Banff ready to meet with Parks Canada to tackle congestion to Sulphur Mountain, and on town roads

When it comes to tackling congestion, Town of Banff officials are an eager partner waiting for Parks Canada to step up to the plate and act on recommendations released last month by a panel of experts. 

Parks Canada commissioned a panel made up of planners, transit engineers and park management experts to come up with a strategy that will help ease Banff National Park's longstanding congestion issues back in 2021.

Last month, the panel released its report: Moving People Sustainably in the Banff Bow Valley.

The document has pages of ideas and suggestions, the majority centring around a common goal: keeping personal vehicles out of the park by encouraging visitors to make alternative plans like hopping on mass transit. 

The Town of Banff has been working toward this goal on its own for years. But councillors and officials say to make the biggest impact, they can't do it alone. 

"For far too long the town of Banff has basically been left to fend for itself to deal with congestion," said Councillor Grant Canning during a town meeting, Monday.

"We have tried so many things over the years to do just that and it is getting increasingly harder and harder…the fact is congestion within the town of Banff is not just a town of Banff problem, it is a Banff National Park problem."

A report to councillors Monday outlined the Town of Banff's response to the panel report, which is currently out for public feedback until Feb. 5th. Parks Canada will compile a "what we heard" report and wrap up its internal study of various strategies outlined in the document before revealing next steps. 

According to the Town of Banff, based on projected demands calculated back in 2016 they need 1,000 parking stalls at each of Banff's entryways by the year 2045 to accommodate visitor demands. 

Currently, the town has made strides on what they call an intercept lot located at the Norquay Road exit, where a 500-stall lot encourages people to abandon their vehicles for free and take transit instead of circling the town for limited parking stalls in the peak summer season. 

The town's paid parking program, which was put into effect in 2021 is already paying for several mobility and environmental projects, and stats have shown a major shift to transit in 2022.

Town wants drivers to pay to park on Sulphur Mountain

Councillors like Canning want to see Parks Canada help deter more drivers with a paid parking approach on Sulphur Mountain, the town's biggest attraction and bottleneck.

Those parking lots are outside of the town's jurisdiction. 

"Given all the changes that are being done within the Lake Louise area, I'm still trying to understand why Parks Canada has not even entertained the thought of doing some sort of pay parking system on Sulphur Mountain," Canning said. 

One of the reasons, Enns said, Parks Canada was able to decide to remove personal vehicles from Moraine Lake and charge for parking at Lake Louise is because the nearby ski hill now has approvals in place to expand its parking lots to accommodate more stalls and act as a park and ride. 

"That's an alternative that exists to enable people to do the right thing. In the town of Banff, we do not have that alternative right now," Enns said. 

Banff is already working toward transit-only lanes paired with a multi-use pathway that would take their buses out of traffic on Mountain Ave, leading to the hot springs and gondola parking lots. According to a December report, administrators say Roam Transit buses idle for approximately 83 hours trying to trek to those attractions during the busy summer months. 

Enns told councillors that within the report some suggestions could take years, or even decades to complete while others could be quick projects for the town. 

"When it comes to areas like mobility hubs, that's a topic that we have spent an expansive amount of time thinking through," he said.

"We'd like to at least commence that visioning exercise as soon as possible … we will be indicating our willingness and availability to meet at the drop of a hat to discuss that concept."

In terms of contributing to that report, the town had its own town manager, Kelly Gibson, selected as an expert on the panel.

"I think it was really valuable to have the town of Banff's perspective there, not only at a high level but at a granular level," said Mayor Corrie DiManno. "I think that shows within this report." 

At the end of the day, the expert panel's recommendations are just that: ideas from planning experts on how to move people through the busiest National Park in Canada — what gets implemented, when, and how, is up to Parks Canada.