that is well used, and provides clear and direct routes which are appropriately sized, and respects the mutual relationship between the number of participants and safety; more users, more safety; more safety, more users.
» A safe and secure transportation system for transit users can be provided by mitigating personal safety and security concerns, which can include transit station and stop design, frequency levels, and distances between stations or stops and destinations.
Personal behaviour including activities such as obeying the speed limits, using crosswalks, and being aware of one’s surroundings, is also an important aspect of making transportation safer. Behaviour can be influenced through the design of the street and public realm by providing crossings at reasonable intervals, wider sidewalks on busier streets, clearly marked bikeways or cycle tracks, and narrowing streets where speeds should be lower.
- Theme Goals
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A safe transportation system can:
» reduce deaths, injuries, and conflicts for all modes;
» reduce frequency and severity of crashes for all modes;
» reduce concerns about personal safety and security;
» reduce opportunities for crime and damage to property;
» provide for emergency access and response; and
» promote safe and respectful behaviour by all mode users.
Healthy: active people in healthy livable communities
The “healthy” theme is about supporting mobility choices that improve personal and community health and well-being (physical, emotional, and mental).
- Theme Description
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Increased movement through active transportation, which is any form of human-powered transportation (walking, cycling, using a wheelchair, in-line skating, skateboarding, etc.), increases people of all ages’ fitness levels, strengthens the heart, lowers the risk of diseases, and improves emotional health (makes people happier).
Designing a community to encourage and improve health and well-being includes designing a transportation system that makes it enjoyable, comfortable, and easier to choose active modes. Active transportation benefits the health of a community as a whole by reducing healthcare costs as people are more physically fit; increasing contact with neighbours as people are out participating in their neighbourhoods; reducing the City’s ecological footprint as people use less resources; and encouraging local economic development as cyclists and pedestrians are more likely to stop into shops and services along their travel route. In addition, active modes cost less from both a personal and a community perspective as they require less infrastructure, resources, and space.
A healthy transportation system enhances the social, environmental, and economic health of a community.
- Theme Goals
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A healthy transportation system can:
» increase the proportion of trips by active transportation modes (walking, cycling, and transit);
» increase the enjoyment of moving around in the City; and,
» increase the social opportunities for people to interact with each other and their community.
Green: a protected and enhanced environment
The “green” theme is about enhancing the environment and reducing or eliminating negative impacts from the transportation system, such as greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, noise, water quality impacts, and habitat degradation or destruction.
- Theme Description
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Transportation and the way people travel has environmental consequences. A more environmentally conscious transportation system is one that supports the shift to more sustainable transportation options such as active transportation methods and more energy efficient vehicles. It is about reducing the distance driven by providing local choices for residents, businesses, and visitors. It is about reducing the negative by-products of some transportation modes, such as pollution and noise, which can have an impact on air quality, local waterways, soils, animals, and overall quality of life.
A green transportation system can limit further harm to the environment, begin the process of reversing existing environmental damage, and increase overall resiliency.
- Theme Goals
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A green transportation system can:
» increase the use of more sustainable transportation modes including walking, cycling, transit, car-share, low- or zero-emission vehicles, etc.;
» increase and support landscaping, biodiversity and natural systems within street infrastructure;
» increase the resiliency and adaptability of the transportation system;
» reduce the environmental impacts of transportation (greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and noise); and,
» reduce the distances driven overall.
Prosperous: a thriving, sustainable economy
The “prosperous” theme is about providing for the convenient, efficient, cost-effective, and reliable movement of people, services, and goods for customers, employees, and businesses.
- Theme Description
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A robust transportation system is vital to the health of the City’s and Region’s economy. The seamless connections between modes of travel and convenient service to a variety of destinations support a sustainable economy by increasing efficiency and decreasing the time and costs associated with moving people, goods, and services around. This further enhances Burnaby’s desirability as a place to live, work, play, learn, and shop, increasing the City’s competitiveness in both the local and global markets.
