Virtual Open House #2
To meet the needs of residents, businesses and visitors, the City of Vaughan is working on a new Vaughan Transportation Plan. The new plan will identify projects that will help meet your transportation needs as Vaughan grows. Your feedback is important and will help shape the future. Public and stakeholder consultation is an essential component of the Vaughan Transportation Plan.
The commenting period for this virtual open house is open from Tuesday, April 5, 2022 to Friday, April 29, 2022. Comments can also be emailed to transportationplan@vaughan.ca.
If you have any questions or accessibility requirements, please contact: Tel: 905-832-2281 or email: transportationplan@vaughan.ca.
Land Acknowledgement
We respectfully acknowledge that the City of Vaughan is situated in the Territory and Treaty 13 lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We also recognize the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat and the Haudenosaunee.
The City of Vaughan is currently home to many First Nations, Métis and Inuit people today. As representatives of the people of the City of Vaughan, we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and live in this territory.
Welcome to Virtual Open House #2
Introduction
The City of Vaughan is one of Ontario's fastest-growing cities - home to approximately 342,000 residents and 240,000 jobs. Today, the majority of people in Vaughan choose to travel using their private vehicle. This is because the City was built for cars - homes, shops, recreation, and places of work are located at great distances from each other, resulting car travel being the most convenient travel choice for nearly all activities. As the City grew, traffic congestion increased as well. Prior to COVID-19, peak hour traffic congestion was a top concern among residents.
In Phase 1 of the Vaughan Transportation Plan (VTP) study, the project team presented a Problem and Opportunity Statement and explored four Alternative Solutions for the transportation network that identified projects which will provide more ways to travel and get you where you need to go. These alternatives were presented to the public at Public Open House #1 between November 18 to December 9, 2021 and a Live Virtual Event was hosted on November 23, 2021.
If you were unable to participate in past public consultation events, information about the study including past consultation events is available at vaughan.ca/TransportationPlan.
The Study is now in Phase 2, and a Draft Preferred Alternative for the transportation network has been developed based on feedback received during Phase 1. The purpose of this Virtual Open House is to gather feedback on the Draft Preferred Alternative, implementation plan, and present additional policy recommendations from this study, with some examples on how the network and policy recommendations can improve your travel.
We welcome your thoughts, comments and feedback on the projects identified in the Draft Preferred Alternative and the policy recommendations. We also welcome suggestions for projects that will help us give you, your family, and future residents, and businesses in Vaughan a high-quality, cost-effective, safe, and environmentally friendly transportation system.
Goals
Objectives
Study Process and Timeline
The Vaughan Transportation Plan is being conducted in accordance with the requirements of Phases 1 and 2 of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process. This means that it will:
- Identify the problems and opportunities for the transportation system in Vaughan.
- Determine future transportation networks (alternative solutions) to these problems or take advantage of the available opportunities.
- Evaluate the future transportation networks to recommend a preferred network.
- Identify appropriate policies to support a sustainable transportation system.
- Encourage users to choose the form of transportation that best meets their needs.
As the preferred transportation network is finalized, your input will help us understand what you want the future of transportation to look like, and how to best meet the needs of future generations of visitors, businesses and families who will live, work and play in Vaughan.
Problem and Opportunity Statement
Vaughan is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Canada. The VTP is a long-term blueprint to move people and goods safely, efficiently and sustainably, supporting current and future residents, businesses and visitors.
There are opportunities to improve the city's transportation system. The city has largely been built for the private vehicle resulting in large proximity between land uses, reliance on private vehicle travel, and traffic congestion.
As the city intensifies through provincial and regional transit investments, there are opportunities to address the needs for all modes of travel.
Special emphasis should be placed on addressing active transportation and transit needs - including the connectivity and safety of active transportation infrastructure and the accessibility and frequency of transit service.
By building the right infrastructure, encouraging a culture change, and thinking forward, the City has an opportunity provide high-quality, attractive, competitive and sustainable mobility choices.
Alternatives and Evaluation Criteria
In Phase 1 of this study, the project team explored four Alternative Solutions for the transportation network. These solutions were presented to the public at Public Open House #1.
