Solving Columbia Street will require the wisdom of Solomon

SATURDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — It will take the wisdom of Solomon to sort out the Columbia Street upgrade plan.

Take just one part of it — access to Second Avenue. A lot of drivers coming down the Columbia Street hill cut over into the West End via Second Avenue instead of continuing down to the lighted intersection at Third. There’s no left-turn lane at Second, so they try to squeeze left as tight to uphill traffic as they can, but it still causes backups when there’s a green light at Third and oncoming cars head up the hill en masse.

The City’s tentative plan is to allow righthand turns heading uphill but cut off lefthand downhill turns with a median. That will please about half the people half the time, and make the other half mad as hell all of the time, because that seems to be the way opinions divide up.

There are four basic types of Columbia Street downhill drivers. One type is just trying to carry on down Columbia Street heading east. The second type wants to get downtown — included in this group are those who prefer the shortcut through a piece of the West End made possible by Second Avenue.

Some West Enders hate that, because they think the shortcut people drive too fast and too carelessly. Others, the third type, like using Second Avenue themselves because they get home faster.

The fourth type carry on down to Third, patiently wait for the light to go their way, and continue on either downtown or backtrack to the West End.

The City’s proposal to leave Second Avenue open for righthand-turning uphillers but close it off for lefthand-turning downhillers isn’t going to get much traction. Uphill traffic isn’t the problem. A left-turn lane going downhill would solve most of the safety and traffic-flow problem.

But Second Avenue is just one small part of the discussion. Medians, bike lanes, sidewalks, and street widening are all part of the plan and each component will cause angst among some.

Mitchell Forgie, who writes a thoughtful, analytical blog called strongerkamloops, believes the public’s priorities on Columbia Street are safety, cost, traffic volume and traffic speed, in that order.

He contends the proposed changes will be less safe, more expensive, will improve traffic volume only a little, and won’t do much to change speed.

“Columbia Street as it is isn’t really so bad, but with a little love it could be amazing. If a change is needed at all, it is far in the direction of reducing the width and travel lanes on this road not enlarging them,” states Forgie.

Whether his views gain support only time will tell, but Columbia Street is certain to test the strength of the City’s public engagement process.