Banff ready to meet with Parks Canada to tackle congestion to Sulphur Mountain, and on town roads | 24CA News

When it involves tackling congestion, Town of Banff officers are an keen accomplice ready for Parks Canada to step as much as the plate and act on suggestions launched final month by a panel of specialists. 

Parks Canada commissioned a panel made up of planners, transit engineers and park administration specialists to provide you with a technique that may assist ease Banff National Park’s longstanding congestion points again in 2021.

Last month, the panel launched its report: Moving People Sustainably within the Banff Bow Valley.

The doc has pages of concepts and solutions, the bulk centring round a typical purpose: conserving private automobiles out of the park by encouraging guests to make various plans like hopping on mass transit. 

The Town of Banff has been working towards this purpose by itself for years. But councillors and officers say to make the most important impression, they cannot do it alone. 

“For far too long the town of Banff has basically been left to fend for itself to deal with congestion,” mentioned Councillor Grant Canning throughout a city assembly, Monday.

“We have tried so many things over the years to do just that and it is getting increasingly harder and harder…the fact is congestion within the town of Banff is not just a town of Banff problem, it is a Banff National Park problem.”

A report back to councillors Monday outlined the Town of Banff’s response to the panel report, which is presently out for public suggestions till Feb. fifth. Parks Canada will compile a “what we heard” report and wrap up its inner examine of assorted methods outlined within the doc earlier than revealing subsequent steps. 

According to the Town of Banff, based mostly on projected calls for calculated again in 2016 they want 1,000 parking stalls at every of Banff’s entryways by the yr 2045 to accommodate customer calls for. 

Currently, the city has made strides on what they name an intercept lot situated on the Norquay Road exit, the place a 500-stall lot encourages individuals to desert their automobiles totally free and take transit as an alternative of circling the city for restricted parking stalls within the peak summer time season. 

The city’s paid parking program, which was implement in 2021 is already paying for a number of mobility and environmental initiatives, and stats have proven a serious shift to transit in 2022.

Town desires drivers to pay to park on Sulphur Mountain

Councillors like Canning need to see Parks Canada assist deter extra drivers with a paid parking method on Sulphur Mountain, the city’s largest attraction and bottleneck.

Those parking heaps are outdoors of the city’s jurisdiction. 

“Given all the changes that are being done within the Lake Louise area, I’m still trying to understand why Parks Canada has not even entertained the thought of doing some sort of pay parking system on Sulphur Mountain,” Canning mentioned. 

One of the explanations, Enns mentioned, Parks Canada was capable of determine to take away private automobiles from Moraine Lake and cost for parking at Lake Louise is as a result of the close by ski hill now has approvals in place to increase its parking heaps to accommodate extra stalls and act as a park and experience. 

“That’s an alternative that exists to enable people to do the right thing. In the town of Banff, we do not have that alternative right now,” Enns mentioned. 

Banff is already working towards transit-only lanes paired with a multi-use pathway that might take their buses out of site visitors on Mountain Ave, resulting in the recent springs and gondola parking heaps. According to a December report, directors say Roam Transit buses idle for roughly 83 hours making an attempt to trek to these points of interest throughout the busy summer time months. 

Enns informed councillors that throughout the report some solutions may take years, and even many years to finish whereas others could possibly be fast initiatives for the city. 

“When it comes to areas like mobility hubs, that’s a topic that we have spent an expansive amount of time thinking through,” he mentioned.

“We’d like to at least commence that visioning exercise as soon as possible … we will be indicating our willingness and availability to meet at the drop of a hat to discuss that concept.”

In phrases of contributing to that report, the city had its personal city supervisor, Kelly Gibson, chosen as an professional on the panel.

“I think it was really valuable to have the town of Banff’s perspective there, not only at a high level but at a granular level,” mentioned Mayor Corrie DiManno. “I think that shows within this report.” 

At the tip of the day, the professional panel’s suggestions are simply that: concepts from planning specialists on the right way to transfer individuals by means of the busiest National Park in Canada — what will get applied, when, and the way, is as much as Parks Canada.