Active Transportation Design Guide

Recommended policies, specifications, standards and guidelines to be followed in the development of active transportation infrastructure in British Columbia.

Core Documents

  • Updates
    This document will be updated over time to reflect evolving best practices.

Individual Chapters

Individual chapters of the B.C. Active Transportation Design Guide are provided in PDF format for quicker download and to enable the replacement of updated individual sections as required.

Table of Contents

Intro

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A.  Overview + Context

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       A.1 What is the British Columbia Active Transportation Design Guide? 

B.  Setting the Context

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B.1 What is Active Transportation?
B.2 Planning for Active Transportation
B.3 Universal Design
B.4 Operational and Behavioral Characteristics 

C.  Pedestrian Facilities

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C.1 General Design Guidance
C.2 Pedestrian Through Zone
C.3 Frontage. Furnishing, and Ancillary Zones
C.4 Rural Pedestrian Design Considerations

D.  Cycling Facilities

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D.1 General Design Guidance
D.2 Neighborhood Bikeways
D.3 Protected Bicycle Lanes
D.4 Painted + Buffered Bicycle Lanes
D.5 Advisory Bicycle Lanes
D.6 Rural Cycling Design Considerations

E.  Multi-Use Facilities

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E.1 General Design Guidance
E.2 Multi-Use Pathways
E.3 Separated Bicycle + Pedestrian Pathways
E.4 Shared Spaces

F.  Context Specific Applications

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F.1 Current Practices for Highway Rights-of-Way

G.  Intersections + Crossings

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G.1 General Design Guidance
G.2 Signals + Other Traffic Devices
G.3 Pedestrian Crossings
G.4 On-Street Bikeway Crossings
G.5 Off-Street Pathway Crossings
G.6 Additional Crossings + Conflict Areas

H.  Amenities + Integration

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H.1 Multi-Modal Integration (See Update for more information)
Supplement - Updated Floating Bus Stop Design Guidance (Updated October 25, 2021 -  PDF, 546KB) 

H.2 End-Point Facilities
H.3 Wayfinding
H.4 Lighting
H.5 New Mobility Integration

I.  Post Implementation

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I.1 Celebrating + Launching
I.2 Monitoring + Reporting
I.3 Maintenance

Appendices

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Acronyms
Glossary
References
A. Project Participants
B. Signage + Pavement Markings
C. Types of Traffic Calming Devices