OK, so you're not the GVRD. What can BC's smaller urban centres really do about improving the energy efficiency of their transportation systems? The City of Quesnel has made a great start.

Quesnel: Small Steps towards better Transportation

Introduction

Most people agree that improving the range and quality of available transportation options can make a community more energy efficient and liveable. However, many smaller, established communities in British Columbia do not have the population density to support a public transport system, and many feel powerless against the dominance of the personal automobile.

So what, realistically, can be done by smaller communities in the province to improve their transportation systems? In this case study, we look at some transportation initiatives recently undertaken by the City of Quesnel, a City of 11,000 people in central BC, and explore the conclusions for similar communities.

Quesnel: Background

Like many in the region, Quesnel's economy is driven by the forestry industry, and its two pulp mills and six saw mills employ over 3,000 of its residents. It boasts "the most concentrated wood products manufacturing area in North America" a short distance north of the downtown core. Unfortunately this industrial base, as well as a busy highway that cuts through the area and a bowl-like topography that tends to inhibit air movement, has lead to urban air quality that according to one source is among the poorest 15% in the province.

The city's forestry companies have taken major steps in recent years towards cleaning up their local impact. Many local people believe that the onus of responsibility for further environmental improvements has shifted from these companies to the municipality itself.

In the years leading up to the drafting its new OCP, the City of Quesnel sought to address some of these concerns. It consulted the local population through the extensive use of neighbourhood workshops, focus groups and public meetings. City staff and external consultants were also asked to contribute their ideas towards policy development.

As a result of this consultation process, the City of Quesnel recognized that more proactive management of urban transportation might make a significant contribution towards improving air quality. In its new OCP, therefore, the City introduced initiatives to reduce the air quality impacts of urban transportation. It is clear from the policies and activities cited in the OCP that the City would also enhance the energy efficiency and the liveability of its urban core in doing so.

In contrast to Northeast Coquitlam's OCP, Quesnel's OCP does not try to take on everything at once. Instead, it illustrates how small, smart steps in the right direction can make a real difference to the energy performance and liveability of an established smaller community with a fair growth rate (3.2% between 1991 and 1996, according to Statistics Canada).

Over the past few years, the City has implemented a number of transport-impacting initiatives that can be broadly categorized the following groups:

• land use planning policies that create the conditions for a more energy-efficient urban transportation infrastructure in addition to fulfilling other objectives

• transportation-related initiatives relating to:
• • reduced embodied-energy roads and road systems (i.e. that use less energy in their construction);
  • bicycle trails and pathways;
  • initiation of a study into public transportation possibilities.

In this case study we examine each of these aspects of Quesnel's OCP and its recent experiences to see what lessons can be learned for other smaller, established communities in British Columbia.

General Infrastructure Planning
Transport-Specific Policies
Tackling Transit
Conclusions