Abstract Manager

Vancouver's Active Mobility Plan: Innovations in Route Evaluation to Boost Cycling, Sustainability, and Equity.

Planning future active transportation infrastructure to help address climate change, advance sustainable mode share and equity can be challenging and complex. Building on past successes of regular 5-year cycling plans, the City of Vancouver developed an innovative Active Mobility Plan (AMP) that integrates walking and cycling, identifying near-term priorities for major pedestrian corridor projects, complete streets, and greenways.

This presentation will cover the process of creating the plan, including how candidate projects were determined and selected for inclusion in the plan, with a specific focus on a cycling route impact evaluation tool developed to analyze and shortlist potential projects. The evaluation framework aims to determine the overall impact (from low to high) of a new route (non-existing route)  or upgrade to an existing route based on a comprehensive assessment of factors that relate to increasing cycling mode share, improving network comfort and safety, and addressing inequities across the city.

The technical analysis helped decision makers weigh potential route benefits against various trade-offs – e.g., financial and political considerations, and project coordination opportunities – to select the final projects included in the plan. The cycling route evaluation scheme developed for the AMP can easily be adopted by other jurisdictions, adjusting the weightings of different factors according to the local context and priorities for network planning.