A report to Council, including engagement results, was presented at the Regular Council Meeting on December 5, 2023, upon which Council voted against the construction of the Lansdowne Multi-Use Pathway Project. No further engagement will occur.
The City is seeking feedback on the addition of a multi-use pathway on the north side of Lansdowne Street from 2nd Avenue to 6th Avenue in coordination with the planned City Centre Sanitary Project scheduled for 2024.
As shown in this figure, the area between 6th Avenue and Riverside Park/the Rivers Trail is currently a missing link in the Kamloops north-south active transportation corridor. Staff have identified Lansdowne Street as a potential connection to complete this missing link, by connecting the 6th Avenue protected bike lane and the Lansdowne Transit Exchange with Riverside Park and the Rivers Trail. Coordinating the construction of an active transportation facility with the City Centre Sanitary utilities project would reduce costs and minimize construction impacts for residents and businesses. The facility’s design minimally impacts on-street parking, as only four of the 62 existing on-street parking stalls within the project's corridor would need to be removed to accommodate the pathway.
The City recently constructed several key active transportation facilities, including the 6th Avenue protected bike lane (from Columbia Street to Lansdowne Street), the Westsyde Road multi-use pathway (from Batchelor Hills Drive to Westmount Drive), and the Summit multi-use pathway (from Notre Dame Drive to Whiteshield Crescent). These links are key segments of the Kamloops north-south active transportation corridor.
PROPOSAL
The proposed multi-use pathway would be between 3.1 m and 3.5 m wide, with a landscaped buffer between the pathway and Lansdowne Street.
A new transit shelter will be added to the Lansdowne Street at 4th Avenue stop, which is one of the busiest transit stops in the city. The existing bus lane will remain, allowing buses to pull out of the travel lanes while loading and unloading. The project will not impact transit service or routing.
The proposed pathway would require the removal of four on-street parking stalls on the north side of Lansdowne Street between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue. The businesses adjacent to these parking stalls were engaged and were not concerned about the removal of on-street parking. There are currently 62 on-street parking stalls and a 229 stall parkade on Lansdowne Street between 2nd Avenue and 6th Avenue.
To accommodate the pathway, the westbound right turn lane from Lansdowne Street to 2nd Avenue would need to be removed. Transportation engineering review shows that this turn lane is not required. This lane is already frequently unusable due to rail traffic across 2nd Avenue, which has been emphasized by the recently electronic “no right turn” sign when trains close the crossing.
To accommodate the multi-use pathway, the travel lanes will be narrowed from between 4.1 m and 3.8 m to 3.5 m* along Lansdowne Street from 2nd Avenue to 6th Avenue. The section of the proposed pathway between 3rd Avenue and 4th Avenue would have separate areas for cyclists and pedestrians to accommodate the higher pedestrian volumes observed at that block. The following figures show renderings and plan view drawings of the separated and multi-use segments of the pathway.
*this lane width is within the Transportation Association of Canada’s guidelines for urban roadways with a 60 km/hr or lower speed limit.
A multi-use pathway on Lansdowne Street is not currently included in the Transportation Master Plan. To proceed with the project, an amendment is required to include the proposed facility on Lansdowne Street.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The total estimated cost for the Lansdowne Street pathway project is $2.75 million.
Because of the reduction in lane widths and the addition of a multi-use path, there will no longer be any space for snow storage. Therefore, $20,000 will need to be added to the snow budget annually, so that snow can be hauled away from this portion of Lansdowne Street.
ALTERNATIVES
The alternative to pursuing the Lansdowne Street multi-use pathway would be to implement a similar project after it is added to the Transportation Master Plan through the 2024 update of the active transportation sections of the Transportation Master Plan. This will result in higher costs and more construction disruptions on Lansdowne Street, as the project will not be coordinated with the 2024 City Centre Sanitary Project.
