Buffered bike lanes suggested for 26th Street

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This article was published 20/08/2024 (646 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City of Brandon staff are considering modifying 26th Street with buffered bike lanes in such a way that it would be easy to retrofit the street to its current traffic patterns if the changes don’t work, Brandon City Council heard at a special meeting on Monday.

The city launched public consultations for the project earlier this year, holding information sessions and running an online survey.

General manager of development services Mark Allard said multi-use pathways have been established in many parts of the city and others have been proposed to provide commuters with multiple ways of getting to their destinations.

An important part of establishing these active transportation routes, Allard said, is finding ways to separate motorists from pedestrians and cyclists.

As for the 26th Street project, Allard said the asphalt on the road between Victoria Avenue and Park Avenue is cracked and failing. Needing to rebuild the street anyway, the idea is to add 26th Street to a planned city-wide active transportation network.

Brandon City Council approved the project in this year’s budget and Allard said grant funding from the provincial government has been received.

Four potential active transportation elements were proposed by the city: a multi-use pathway, a raised cycle track, a buffered bike lane with no available on-street parking and a buffered bike lane with available on-street parking.

In establishing any of these options, Allard said the city must be careful of elements like vehicle travel lanes, parking lanes, active transportation elements, boulevards and Manitoba Hydro rights-of-way.

The multi-use pathway would sit on one side of the road and maintain two travel lanes but eliminate on-street parking.

The raised cycle track would be on both sides of the street, putting cyclists slightly above motorists. It would reduce traffic to one lane in each direction.

A buffered bike lane would see a small buffer area between the outermost traffic lane and a dedicated bike lane. One option would keep on-street parking and the other would remove it.

Earlier this year, the Sun reported some residents’ concerns over how the proposed options could eliminate on-street parking and affect pick-ups and drop-offs at J.R. Reid School — located on 26th Street about a block north of the intersection with Park Avenue.

The feedback assembled by the city identified similar concerns about school safety, potential issues with eliminating vehicle lanes and the removal of parking from people operating home businesses.

There were two factions divided on the cycling elements, Allard said. One argued there is not enough cycle traffic to warrant dedicated lanes and another expressed excitement over cycling-centric infrastructure.

The most popular of the four options was the raised cycle track, followed by the multi-use path. However, just under half of respondents said they wanted the road to be rebuilt without any active transportation elements.

Discussions have been held between city staff and the Brandon School Division on how the redevelopment can maintain safety for students and parents, Allard said.

Allard said around 3,970 vehicles per day currently travel along that stretch of 26th Street and the number is projected in the near future to rise to around 4,072.

According to Allard, the kind of traffic that would necessitate needing two travel lanes for traffic in each direction is in the neighbourhood of 16,000 vehicles per day.

On the parking front, Allard said 31 of 38 homes along the affected stretch of 26th Street have driveways and the rest have parking access through a back lane.

In discussions within the city’s engineering department, Allard said consideration is being given to the need to promote carbon neutral transportation options, closing the median on Balsam Crescent to improve traffic congestion near the school, modifying the school’s parking lot and installing a left-turn lane at McTavish Avenue.

Earlier this year, Allard said a camera was set up near the school to monitor motorist behaviour. On one occasion, Allard said the camera showed a motorist making a U-turn to get to the school and another U-turn while leaving. That’s behaviour they don’t want to encourage, he said.

Coun. Shawn Berry (Ward 7) said he frequently travels along 26th Street and when a train is crossing the road near Brandon Avenue, traffic is backed up across most lanes for many blocks. He said it could be a problem if traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction.

A possible solution being proposed is to build buffered bike lanes. If the changes to the traffic pattern don’t work out, Allard said the buffer areas could be removed to turn the bike lanes back into parking.

Going forward, city staff will consult with the school division to make sure safety issues are addressed before coming to council with a final proposal later this year.

In the future, Allard said the city would like to see active transportation elements added to the entire length of 26th Street.

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