Elgin St Thomas Cycling Master Plan A Project of the Healthy Communities Partnership Thank-you for allowing me to come and speak today. My name is Erica Arnett I am a health promoter at Elgin St. Thomas Public Health and act as the coordinator for the Healthy Communities Partnership.

Overview of Presentation Share highlights of the Active Transportation Initiative Highlight some of our achievements to date Outline the scope for the Cycling Master Plan The purpose of today’s presentation is to:

Healthy Communities Partnership The key partners around the table include the County of Elgin, the lower tier municipalities, the City of St Thomas, Elgin St. Thomas Public Health, Doug Tarry Ltd and community members at large. In addition to the Healthy Communities Partnership we have a sub-committee called the Active Transportation Technical Advisory Committee membership consists of local municipal staff that are responsible for roads, sidewalks, trails, and bike facilities. Members provide local insight and expertise on active transportation related matters and work collectively to support the implementation of the “Elgin St Thomas Active Transportation Initiative”. I acts as the chair person and as the liaison between the Technical Committee and the Healthy Communities Partnership. We have been very fortunate to have wonderful support from both Council and staff. This project could not have happened without all of the fabulous partners around the table.

Vision To create and improve active transportation and active recreation opportunities throughout Elgin St. Thomas for residents and visitors of all ages and abilities In January of this year we released this report. The report outlines our vision and is really intended to be a guidance document. The purpose was to ensure we are all using the same terminology and coming to a common understanding about AT within Elgin St Thomas. The report is available on the www.activeelgin website. The report includes: Local polling data Route selection information and recommendations for the Partnership in order to move forward. Waterfront trail is included as one of the routes for consideration.

And the Survey Says… One part of this Active Transportation Initiative included surveying residents on their opinions on active transportation. We had an exceptionally good response from the community. There were 850 survey responses gathered. Similar surveys conducted in other areas have had much lower response rates. 80% of respondents have cycled (a few times per year/month/week or everyday). 97% of respondents walk (a few times per year/month/week or everyday). Across Elgin St Thomas, 64.2% of survey respondents lived under 10km away from work or school and 36% of respondents lived under 3km from work or school. This is very important because it shows that there is a significant proportion of the population that lives close enough to work or school to make Active Transportation a viable commuting option. In addition, the new Ontario Cycling Strategy has set a target of all trips under 5km being made by bike. St Thomas is well positioned to support cycling given it is approximately 5km wide by 5km long. When asked “Should your municipality invest in active transportation?” 94% of respondents answered yes.

Achievements To Date The Active Transportation Initiative includes many recommendations and since its release in January the Partnership has had many successes based on those recommendations Establishment of an Active Transportation Technical Advisory Committee Establishment of a Citizens 4 Active Transportation Committee Lower tier municipalities have adopted the ATI report as a guidance document New Active Elgin website featuring active transportation Share the Road signs have been installed in an additional 4 municipalities across the community. The signs were one part of a comprehensive education and awareness campaign launched this summer featuring billboards, cards delivered to every home in the county, vehicle magnets, posters, newspaper ads and radio ads. -This June there were two community events a Bike Summit that had 75 people attend and a Family Bike Festival with 165 attendees. We are also working to increase the number of bike racks in the community via a partnership with Parkside Collegiate. Their Special High Skills Major Program building custom bike racks at cost for community organizations. Over the course of this year the HCP and ATTAC have had guest speakers on municipal liability and the authors of the Ontario Traffic Manual on cycling (including engineers, planners and leading consultants on Active Transportation) to share their wealth of experience with the group on how other communities are moving ahead with Active transportation and things that we should take note of. The HCP has received funding from Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, and Ministry of Transportation. In order to accomplish these activities. In order to move forward with our Active Transportation priority the committee feels that a cycling master plan for Elgin and St. Thomas is required.

Elgin St Thomas Cycling Master Plan Anticipated Deliverables of the Master Plan: Identifying cycling routes across Elgin St Thomas along with key physical constraints on each route. Identifying short and long term options to address the constraints. Prioritization of improvements (1-3,5-7,10 +years) with financial plan based on best practices, available finances and safety. The Healthy Communities Partnership is looking to hire MMM Group to lead us through the Master Plan process. MMM Group are one of Ontario’s leading consulting firms on this topic and were recently hired by the Province to develop Ontario Traffic Manual Book 18 on cycling facilities. The Partnership has outlined the need for the following deliverables from this project: Identifying cycling routes across Elgin St Thomas along with key physical constraints on each route. Identifying short and long term options to address the constraints. Prioritization of improvements (1-3,5-7,10 +years) with financial plan based on best practices, available finances and safety. One of the key routes included within this Master Plan is the Waterfron Trail.

A Project of the Healthy Communities Partnership Questions? A Project of the Healthy Communities Partnership Erica