Transit-Oriented Development: The answer to livable communities?

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This month we're featuring Port Moody's own Tim Barton, a transportation planner who currently works for Bunt & Associates in Vancouver, BC. Tim is particularly interested in transportation's relationship with land use and urban planning and design. His focus is how transportation planning can contribute towards creating vibrant, healthy and sustainable communities. With diverse experience in community and Transportation Demand Management plans, master planning, innovative streetscaping, traffic impact and parking studies, pedestrian and bicycle planning, much of Tim's work has been done as part of major transit-oriented development projects. Back in the UK, he developed transport planning policy documents and strategies, worked with elected officials and managed numerous transportation improvement schemes.

His talk will explore the disconnect between the laudable planning objective to focus development around transit accessible nodes (to ostensibly reduce car travel and promote more walkable, healthy communities) and the concerns that occur around such projects, related mainly to traffic congestion. Many current and proposed Transit-Oriented Developments in Metro Vancouver are located along busy vehicular corridors with significant levels of existing traffic congestion. However, what are appropriate trip rates for use in traffic models and how does traffic respond to concentrated nodes of development? Part of the disconnect between policy and practice is the lack of suitable tools or outdated best practices for planners and engineers. Tim will discuss the limitations of the current toolset and explore some alternative approaches that potentially offer a more effective way to assess new developments and planned density.

Tim's talk will be an informal version of the one he delivered at the annual Canadian Institute of Planners Conference held in Fredericton, NB this past July.

A friendly reminder that our meet-ups are fragrance-free.

We look forward to seeing you!