Banff’s horse-drawn carriage tours may be banned from using the Bow River bridge during the tourist town’s busiest times in a bid to ease nightmare traffic conditions.
On Monday (July 20), Banff town council passed first reading of an amendment to its traffic bylaw, and scheduled second and third readings for Aug. 17 to allow time for public feedback.
The proposed legislation would limit slow-moving vehicles, such as horse-drawn carriages not designed to exceed 40 km/h, from crossing the bridge from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. May to September, unless otherwise authorized.
Town of Banff officials say that with increasing vehicle volumes and more frequent use of the green override light signal pattern to move traffic during busy times, slow-moving vehicles like the horse and carriages hamper traffic flow and cause driver frustration.
“The initial intent was to ban slow-moving vehicles on the bridge, but after working with Banff Trail Rides, a key stakeholder, we’ve tweaked the ban to not be an overall ban,” said Tony Clark, supervisor of Banff’s bylaw services. “We hope it has to go no further than that.”
Banff Trail Riders offers horse and carriage tours in the Banff townsite, with some tours using a route to cross the Bow River bridge during peak traffic times. A spokesperson for Banff Trail Riders was not available at press time.
The amendment to the traffic bylaw does not include bicycles.
Vehicle volume counts in Banff townsite increased nine per cent in 2014 and another nine per cent to date this year, with Banff’s road system reaching capacity when 24,000 vehicles per day are recorded entering and leaving the town.
From May 1 to July 5, 2014, there were two days with vehicle counts over 24,000 vehicles per day, but for the same time period this year, there were eight days over the vehicle threshold.
Initiatives to mitigate time travel delays have been implemented, including a green light override. The green light override, combined with controlled pedestrian movements at the mid-block crosswalks on Banff Avenue, allows vehicles to travel northbound without interruption.
Clark said this flushes out northbound traffic vehicles backing up at the Mountain Avenue and Spray Avenue intersection and over the bridge.
“To ensure the effectiveness of running the green override signal pattern, council may want to consider prohibiting all slow-moving vehicles from crossing north over the Bow River bridge during times the green light override is most likely required,” he said.
“The single lane makes passing of slow moving vehicles during the override phase almost impossible. When we have a green override, adding slow-moving vehicles defeats the purpose of that.”
Councillor Stavros Karlos suggested the proposed legislation be scaled back to limit the horse-drawn carriages from using the bridge only when the green override is in place, which is most weekends.
“I’ve talked to the horse people and they are obviously concerned. One of the operators has a bit of angst about their business model when they can’t cross the bridge,” he said. “I don’t want to cause unnecessary angst.”
Clark said the way the proposed legislation is currently worded allows the Town of Banff to stop slow-moving vehicles from using the bridge only during the periods of the green override.
“There’s a clause that says ‘unless otherwise authorized’ and that clause alone lets us do what you’re suggesting,” he said.
Clark said the Town of Banff has been working with Banff Trail Riders, noting the company has already taken it upon itself to switch up some of the tour routes in an effort to work with the municipality.
He said they have also allowed the horse-drawn carriages to temporarily park in bus zones, handicapped zones and loading zones to allow vehicles to pass.
“At first, I saw a lot of carriage operators go down the street and have a lineup of traffic behind them and now they’ve been asked to flag people through,” he said. “It’s actually the law that if you’re not travelling the speed limit, you need to let traffic past.”
Meanwhile, a second proposed amendment to the traffic bylaw would permit skateboarders to ride on the 200 block of Bear Street during the Woonerf trial, as the area is a 20 km/h zone where vehicles must already yield to pedestrians and cyclists.