The alternative solutions were evaluated based on the criteria below:
Accessibility and Connectivity
Does the alternative make it easier for users to get to more route options?
Environmental Stewardship
Does the alternative support environmental goals and objectives?
Equity
Does the alternative provide better transportation choices and experiences for all users?
Financial Sustainability
Is the alternative cost effective?
Reliability and Resilience
Does the alternative improve the reliability of infrastructure for all modes and users?
Safety
Does the alternative provide more safe travel choices for all users?
What We've Learned Since Public Open House #1
A Public Open House #1 was held from November 18 to December 9, 2021 and live event was held on November 23, 2021. Thank you to everyone who has participated. Here are the key messages we heard from the public:
Build Infrastructure
- Create a safer walking environment throughout Vaughan to make it easier to get to places on foot and via transit.
- Create protected bike routes so that people can cycle comfortably to work, school, shopping and other services.
- Address gaps in the street network, particularly in the east-west direction to create better connectivity for all modes of travel.
Change Culture
- Focus on building complete communities to reduce the need for and distance of travel.
- Support improved, frequent and reliable transit service, which precedes or coincides with development and not afterwards.
- Encourage employers to add bike racks, change and shower facilities to make it easier to cycle to work.
Think Forward
- Create sustainable transportation options by encouraging new development to include electric vehicle charging stations.
- Consider new services such as electric “on-demand” transportation to make the transportation system more equitable, providing all residents with more ways to get around without having to rely on driving themselves.
- Consider the transportation needs of the aging population - including increasing accessibility to transit with more specialized transit options for seniors.
Transportation Network Recommendations
Based on evaluation results and feedback received from the public, Alternative 3: Multi Modal is the recommended transportation network solution. Alternative 3: Multi Modal includes all recommendations from Alternative 2: Green Alternative and a subset of road network improvements from Alternative 1: New Road Alternative.
The map below illustrates the projects included in Alternative 3. Click on “open layer list” on the left menu bar to view, hide or highlight specific groups of projects.
*Road extension technically justified but will not be implemented as per Council resolution.
How Does Alternative 3: Multi-Modal Meet the Goals of the Plan?
Build Infrastructure
Investing in accessible, safe, and efficient infrastructure is key to offering residents and visitors mobility choices. Ensuring that all users, whether they be walking, cycling, riding a bus or driving, can move around safely and efficiently is a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly strategy to address congestion and accommodate growth in the transportation system.
Change Culture
Changing culture means changing attitudes and perceptions towards walking, cycling, and taking transit. In order to do this, infrastructure needs to be safe and attractive to use, and people need to know where and how to use it. Alternative 3 can achieve this by proposing new transportation infrastructure across the entire City for all types of users.
Think Forward
Thinking forward means that we need to anticipate the transportation needs for the future population. City intensification and population growth means that people need different options to get from Point A to Point B safely and conveniently. A Multi Modal alternative will provide residents and visitors with better alternative transportation choices and experiences for all users.
How can the Transportation Network Recommendations Improve my Travel?
Alternative 3: Multi-Modal provides residents and visitors with equally attractive travel options.
- As Vaughan grows, it makes sense to balance investments in different forms of transportation. This will allow growth to occur with less impact on the existing transportation system. In addition, people take trips for different reasons, and having more options means better choices for all users.
- Projects recommended in Alternative 3 will provide continuous active transportation routes such as protected bike lanes, multi-use paths, and sidewalk improvements to promote sustainable and healthy travel.
- The implementation of more rapid transit network will improve access to high quality and sustainable travel modes to residents and visitors.
- Road improvement projects recommended in Alternative 3 will provide additional connectivity for both drivers and goods movement.
Implementation Plan
The implementation plan organizes projects in the recommended alternative (Alternative 3) for different timeframes: immediate (within 5 years), short-term (5 to 10 years), medium-term (10 to 20 years), and long-term (20 years and beyond), and deliver with development.
The methodology involves prioritizing projects initially by transportation needs and opportunities using the following indicators:
- Transportation indicators, such as travel time and connectivity;
- Land use indicators, such as population density and presence of intensification areas;
- Equity indicators, such as areas with a proportion of low-income households and residents new to Canada;
- Safety indicators, such as presence of school zones and collision-prone locations.
