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Powell River Regional District Regional Transportation Plan Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 The Project Process 2 2 Baseline Data 3 2.1 Census Population and Household Data 3 2.2 Census Mode of Transportation to Work 4 2.3 Traffic Volumes 4 2.4 Transit Ridership 6 2.5 Ferry Vehicle and Passenger Ridership 7 3 Plan Development Process 10 3.1 Background Review 10 3.2 Existing Conditions 11 3.3 Vision, Goals and Objectives 12 3.4 Funding 15 3.5 Option Development and Selection 18 4 Pedestrian and Bicycle Network Plan 19 4.1 Plan to 2040 19 4.2 Beyond the 2040 Plan 24 5 Transit Network Plan 27 5.1 Bus Transit 27 5.2 Ferry 30 5.3 Air Travel 32 6 Road Network Plan 33 6.1 Plan to 2040 33 6.2 Beyond the 2040 Plan 36 islengineering.com April, 2014 | Project No. – 31047 Powell River Regional District Regional Transportation Plan 7 Other Initiatives 38 8 Implementation Plan 41 APPENDICES Appendix A Background Review Summary Appendix B Existing Conditions Appendix C Public Consultation 1 Results Appendix D Funding Options Appendix E Public Consultation 2 Results Appendix F Option Evaluation Appendix G Cost Estimates TABLES Table 2.1: 2011 Census Population Table 2.2: 2001 and 2006 Census Mode of Travel to Work Table 2.3: Annual Transit Ridership (Apr 2012 – March 2013) Table 2.4: Historical Transit Ridership (2000-2013) Table 2.5: 2009-2013 BC Ferries Vehicle Statistics Table 2.6: 2009-2013 BC Ferries Passenger Statistics Table 2.7: 2009-2013 BC Ferries Historic Fares Table 8.1: Implementation Plan FIGURES Figure 3.1 Existing Shoulder Provision Figure 3.2 Existing Rural Transit Services and Stops Figure 3.3 Ferry and Water Taxi Service Figure 4.1 Pedestrian and Bicycle Network Plan islengineering.com April, 2014 | Project No. – 31047 Powell River Regional District Regional Transportation Plan 1 Introduction ISL Engineering and Land Services (ISL) were commissioned by the Powell River Regional District (PRRD) to prepare a Regional Transportation Plan. The PRRD Regional Transportation Plan sets out the priorities for the transportation network over the next 26 years, to the horizon year 2040. This document is split into several parts as follows: Baseline Data Plan Development Process Pedestrian and Bicycle Network Plan Transit Plan Road Network Plan Other Initiatives Communication Methods Implementation While the plan covers the period to 2040, it is intended to be reviewed on a somewhat regular basis. We recommend that review takes place every 5 to 10 years to confirm if progress has been made and if any other changes have occurred in the Regional District that may warrant a review of the recommendations contained within this document and the need for development of new recommendations. islengineering.com April, 2014 | Page 1 Project No. – 31047 Powell River Regional District Regional Transportation Plan 1.1 The Project Process The project began in June 2013 and followed a six stage process detailed below along with key milestone dates. islengineering.com April, 2014 | Page 2 Project No. – 31047 Powell River Regional District Regional Transportation Plan 2 Baseline Data As this is the first transportation plan to be developed for the PRRD this baseline data reflects the starting point of monitoring of transportation usage in Powell River. The aim is to review usage of different modes such that it can be compared with future years to determine if the plan is proving effective. The following base data is provided: 2.1 Census Population and Household Data 2011 Census population in the PRRD was 19,906 broken down as shown in Table 2.1, up 1.6% from 19,599 in 2006. Total private dwellings in 2011 was 11,000, of which 9,111 are usually occupied, the difference primarily relating to the significant summer population on Savary Island. Table 2.1: 2011 Census Population Area of Regional District Population Percentage of RD City 13165 66.1% Tla’amin 752 3.8% Electoral Area A – North of Tla’amin + Savary 1,008 5.1% Electoral Area B – East of City 1,488 7.5% Electoral Area C – South of City 2,014 10.1% Electoral Area D - Texada 1,053 5.3% Electoral Area E - Lasqueti 426 2.1% Total 19,906 100% Source: 2011 Canada Census islengineering.com April, 2014 | Page 3 Project No. – 31047 Powell River Regional District Regional Transportation Plan 2.2 Census Mode of Transportation to Work Data from 2011 is not currently available for this category, the 2001 and 2006 data provided in Table 2.2 shows the latest