The Town of Banff has hired an independent contractor to study long-term solutions for Banff’s parking and traffic woes, including the feasibility of an aerial gondola transit system.
At the same time, traffic so far this summer is up nine per cent over last year, and the weekends surrounding Canada Day on Wednesday (July 1) were much busier than predicted.
But officials say, despite this, early indicators show efforts by the entire community are having a positive effect on traffic conditions in downtown Banff and up Mountain Avenue, where visitors flock to the hot springs and Sulphur Mountain sightseeing gondola.
“Early indications show that so far, despite being busier, by working together, the community is able to mitigate the congestion and improve the visitor and resident experience,” said Adrian Field, the Town of Banff’s engineering manager.
The Town of Banff hired Stantec Consulting Limited to do the $70,000 transportation study, one of seven submissions they received on a bid call. Stantec has also subcontracted Engineering Specialists Group, an organization that specializes in gondolas.
Stantec worked on the team with B.C. Transit and TransLink for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and did the design for the renovation of Vancouver’s B.C. Place stadium. The company’s work also includes expansion of Calgary International Airport.
Banff’s transportation study will include a comparative analysis of several options, including building new roads linked to an additional vehicle bridge across the Bow River, and expansion of the existing road alignment up Sulphur Mountain for transit lanes.
There is also discussion about the return of passenger rail service between Calgary and Banff and improved public transit service.
Feasibility of a cable-propelled gondola is also part of the study. The preliminary idea is to connect the downtown core with The Banff Centre, Banff Springs Hotel, Sulphur Mountain Gondola and Banff Upper Hot Springs.
Diana Waltmann, the Town of Banff’s communications manager, said one of the reasons the Town of Banff went with Stantec was because of the company’s approach to the study.
“They are outcome based rather than modal based,” she said.
“That means they are looking at Banff’s future transportation goals and what is the best solution to reach those goals, versus saying we want a gondola, or we want more parking.”
Parks Canada has a goal of increasing visitation to Banff National Park by two per cent per year. The park saw a 10 per cent increase in the number of tourists last year to 3.6 million.
Traffic delays can reach unacceptable levels, with vehicles backed up from the Rimrock Resort Hotel, Brewster’s sightseeing gondola and Banff hot springs, through downtown Banff to Rabbit Street.
Banff’s road network is beyond capacity at 24,000 vehicles per day. The vehicle per day count is the number of vehicles entering and exiting the two entrances to Banff during a 24-hour period.
“It is not indicative of the number of vehicles moving around in the townsite at any given time during the day; it doesn’t factor in the vehicles already in Banff,” said Field. “Rather, it is a measurement we use to indicate when congestion could and does occur.”
According to Banff’s most recent traffic data, the weekends around Canada Day were busier than predicted, with more than 26,000 vehicles per day on June 27-28, and more than 25,000 vehicles per day on July 4-5.
The count was 24,652 vehicles per day on Canada Day, down slightly from 2014 by 823 vehicles. However, Canada Day events were busy, and all downtown parking was filled to capacity from 1-6 p.m.
Traffic data also shows that from May 1 to July 5 this year, Banff experienced eight days over 24,000 vehicles per day, compared to two days over 24,000 for the same time frame last year.
Despite the increase in traffic volume, the number of days with travel delays has decreased over 2014 by 70 per cent. Last year, there were 14 days with traffic delays longer than 15 minutes.
On Aug. 3 last year, when traffic volumes exceeded 30,000, traffic was backed up for one hour and 38 minutes. This year’s longest delay was 42 minutes on the Sunday of the May long weekend.
“To date this year, there have been three days with delays over 15 minutes, and one day with a delay over 30 minutes,” said Field.
Roam bus ridership on Route 1 – which runs along Banff Avenue through town and up to Sulphur Mountain – as well as the number of passengers taking advantage of free ride from Tunnel Mountain on Route 2 in June is up significantly over 2014.
Overall traffic volume on Mountain Avenue, however, has increased eight per cent from May 1 to July 5 over 2014 volume.
“Though Roam public transit has doubled the frequency of Route 1, with only five days of operation at increased frequency, it’s too early to gauge impact on Mountain Avenue traffic volume,” Field said.
Some short-term traffic measures to deal with traffic and parking pressures include increased education and communication to visitors and residents to use alternative modes of transportation, including an information handout at the east gate to the national park.
There’s real time monitoring of traffic conditions, with alerts sent to front-line staff in the accommodation and visitor information centres so they can advise visitors; and the option for a longer green signal in the north-south corridor to flush out congestion.
As well as increased Roam frequency to Route 1 to Sulphur Mountain, Brewster Travel Canada provides a free shuttle for hot springs and gondola ticket holders from downtown Banff.
Banff also continues with signal light synchronization, which is a special traffic signal pattern developed for Banff, adjusted for weekends and holidays, with all lights from Mountain Avenue through Moose coordinated to permit uninterrupted travel, with cameras at each intersection to switch signals to opposite direction if no traffic is waiting.
There have been 90 additional on-street parking stalls created, scramble crosswalks, which eliminate delays for turning vehicles and reduces pedestrian crossings, and holiday traffic signage to warn drivers to expect delays;
A plebiscite on paid parking will be held in 2016 if the parking shortfall in the downtown core exceeds 150 stalls. If the shortfall is not reached, a plebiscite will be held at the next municipal election in 2017.