Project delivery would also be prioritized based on capital resources (cost and funding), delivery resources (staffing) and would be subject to further study as required by the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process. Each year, the City will re-evaluate the prioritization and timing of projects in concert with the annual budget process.
Policy Recommendations
One of the goals of the VTP is to think forward. In addition to recommending infrastructure improvements, the VTP reviews City’s current policies, emerging technologies, and industry trends, and proposes action plans to anticipate the transportation needs for the future. Key policy recommendations are highlighted in this section.
- Evaluate opportunities to build in climate resilient actions into the project planning process.
- Examine opportunities to redesign infrastructure to increase climate resilience.
- Continue to monitor infrastructure at risk due to climate change.
Extreme weather and other events can cause major disruption or even debilitate everyday travel. A more resilient transportation infrastructure means that the city’s transportation network can withstand weather events better, minimizing the impacts to residents, businesses and visitors.
- Prioritize active transportation infrastructure and shared micro-mobility (e-bike and e-scooter) hubs near major transit station areas and key destinations.
- Coordinate with development to implement fine-grid street and active transportation networks to increase walkability and connections to transit and other amenities.
- Apply the Vaughan Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Guideline to implement improvements within new developments.
15-Minute Neighbourhoods are compact, well-connected places with a diverse mix of land-uses. They are complete communities that support active transportation and transit, reduce car dependency, and enable people to live car-light or car free. New developments within these communities should provide more mobility choices, and support walking, cycling and transit use.
- Dynamic parking pricing in areas with high curbside activities.
- Implementing parklets on City land in areas with front-facing retail.
- Electric vehicle chargers integrated with streetlights in residential areas or areas with high curbside activity.
- Flexible streets and temporary road closures for public events.
Maximizing infrastructure value means finding more ways to take advantage of the City’s transportation assets. This could generate social or economic benefits, such as better managed curbside activities to ease congestion, flexible usage of the street to allow for public events or patio usage, or generating revenue for the City that can be used to invest in more transportation services.
- Develop safer fleet practices, including goods movement vehicles designed to mitigate risks and impacts to vulnerable roadway users.
- Develop a goods movement strategy and truck route network, in collaboration with York Region and other partners, to allocate trucking movements to compatible areas.
- Partner with interested businesses to pilot cargo bike operations in urban areas of Vaughan.
The city experiences a high volume of truck movement, which produces a significant amount of noise, emissions, congestion, comfort and safety concerns for vulnerable road users, and accelerated wear on roads. The benefit of investing in a goods movement strategy is to balance the needs of the City’s residents and freight-dependent businesses.
- Investigate future mobility technologies such as automated vehicles and shared mobility.
- Support development of GTHA-wide operations and infrastructure standards for connected and automated vehicles.
- Support implementation of a shared mobility hub network (including shared e-bikes and e-scooters) to provide more sustainable mobility choices.
Investigating the future of mobility as a policy direction helps the City to think ahead, stay up-to-date, and prepare for emerging technologies. New mobility technology has the potential to provide numerous benefits, including road safety, decreased emissions, and increased accessibility for those who are unable to operate a vehicle. However, there are concerns related to the level of regulation, safety standards, and liability implications.
- Invest in more comprehensive data collection programs to inform decision making for all modes of travel, including heavy vehicle movement data.
- Continue to work with York Region to collect and standardize data to inform street safety, traffic operations, and use of new transportation options.
Transportation data collection is central to good public-sector decision-making for city building. The origins and destinations of trips, transportation mode split, traffic volumes, and turn movements are a small sample of the types of data the city currently collects. Investing in more advanced data collection programs and methods will help the City to better understand the travel needs of today and tomorrow.
Next Steps
Thank you for participating; your input is very valuable to us!
Please fill out the comment box below to provide any additional input. The comment period for this virtual open house will remain open until Friday, April 29, 2022. Comments can also be emailed to transportationplan@vaughan.ca.
For more information visit us at: vaughan.ca/TransportationPlan
If you have any questions or accessibility requirements, please contact us: 905-832-2281 OR transportationplan@vaughan.ca.