St Johns - St James Safety and Mobility Project
Project Overview
The St. Johns and St. James Safety and Mobility Project will study the opportunity to create and implement safety and mobility improvements for all users on this critical north-south connection. The Project corridor is on NE St. Johns Boulevard/Road and NE St. James Road between Fourth Plain Boulevard and NE 68th Street.
The Project will start by understanding how the streets function today, gather community input from the community to inform project goals and potential changes, and result in conceptual designs that will be further developed into final design plans to be implemented. Possible outcomes and key milestones in the planning, construction, and evaluation phases, will be shared early and how community feedback gathered has been incorporated will occur regularly.
Get Involved
We need your help to envision the future of the corridor and what types of roadway improvements, such as crosswalks or mobility lanes, will help address your safety concerns. Where do you need to go? How do you feel along the way? Are there specific locations we should investigate further?
Stay tuned for upcoming surveys and events to share your idea in the coming months!
Project Area
This map shows the project corridor in blue.
What are the project goals?
The broader goals of the project are to advance the City’s central goals of equity, safety, and climate and improving safety for all modes, including for pedestrian, vehicles, bike and small mobility users, and those accessing transit. During the initial stage of the Project, the Project Team will engage with community members to understand public perceptions, excitements, and concerns about the current transportation environment. These engagement efforts will help shape the final goals of the project and address the needs of community members, agencies and organizations involved in and/or impacted by the Project.
Why is the project important?
The NE St Johns Boulevard/Road and NE St James Road between Fourth Plain Boulevard and NE 68th Street is a north-south corridor and an important part of the City’s transportation network connecting Fourth Plain Boulevard, SR 500 and NE Minnehaha St. The City’s Local Road Safety Plan and the Complete Streets Program identify the NE St Johns/NE St James corridors as areas needing safety and accessibility improvements. The corridor is identified in the Transportation System Plan as both a pedestrian, bike and small mobility and transit modal networks. The corridor is high-stress, missing bicycle and small mobility facilities and missing ADA curb ramps along the roadway, with long gaps between marked crossings. The corridor is also an enhanced transit corridor. It is a priority for Complete Streets Projects to meet the needs of all community members regardless of mode (walking, biking, driving, taking transit and using mobility devices) to get around.
Why Complete Streets?
Complete streets have a range of benefits for all users in the neighborhood. They can help improve people’s health, reduce pollution, result in fewer crashes and lower vehicle speeds, and create vibrant public spaces. Complete streets are safe, accessible streets that benefit all users regardless of their age, ability, or way of travel. Each street and neighborhood in Vancouver have different needs and functions, so the Complete Street design needs to reflect the unique street context, community aspirations and adjacent land uses. Some typical design elements include sidewalks, enhanced crossings, separated mobility lanes, and other traffic calming measures like speed tables. Complete streets can also include landscaping and green stormwater infrastructure.
When is this design work happening?
The Project will take about a year to identify a preferred design concept for the corridor. The planning and design work is expected to be completed at the end of 2024. Community conversations and input informing the design concept will begin in Spring and end in Fall 2024.
When will the project be built?
The Project's final design plans will be implemented in the coming years outside of near-term paving work, using new revenues City Council dedicated to the Complete Streets Program in the 2023-24 biennial budget.
What are the project elements?
The Project will include the following elements:
- Existing and future conditions analysis to understand the current operations and conditions of the roadway for all transportation users.
- Community Engagement to understand community concerns and inform potential changes, sharing how community input has been considered in outcomes.
- Corridor Design Evaluation Framework to assess potential lane configuration/reconfiguration alternatives and other safety and mobility improvements on the corridor.
- Draft Design Concepts that provide opportunities for the public and partners to provide input on possible corridor design options for different segments of the corridor.
- Final Design Concept that achieves City and Project goals as well as incorporates community needs for the corridor.
- Preliminary Striping Plan for the recommended Final Design Concept of the corridor.
- Corridor Safety Projects identification that can be implemented through the Comprehensive Plan update or longer-term not addressed by the Project to be incorporated into future City work.
The Project Team will present to the City of Vancouver’s Transportation and Mobility Commission for review and feedback throughout the Project and for a recommended design concept.
