The City of Peterborough Approaches the Finalization of the Transportation Master Plan

The City of Peterborough’s Transportation Master Plan update is entering its final stages and City Council is considering giving direction on targets for encouraging people to reduce the use of personal automobiles and taking a more strategic approach to investments in roads.

Photo courtesy of the City of Peterborough.

The report, which is available at peterborough.ca, will be presented at City Council’s General Committee meeting on Monday, November 8, 2021.

Over the next 30 years, the goal would be to increase walking and cycling to 25% of all trips in the City, to increase transit use to 10% of all trips, and to reduce auto travel to 65% of all trips.

The 2012 Transportation Master Plan established a target for 2031 that included 8% of all trips being made by walking and cycling. By 2018, with investments in new infrastructure and services, over 10% of all trips are currently being made on foot or by bike.

Encouraging a significant shift in the way residents travel around the City forms a major part of the recommended new Transportation Strategy – as this is critical to achieving the community’s vision for transportation in 2051, and in supporting the City’s Climate Change goals.

To achieve this shift, the proposed strategy for the new Transportation Plan will include supporting policies and aggressive investments in the cycling, sidewalk and trail networks in order to encourage approximately one in four trips in the City to be made on foot or by bike by 2051.

Policy measures such as higher costs for all-day paid parking, expanding paid parking to new areas of the City, and reducing transit fares for youth to encourage early adoption of transit, would be combined with improved frequency of transit service to encourage approximately one in ten travelers to choose transit for their trip making.

Even with the aggressive goals for shifts to non-auto travel, there will be a need to consider road improvements; however, the recommended strategy adopts a more strategic approach to determining the priorities for road network investment.

Road and intersection improvements that improve traffic flow, enhance safety, and support efficient transit will be prioritized over adding new capacity.

A Transportation Master Plan (TMP) is strategic planning document that establishes the overall direction for transportation planning, transportation policy development, and identifies investments in infrastructure and services that are recommended to accommodate growth, often over a 20- to 30-year horizon.

TMP’s are intended to be reviewed and updated every five to 10 years to account for changes to the planning context in a community, including changes to growth forecasts, changes to the way people travel, implications of external initiatives (such as Via Rail), evolving community priorities, and the resulting changes to policy and infrastructure needs that may arise.

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