Douglas Street Reimagined
A little bit of a vision post today. As we move towards the implementation of the “Bus Rapid Transit” system for Victoria, we are needing to do a complete rethink of Douglas Street through Downtown. The City of Victoria also has some critical infrastructure under the street that needs updating, so this means that there is an opportunity to completely change Douglas Street from what it is now. This isn’t the first time that I have posited a re-think of Douglas Street. In 2019, I envisioned using the topographical advantage of the street to add tunnels under the central business district for buses to use. I obviously didn’t think that anyone would take up the idea, but it did show that taking a portion of the traffic off the street would provide you an opportunity to rethink how the entire space was used.
What I am proposing today would be similar in its outcome, with a massive disruption to the layout and use of Douglas Street that would lower traffic volumes, increase efficiency and add opportunities for AAA bike lanes and expanded sidewalks. Of course it comes at a cost that will certainly not be popular with many people at the outset, the banning of private vehicles for a 1.2 kilometre stretch of Douglas Street. I have done up a little drawing using an example from Milwaukee. Just to be very clear I borrowed a drawing from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and amended it to what I am proposing. I will break down the separate components in sections.
The New Douglas Street? Pink Inner Lane BRT / Yellow Commercial Parking / Outer Commercial Through Lanes / Protected Bike Lanes / Sidewalks
Centre Lane Bus Rapid Transit
We have been talking about rapid transit in some form for years in Victoria. The current planned iteration has been in the works for about two years. You can read my article about it here. One of the current problems with the plan is that it still doesn’t adequately manage to find space for both bus traffic and bicycle traffic. This has led to a weird compromise where the two travel modes share a lane starting just north of downtown. This will not work if we really want to speed up bus travel through the congested central business district of Victoria. Creating space for both bicycles and buses is a necessary step in the planning for a new Douglas Street. Moving buses to centre lane travel keeps them in the same space while moving bicycles as far from them as possible. This layout also allows for the future addition of LRT with little changes of infrastructure or space requirements.
As I said in my last article on the new BRT plan, there are still far to many stations planned and so along the stretch of Douglas I am looking at today I would hope to see only four stations: Crystal Gardens, Fort and Douglas, Pandora and Douglas, and Chatham and Douglas. More than that and you are slowing down the buses too much and not actually creating a rapid transit network. So with the buses sorted, we can move onto the biggest change, the other traffic on Douglas Street.
Commercial Only Vehicle Lanes
Douglas street from building face to building face is about 30 metres wide. Currently we have about six paved lanes of roadway if you don’t consider the traffic bulbs added during the last Douglas Street refresh and they are used for a mix of through traffic, bus stops, parking and bike lanes. If you want to add dedicated bike lanes and a centre lane busway, you are going to need to cut back on traffic somewhere. Especially if you want to maintain or enhance the sidewalks along either side. For this plan to work and allow for a free flow of vehicle movement, private cars would be banned for the entire length. Instead you would have two dedicated commercial vehicle travel lanes for trucks, taxis, emergency vehicles and delivery vans. In addition to the two travel lanes, there would be significant centre lane commercial vehicle parking. This parking space would be along the entire stretch of the street with the exception of where transit stations were located. This would allow for taxi boarding and commercial supply unloading. Commercial vehicle movement through central Victoria would never have been so good and I would expect that it would be a selected route, meaning that commercial vehicles would decline on Blanshard Street and even possibly along Quadra Street. I recognise that there would be significant angst at the loss of the access for private vehicles, however I am sure that the vast majority of those trips are crossing through the central business district rather than stopping in it as there is extremely limited parking along Douglas Street currently. The loss of on-street parking would also be raised as a challenge, but again, the current amount is extremely limited and if we want to add rapid transit to the city, we need to make some changes to the street. For businesses along the street the enhancements would definitely increase the vibrancy of the street and would likely result in a significant increase in foot traffic.
The green line indicates the length of the Douglas Street improvements discussed in this article. (Original Map)
AAA Bike Lanes
Having removed parking and bus stops from the edges of the road, there would be safe, unencumbered areas for the addition of AAA protected bike lanes along either side of the road. Without having the bikes have to share the space with the buses it would also be a more pleasant experience for the cyclists. Additionally, without private vehicles on the street, and instead just the commercial vehicles, it would also likely be a quieter experience. As Douglas Street stands now, almost the entire length of my proposal, from Belleville to Chatham is devoid of driveways so the amount of places where vehicle interactions could occur would be limited to intersections. With no private vehicles turning off of Douglas Street, the amount of interactions at intersections would also likely be reduced. Overall, a new AAA route along Douglas might turn out to be one of the most pleasant ones available for those on bikes in the city.
Sidewalks
Last but as you can guess likely my favourite part would be the opportunity for sidewalk enhancements. Currently, the majority of sidewalks along Douglas Street in this area are between two and three metres in width. While overall, these are decent widths for sidewalks, there would be an opportunity to make them more uniform in width on both sides. Additionally, with the movement of bus stops to the centre lanes the there would be more space on the sidewalks for pedestrians and maybe even a food cart or two.
There would be some loss of sidewalks with the removal of traffic bulbs and in a short part of the street in front of the Bay Centre where the sidewalk is wider than three metres, however overall it would be a wonderful new space along with a transformed street to walk.
That is my vision, I would love to hear your thoughts about what you would think works and what doesn’t. If you have an alternate vision, let me know about it in the comments. This moment is a great opportunity to let the City know that we want to see Douglas Street made better for everyone and for the new City Council to show that they are serious about addressing the issues relating to transportation and livability in the downtown core.