Memo – Follow-Up Questions and Responses from CRD Transportation Governance Presentation

Memo – Follow-Up Questions and Responses from CRD Transportation Governance Presentation

TO:

Mayor & Council

FROM:

Katelyn Balzer, P.Eng. – Director of Engineering and Public Works

DATE:

2023-09-05

SUBJECT:

Follow-Up Questions and Responses from CRD Transportation Governance Presentation

Staff received the following responses from CRD Staff with regards to the three outstanding questions from the CRD Transportation Governance Presentation (on August 21st, 2023) as follows:

1. What are the top five capital projects the CRD currently has waiting, and are they related to transportation governance?

• Given the size of the region, it is difficult to produce a “top 5” capital projects list. In relation to transportation, the biggest project on the list is the regional trail widening and lighting and trestle replacement project. The CRD Board approved a funding strategy for this work valued at $50M, which would see the Board seek borrowing authority to accelerate project delivery.

2. Has the CRD undertaken any analysis of success rates of the region and municipalities in applying for federal and provincial grants? Are we more powerful as a bigger population or as smaller municipalities?

• To answer this question, CRD staff looked at funding provided through BikeBC, a grant program for local governments to cost-share implementation of cycling infrastructure costs with the province. Staff looked at data from 2015-2023. Note this is not a comprehensive analysis of all available transportation grants.
• The CRD makes up 8% of the population available for BikeBC funding. The CRD and local governments around the region have generally attracted more than its population share worth of funding. Funding has gone to projects such as regional trail improvements, the development of active transportation plans and bike lane construction on local roads.
• Additional analysis is needed to determine how those grants have helped build out the active transportation network, how the grants are distributed to municipalities around the region and the ratio of grant-funded vs. capital project funded projects. This analysis is possible, just not within the time limit provided. It may be helpful to raise this as a research topic through a transportation working group meeting.

3. Why are so many trips being made into Colwood?

• I confirmed with the team that the answer I provided was correct – the map splits Saanich and Victoria into a number of smaller geographies, which if added together would represent more trips than into Colwood. The 2022 O-D Survey will have more detailed information about trip origins and destinations, shown on p.2 of the municipal summary documents. For reference, this is what the table looks like.