Whitehorse city council approves permanent transit priority lane in Riverdale

Whitehorse will have a permanent transit priority lane in Riverdale this year.

The lane will run between Alsek Road and Hospital Road along Lewes Boulevard. The city first piloted a transit priority lane along that same stretch a few years ago. 

During Monday night's city council meeting, mayor and council voted to unanimously adopt an amendment to the traffic bylaw, which includes new definitions and regulations for transit priority lanes. The amendment now allows a permanent transit priority lane along Lewes Boulevard and opens the door for the city to develop other transit priority lanes. 

School buses and cyclists will be able to use the lane along with city buses. The traffic bylaw amendment also states that emergency vehicles and city vehicles "may be operated, stopped or parked in a transit lane," but only when necessary. 

Before voting in favour of the traffic bylaw, amendment Councillor Dan Boyd expressed concerns about city vehicles using transit priority lanes.

"I don't think I would go over very well with people just seeing city vehicles using that lane for just getting around town quicker," Boyd said. "I think it's really incumbent on the city and internal policies to make sure the city staff operating those vehicles out there really know the purpose."

The city's Director of Infrastructure and Operations, Travis Whiting clarified that city vehicles will only be permitted to use the lane when necessary for city operations and maintenance, "whether that be garbage collection, snow plowing or curb maintenance." 

"That type of work allows us to go into that transit lane for those purposes," Whiting said. "It's not meant for just regular traffic flow."

The lane along Lewes Boulevard could open as early as spring, said city spokesperson Matthew Cameron. 

"There's a bit of work to do in terms of getting the road prepared to make sure that the different lanes are clearly identified, that we'll have to wait for snow to be cleared," Cameron said. "So we're probably looking at early spring to get the road signage up and the lanes designated properly."

Once the lane is open for buses and cyclists, the city will run a public information campaign to ensure residents are aware of the changes.