Bike and Pedestrian Plan Will Make Kelowna More User Friendly

Kelowna is working on being more bike and pedestrian friendly.

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan was approved during the January 18^th city council meeting. The plan helps show the strategic approach that is going into making Kelowna a city with more walking and more biking.

The plan explained what the city currently does for bikers and pedestrians and what needs to change. There are six key objectives for the plan:

1. Network Design
2. Planning, Monitoring, and Maintenance
3. End-of-Trip and Transit Integration
4. Education and Promotion
5. Policies and Enforcement
6. Funding

There are two major goals the City has when it comes to this plan. The first one is to promote and increase walking and cycling all year round in Kelowna. The hope is that in 20 years a quarter of all trips that are less than 5 km will be made without using a vehicle.

The second goal is to improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. In 20 years the city of Kelowna hopes to cut in half the number of collisions with motor vehicles. In Kelowna there are between 60 and 70 pedestrian collisions a year and 60 to 80 bicycle collisions a year.

In a previous survey the number one reason why Kelowna residents didn’t cycle more was because the lack of infrastructure.

Another issue was that there are a number of corridors in the city that allows trucks, transits, and bicycles all in one place. These roads are being looked at and staff said they’re looking to avoid placing bike lanes along these roadways and if bike lanes are needed on those roads they’re looking at enhancing the bike lanes to provide a physical separation.

For walking trips time and distance are noted as significant barriers, but the biggest problem for walkers are the lack of sidewalks in the city.

Work will be done on this plan in two different phases. The first is the Primary Network. This network is the backbone of Kelowna’s active transportation system. This includes areas with paved shared-use pathways, sidewalks, and cycle tracks. The second is the Supporting Networks, which are sidewalks, paved or unpaved shared-use pathways, bike lanes, and traffic-calmed streets.

These networks have a hefty price tag with the priority facilities alone costing around $267 million. Right now the City of Kelowna invests $500,000 annually in the sidewalk program and $300,000 in bike network programs. After the math the City will have invested less than $90 million by 2030, which means funding has to come from somewhere else as well.

City staff are looking into community contribution fees and taxes, user fees and project related revenue sources, other grants, or private sector help.

Projects will be completed based on priority and they will be determined by the City’s Financial Strategy and 2030 Infrastructure Plan.

People of Kelowna can look through the proposed active transportation network and give their feedback. You can fill out an online survey here and input received will be looked at before the final plan is approved.