Vancouver making changes to some slow street barriers in light of concerns (PHOTOS)
After numerous issues with permanent slow street barriers in the City of Vancouver, officials say they’re mostly working as intended, but have plans to adapt some sites.
On Friday, June 23, at the intersection of Alder and Broadway, one of the slow street barriers appeared to be busted.
These photos were taken on Friday, June 23 | Andrew Lachkovics/Daily Hive
One of the bright yellow “banana barriers” was snapped and two pieces were pushed to the side of the road.
Daily Hive reached out to the City of Vancouver to ask if there were plans to make changes in light of these concerns.
An engineer from the City said, “We are making changes to some locations, including shoring up the barriers in locations where they are being moved.”
“For this particular location, we will be moving the barriers further back from the intersection to accommodate loading for businesses on Broadway. We will also be installing object markers to increase visibility.”
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The slow streets program began in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. The measure was meant to motivate active transportation like walking and cycling on neighbourhood streets and encourage vehicle traffic to slow down.
Implemented where residential side streets meet with major arterial roads, the design created a “pinch point” to slow down vehicles. Since the slow streets refresh, which saw the temporary plastic blocks replaced with permanent concrete barriers, they have drawn the ire and fascination of road users.
Back in March 2023, Daily Hive covered the slow streets barriers in light of incidents, including cars getting stuck on top of them.
14th and Cambie 20 mins ago.. had to sneak a photo as there was a crowd of people helping try to pull the SUV off with a large strap. š¬ pic.twitter.com/zcMbbvHCRx
ā dan. (@iamwrong) March 23, 2023
At the time, the City told Daily Hive that the “configuration of the barriers does not prohibit two-way traffic, but does limit vehicle traffic to one direction at a time at the intersection.”
“The barrier placement encourages lower speeds, supporting the goal of the Slow Streets initiative to provide a safe and comfortable street environment for different users.”
City staff have been monitoring the effects of the barriers and are making changes at locations where needed. “We are aware that some barriers have been hit by drivers,” said the City.
“Staff have observed vehicles of all sizes, including semi-trucks, navigate the barriers without issue. We are not aware of any vehicle-vehicle, vehicle-bicycle, or vehicle-pedestrian collisions at these locations since the barriers were installed,” they said.
Additionally, before the barriers were installed, the City said that its staff “worked closely with VFRS to develop this design to ensure emergency vehicles and other large vehicles are able to navigate the barriers without issue.”
The slow streets have received a mixed response. One side seems to enjoy the action taken towards reducing traffic and speed in residential neighbourhoods.
Slow Streets throughout Vancouver make walking a delight pic.twitter.com/3UIS3sZEvF
— James Gitto š³ļøāš (@JGitto) June 10, 2023
The other side, which is more vocal on social media, says that they’re causing more problems than they solve.
Why does Toronto do 'slow streets' so much better than Vancouver? There are no dumb š barriers which only slow if there is oncoming car and do nothing once past them. They remove parking, resulting in more driving around and can cause congestion, confusion and even accidents.š§µ pic.twitter.com/kySaBhmQi1
— Dave on VanPoli (@VanPoliMorphus) May 10, 2023
The City says that most locations for slow street barriers are working as intended. “We have collected qualitative data on behaviour and plan to collect quantitative data (speeds) this fall,” they said.
What do you think of the slow street barriers?
With files from Kenneth Chan
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