available data for Powell River Regional District. Table 2.2: 2001 and 2006 Census Mode of Travel to Work 2001 2006 2001 to 2006 Mode Count Percentage Count Percentage Change Car, truck, van as driver 6175 80.5% 6,005 78.1% -2.8% Car, truck, van as passenger 445 5.8% 585 7.6% +31.5% Public transit 80 1.0% 125 1.6% +56.3% Walked or bicycled 810 10.6% 750 9.8% -7.4% All other modes 160 2.1% 220 2.9% +37.5% Total 7670 100.0% 7,685 100.0% Source: 2001 and 2006 Canada Census 2.3 Traffic Volumes The British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has a permanent traffic count station located on Highway 101, 2.0 km south of Lois River Bridge, south of the City of Powell River This location means that very few internal trips are recorded but it provides a good indication of traffic volumes to and from the ferry. As shown below latest hourly volumes for June 2013 do not rise above 110 vehicles per hour which is very little for a two lane road and given the location of the count site will consist primarily of ferry traffic from Saltery Bay. islengineering.com April, 2014 | Page 4 Project No. – 31047 Powell River Regional District Regional Transportation Plan June 2013 Average Two‐Way Hourly Volumes 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 5 10 15 20 avg weekday avg weekend Source: BC MOT Traffic Data Website The data provides some other useful information that again, possibly tells us more about ferry use than traffic patterns within Powell River. The Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) has declined slightly over the last 10 years, dropping from 923 vehicles per day in 2003 to 874 vehicles per day in 2012, decreasing at an average rate of 0.6% annually. AADT 1000 950 900 850 800 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Source: BC MOT Traffic Data Website Volumes vary quite significantly over the course of the year with the Monthly Average Daily Traffic (MADT) roughly doubling in the peak summer months in 2012. islengineering.com April, 2014 | Page 5 Project No. – 31047 Powell River Regional District Regional Transportation Plan MADT (2012) 1,600 1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Source: BC MOT Traffic Data Website The counters also record vehicle speed as vehicles cross the sensors. For 2012, the average speed was 85kph and the 85th percentile speed on the roadway was 96kph, both above the 80kph posted speed limit. 2.4 Transit Ridership There are 6 numbered routes serving the Regional District, Service 1, 2 and 3 operate in the City only whilst Service 12, 13 and 14 operate in the rural areas but connecting each to the City. Table 2.3 provides the latest available ridership information. Table 2.3: Annual Transit Ridership (Apr 2012 – Mar 2013) Transit Service Annual Passengers 1 – Wildwood 100,239 2 – Grief Point 59,442 3 – Upper Westview 23,674 12 – Stillwater 6,130 13 – Texada 849 14 - Lund 1,654 handyDART 9,155 Taxi 441 Source: BC Transit islengineering.com April, 2014 | Page 6 Project No. – 31047 Powell River Regional District Regional Transportation Plan Historical Ridership Information was provided for the rural services and this showed 57% growth in ridership over the last 13 years. Annual passenger volumes are provided in Table 2.4. Table 2.4: Historic Transit Ridership (2001 - 2013) Year Annual Passengers Change From % Change From Previous Year Previous Year 2000/1 12,112 - - 2001/2 10,797 -1,315 -11% 2002/3 10,734 -63 -1% 2003/4 12,655 1,921 18% 2004/5 11,536 -1,119 -9% 2005/6 10,154 -1,382 -12% 2006/7 11,940 1,786 18% 2007/8 12,998 1,058 9% 2008/9 12,911 -87 -1% 2009/10 13,998 1,077 8% 2010/11 14,841 853 6% 2011/12 18,481 3,640 25% 2012/13 19,005 524 3% Source: BC Transit 2.5 Ferry Vehicle and Passenger Ridership Vehicle and passenger statistics were obtained from the BC Ferries website. Table 2.5 provides vehicle volumes from Fiscal Year 2010 to 2013 data for the three routes serving Powell River as well as the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale route which is often used by residents of Powell River travelling to the Lower Mainland. It demonstrates a significant drop in vehicle volumes across all routes, the service to Comox seeing the largest percentage drop with 16,781 (10.3%) less vehicles. Saltery Bay to Earls Cove saw the next largest drop with 12,470 (6.9%) less vehicles. Texada Island service saw a drop of 3,473 (4.0%) vehicles and Horseshoe Bay to Langdale saw a drop of 42,646 (3.8%) vehicles. islengineering.com April, 2014 | Page 7 Project No.