Car-Crazy in Canada

A mere 4% of rush hour commuters in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan use public transit, and car-pooling is "non-existent", according to reporter David Hutton. But with traffic at a standstill, transportation planners are changing tack.

November 1, 2010, 8am PDT | Tim Halbur

"The city's development model has prioritized construction of roads for private vehicles over other modes of transportation," writes Hutton.

"Building interchanges has always been thought of as a basic civic right in most cities, while transit and other modes have been viewed as a service from which costs must be recovered."

Transportation officials are tossing out the last transportation plan from 1991 and replacing it with new ideas:

"This means developing a plan for pedestrians, installing more cycling paths, considering dedicated bus lanes, park and ride bus services, high-occupancy vehicle lanes and plotting out corridors for rapid bus transit bus routes and an eventual move to light-rail transit, a billion-dollar proposition that Mayor Don Atchison has said is critical to plan ahead for."

Full Story:

At a crossroads: Can a solution to Saskatoon's overloaded roadways be found?

Published on Saturday, October 30, 2010 in The Star Phoenix