Vancouver council votes to calm traffic along Prior Street in Strathcona neighbourhood

Vancouver councillors have voted in favour of traffic calming measures for an East Vancouver roadway, following community protests against turning the street into a major thoroughfare.

During a meeting on Wednesday, city council voted 8-2 in favour of staff proposal for a new train bridge with vehicle underpass where Prior becomes Venables Street, along with measures to slow traffic on a road that's used by about 25,000 vehicles every day.

Those measures would turn Prior-Venables from an arterial to a collector street, restricted to one traffic lane in each direction, with speed limits of 30 km/h near Strathcona Park in False Creek Flats.

Coun. Pete Fry told CBC that the changes are a "huge win" that would help reduce pollution in the neighbourhood and improve safety.

He explained that he was inspired to get into local politics after the death of his friend, Paul Tynes, who was hit by a car 10 years ago at Princess and Prior streets.

The move comes as the city tries to reconfigure traffic in anticipation of tearing down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts leading downtown.

When asked where East-West traffic will go once Prior-Venables is calmed, the city's chief engineer Jerry Dobrovolny said it could take up to a year for traffic to "rebalance."

"Some of it will go to parallel routes. Some it will go to either Hastings Street or First Avenue and further away as well," he said.

'The future will tell'

On Monday, about 100 neighbourhood residents protested plans to turn Prior Street into the main arterial route for the False Creek Flats once the viaducts are gone.

After Wednesday's vote, Penny Crawford, director of the Strathcona Residents' Association, said she'll be examining the new plan, but expressed some concern about the new underpass.

"Having Prior calmed is a good result. The future will tell, with an underpass at Venables, whether traffic really will be reduced," Crawford told CBC.

The new traffic-calming measures could be in place by early next year. The cost of the new bridge and underpass is estimated at $125 million.