A prosperous transportation system also means investing public money wisely. It is important to manage the transportation system in a manner that makes efficient use of existing infrastructure, minimizes life-cycle costs (construction and maintenance), and prioritizes future investments to be cost-effective and maximize benefits. Planning for the long-term will enable current and future generations to be resilient and adaptable to changing economic cycles.
A prosperous transportation system allows for the efficient exchange of goods, services, and ideas across the City.
- Theme Goals
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A prosperous transportation system can:
» increase the convenience, cost-effectiveness, and reliability of all modes;
» increase the modal options for goods movement and other commercial services;
» increase opportunities for sharing (modes, resources, space and infrastructure);
» consider opportunities for new technology and ways of traveling;
» improve City operations and maintenance for all modes;
» make investments to increase multi-modal accessibility and choice; and,
» increase the efficiency of finite road space.
Connected: integrated and well-designed places
The “connected” theme is about integrating transportation with land use to create well-designed places and complete communities.
- Theme Description
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A transportation system, and the decisions made about how people move within the City, determines the type of City that is built. It is this connection between land use and transportation that fundamentally structures how a neighbourhood functions and how it is enjoyed and used. Similar to the concept of providing a mix of land uses within communities, Burnaby provides a balanced multi-modal system that enables users to walk, cycle, take transit, drive, or any combination thereof, to reach their destination.
A connected transportation system provides the opportunity to integrate all aspects of city-building and place-making. For example, a connected, integrated, and well-designed community is one that is compact and brings people closer to their destinations. It offers a finer grain pedestrian network for shorter trips, as well as opportunities to cycle, take transit, or drive for longer trips. It includes a diverse mix of land uses and housing types with increased residential and employment densities to support local amenities and higher levels of transit service. It has well-designed buildings and public realm that create interesting, attractive, and delightful places where people want to linger. The transportation system presents the opportunity for citizens to experience the City and public life.
Building a connected transportation system is about looking at challenges or barriers to connectivity, such as topography (eg. Burnaby Mountain), landscape features (eg. Burnaby Lake), and other transportation infrastructure (eg. Highway, railway, or SkyTrain), and finding ways to connect across, through, or around them. It is about offering routing and mode choices that enable everyone to reach to their desired location.
“Connected” also refers to the notion of establishing a relationship. A connected transportation system is one that facilitates the economic, social, and environmental interactions that occur through daily activities. This could include the interactions between neighbours that meet while walking down the street, the exchanges that occur between businesses as they buy, sell, and move goods and services in the City, or the contact that people have with the environment while they enjoy being out in their community.
- Theme Goals
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A connected transportation system can:
» increase the integration of land use and transportation planning;
» increase north-south connectivity in the City;
» reduce the impacts of through-traffic within neighbourhoods;
» provide integrated transportation networks that connect the City’s neighbourhoods and surrounding communities;
» provide well-designed and high quality streets and public realm;
» provide better information to help people use the transportation system; and,
» provide a balanced transportation system that works for all users.
- Why do we need an updated Plan?
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In Burnaby, the long-range strategy for transportation is contained in the Burnaby Transportation Plan. It provides the vision, goals, policies and actions that guide the development of the City’s transportation system. The first edition was adopted by Council in 1979 and the second in 1995, with periodic updates since then.
Much has changed in the City, region, and world since 1995, making it timely to review the City’s transportation policies and to prepare the third edition of the Burnaby Transportation Plan. The Plan will need to address the following four key shifts:
1. Population Growth and Lifestyle Shifts
2. Economic and Affordability Shifts
3. Planning and Policy Shifts
4. Technology Shifts
Read more about these key shifts in the Issues and Challenges Fact Sheets. An updated Transportation Plan will enable the City to respond to these key shifts and plan for the challenges ahead.
- How can I provide input?
- Where can I get more information?
- Where can I see the results of the Phase 1 Consultation?
The website will be updated on an ongoing basis to provide you with the most current information and resources related to the Plan update. Please check back regularly.
