Courtenay

“The City of Courtenay is implementing a Complete Street pilot project between Fitzgerald Ave and Johnston Ave on 5th Street. The City of Courtenay received $3.25 million from the federal Gas Tax Fund, Strategic Priorities category in order to move forward with this project. The project includes improvements to the streetscape such as:

• separated/raised bike lanes;
• improved sidewalks, and;
• improved landscaping.

More information is available on the project page.

Courtenay, British Columbia places a major emphasis on Complete Streets in its 2014 “25 Year Vision for Multi-Modal Transportation” plan. Courtenay devotes an entire section to Complete Streets, which includes numerous design examples for implementing Complete Streets (p. 27-31). The plan even includes a Complete Streets Toolbox as an appendix with potential strategies for accommodating cyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities. The plan’s Road Cross Section appendix also includes numerous examples of both implemented and potential Complete Streets transformations in Courtenay. Courtenay’s “25-Year Vision” demonstrates clear, ambitious and thorough integration of Complete Streets concepts into a transportation plan that will hopefully be emulated by other Canadian municipalities.

The City of Courtenay has created an updated Transportation Plan for 2019, but it does not have any mention of complete streets.

The City of Courtenay released a cycling network plan on February 4th, 2019 called “Connecting Courtney”. The plan focuses on enhancing active transportation modes, specifically cycling. Connecting Courtenay was influenced from the lessons learned on a Complete Streets Project completed prior.  

 Section 3 provides a detailed overview of the existing bicycle facilities. Courtenay current has 29.5 km worth of bicycle facilities including off-street pathways (paved & unpaved), bicycle lanes (protected & unprotected), and signaled bicycle routes (p. 6).  

Section 4 looks at cycle networks, both existing and areas for potential connection. Sub-section 4.1 highlights the Bicycle Facility Toolbox which follows a “complete streets approach that assigns space in the cross-section to all modes of transportation” (p. 14). The toolbox provides recommendations and examples of different bicycle facilities. 

  The implementation section includes short, medium, and long-term plans for infrastructure, programs, and policy that span over 10 years and will approximately cost the municipality $21 million (p. 28).