UTTRI associated faculty Professor Paul Hess is co-author of a new report recently made available by the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation, Active Transportation Planning Beyond the Greenbelt: The Outer Ring of the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region.
This report focus on the successes and challenges of improving active transportation infrastructure in the 19 jurisdictions (counties, regions, and cities) located in a ring outside of the Greenbelt that surrounds the urbanized core of the Greater Golden Horseshoe planning area; i.e. they are located in the more rural parts of the region where there is a more dispersed population and less contiguous centers, which are less connected to transit networks. Through a literature review, survey, interviews, and 13 featured plans and projects, the report highlights how many of the same types of strategies applicable to larger urban centres are being employed with success across the Outer Ring — this includes the types of facilities, the development of supportive policy, and public education and engagement processes.
There are also some specific strategies in the Outer Ring such as making rural highways safer for cycling by paving roadway shoulders, and building on networks of longer distance trails to support cycling recreation, tourism, and longer utilitarian trips. Many challenges such as funding and legal liability concerns are also common to jurisdictions on both sides of the Greenbelt, but there tends to be more limited and less specialized staff resources to implement improvements in the Outer Ring, and public concerns maybe different because of the less urban context and a population with a different demographic profile. Despite challenges, the goal of pursuing better active transportation infrastructure is well established, with municipalities transferring and implementing knowledge developed in more urban settings, as well as responding to unique challenges and opportunities of their own.
The work was funded through the Government of Ontario Places to Grow Implementation Fund and follows a series of reports on active transportation planning and projects in the region released since 2014 by Nancy Smith Lea at the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT), Dr. Raktim Mitra at Ryerson University, and Dr. Paul Hess of the University of Toronto.