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Transportation comes down to common sense: expert

A transportation expert who worked with New York’s Project for Public Spaces says building streets for various transportation modes really comes down to common sense. Gary Toth, who has 34 years experience in project management within the New Jersey Department of Transportation, was on hand at Red Deer’s Safety City on Tuesday to speak about how the city could integrate various modes of transportation on its streets.
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While participating in an Integrated Movement Study at Safety City on Tuesday City of Red Deer employees and members of the public take part in a hands-on session where they were tasked to design roadways that would accommodate various modes of travel including transit

A transportation expert who worked with New York’s Project for Public Spaces says building streets for various transportation modes really comes down to common sense.

Gary Toth, who has 34 years experience in project management within the New Jersey Department of Transportation, was on hand at Red Deer’s Safety City on Tuesday to speak about how the city could integrate various modes of transportation on its streets.

The event was part of phase one of an Integrated Movement Study which looks to the community on how it wishes to move today and into the future.

Toth was part of the Project for Public Spaces, a nonprofit planning, design and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces.

While Toth said that streets have a lot of purposes, he wanted to dispel the myth that every street needs a bike lane.

“There are streets out there that need to transport goods and a bike lane might not work,” he said.

Toth said streets should fit the formal definition of a “complete street” — a street that is designed and operated to enable safe, attractive, comfortable access and travel for all users.

“It doesn’t say that a street should specifically accommodate all modes. You have to design a street that is comfortable for all modes.”

He says that some cities are using the wrong tools when it comes to urban streets, such as designing a roadway that conforms to peak times.

“You wouldn’t weed a garden with massive movements because you’ll rip out what you made the garden with in the first place,” he said.

“It is really not useful to design streets this way.”

Toth applauded the City of Red Deer for its efforts in implementing an Integrated Movement Study.

“They’re working with Red Deerians to find out what they want. Really, right now, apart from a couple exceptions, you have only one choice and it is you have to get in your car and drive somewhere,” he said.

“It’s not evil but it may become more difficult when the city doubles in size. There are a lot of reasons for any city in North America to be positioned to have other ways to get around town.”

“We are wanting to confirm the vision of movement in Red Deer with the people who use our streets everyday,” said City of Red Deer divisional strategist Jeremy Bouw, who is also the project manager for the Integrated Movement Study.

“What we are hearing from people is that they support transit, bicycles are good, the ability to walk is good, but what we are also learning is that it is not as simple as de-constructing our roadways and putting in a bike lane everywhere.

“It is not a war on cars.”

The city will compile information from two more events, the first on bicycles and the other surrounding land use and transportation planning. The information will then feed into a vision document that will plan for Red Deer’s movement.

jjones@www.reddeeradvocate.com