Shelbourne @ Mckenzie with cyclist (source: google street view)
What's to like? It's four or five lanes of loud, aggressive traffic with narrow sidewalks, no bike lanes, and unforgivably unappealing stripmalls hidden behind seas of parking.
Shelbourne should be home to at least three lively neighbourhood centres (Hillside, Cedar Hill, McKenzie, and potentially Feltham). Instead, it's home to a bunch of drive-up/drive-through crap.
Recent events, discussions, and articles like the recent Shelbourne Community Celebration and Family Bike Ride (see previous MVB post) are attempting to enact change.
In fact, in August 2009, Saanich Council approved the Shelbourne Corridor Action Plan to be undertaken by the Saanich Planning Dept.
Great! Action!
Wait:
The 'Action' Plan is to develop a vision of the corridor for -- wait for it (literally) -- 20-30 YEARS from now. So, in 2040, Shelbourne is going to be on its way to good things! 'Yes We Can!'
Now, to clarify, I am still supporting this (action) plan. 'They' are trying. They need reports and a plan in order to apply for grants and funding in order to make things happen. I understand that.
However, (generalization warning) the difference between places like New York and Portland, which get innovative things done, and Los Angeles and Victoria, which don't, is exactly this kind of thing: studies, assessments, discussions, and red tape vs. pushing great ideas through, trying them out, and adjusting them as you go.
I call it 'Bureaucracy vs. Bravery' (or, if you like, balls).
Bureaucracy:
The City of Winnipeg has been studying and discussing rapid transit for decades. Since 2004, they have set aside $2.7M to study transit. Still, the shovels are yet to hit the ground and the money keeps coming for more studies and discussions.
Balls:
New York wanted to try closing parts of Broadway (no small matter) to vehicular traffic. Within a year, a trial phase was complete and the change made permanent.
Photo from Inhabit.com
In Victoria, we need more balls.
"This isn't time to study rapid transit. This is the time to build rapid transit" -- Paul Hesse of the Winnipeg Rapid Transit Coalition on the Winnipeg debacle.
The Shelbourne Corridor is a terrible place. This is a time to improve it, not study it. We need a vision of Shelbourne for 2-3 months and 2-3 years from now -- not 2-3 decades!
I can list 5 things off the top of my head that they could start on NOW to improve Shelbourne exponentially.
And, for those things, will come Part 2 of Re-imagining Shelbourne.
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In the mean time, I would recommend that you take part in this quick survey regarding improving the Shelbourne Corridor. If you need some ideas to suggest, then stay tuned for Part II.
You can read more about the Action Plan here.
7 comments:
The only way to make Victoria better is to stop hippie whiners from making this city into a tree-hugging heaven that caters to only a small portion of its protesting population.
Can't we leave at least a couple of roads for cars?
Only a small portion is whining, but the 'change' will cater to the VAST majority (everyone).
Yes, a couple: the Pat Bay Highway and the Island Highway.
Since the roads are in existence will a plan to please Shelbourne users be of any interest, other than self interest on/off access and high speed?
Well I think not the people which use it take no culpability for its design or furtherance.
No mea cupla approach.
Yes the solution might be to get a separation of riding/bike lane from vehicle traffic, Will sannich council be a hard row to cultivate,the mayor has a vested interest in Car Tire business.
What has always intrigued me about Shelbourne is its incredible flatness. It is far and away the most lucrative way for a cyclist to get from the city centre to Fernwood, Hillside Mall, UVic, and Mt. Doug; from there, it connects to the Lochside trail system and Galloping Goose via Mt. Doug cross road. Additionally, Bowker Creek runs much of the length of it. Shelbourne is a prime opportunity to connect many Saanich residents with amentities in their own municipality and in Victoria, an idea not lost on the city planners of a generation ago who carved a 5-lane pseudo-highway out of it. It also represents an opportunity to connect them to their landscape and their neighbours.
A new vision for Shelbourne has to take into account all four modes of transport, and could do well to interact with Bowker Creek the many parks that follow the Creek's path. There is a way to connect the Shelbourne corridor in a way that appeals to all transport users, perhaps without sacrificing much in the way of vehicle capacity. We just need to be creative about how we do it.
Welcome horses and addhum. Thanks for your comments.
@horses: A physically-separated bike lane would do Shelbourne wonders -- let alone a regular bike lane. The users are not at fault, no. But, with changes to the built form, behaviour will change.
@addhum: Excellent point re flatness. This is all the more reason to turn Shelbourne into a 'Complete Street' rather than look for intricate back-routes to serve cyclists and pedestrians.
Because it was designed as a wide, psuedo-highway, I believe there's plenty width to serve all users efficiently.
Also, good thoughts re Bowker Creak. Very good. They have had talks of resurrecting creeks and ravines in Toronto. I think it's a great idea. I had/have an image to illustrate this for Part II of this post.
Cheers.
Hi Evan, I sit on the Shelbourne Corridor Stakeholder's Committee, and I enjoyed reading your visioning posts for Shelbourne. It's amazing how similar many of your points are to discussion we've had at the meetings! It's unfortunate you were unable to attend any of the meetings (and if you did, I'm sorry I missed you). As you may have heard, the public consultation part of the Shelbourne Corridor plan is drawing to an end, so we can only cross our fingers and hope for the best while Saanich staff work out the first draft.
Hi Caleb,
Thank you very much for the feedback.
Great to hear that these ideas are not going unsaid.
However, going 'said' and being acted upon are very different things -- which is the whole point of the post/things said! :)
I guess that's all us regular folk can do...
I am not in Victoria, right now, so I have unfortunately missed all of the meetings and such. Though, i have been in touch with Harold a certain amount.
Cheers and hope to hear from you again.
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Being 'anonymous' is pretty lame, so at least make up a fake name to use.