On January 24, 2022, City Council approved Guelph’s Transportation Master Plan (TMP), endorsing the vision, policies and programs to create a sustainable and resilient transportation network over the next 30 years and improve how people and goods move around the city.

In May 2021, Council approved the Sustainability and Resiliency Focus transportation solution as the preferred alternative in the TMP. With the master plan now approved, the City of Guelph will:

• adopt a Vision Zero approach to road design and operations, a traffic safety initiative based on the philosophy that no loss of life is acceptable on city roads
• commit to a transportation system that supports a net zero carbon future and improves connectivity for all ages and abilities across all modes of transportation including walking, biking, driving, transit and mobility devices
• update the non-auto mode share target (per cent of daily trips made by everything other than cars and trucks) to 42 per cent by 2051
• establish an Emerging Transportation Technology Office to monitor, pilot, study and recommend measures to accommodate evolving technologies including car and bike share programs, drones and autonomous vehicles
• develop a transportation systems management strategy to address road congestion, access, transit priority and curbside management such as passenger or goods drop-off zones
• create a new Pedestrian Master Plan to replace the 2017 Sidewalk Needs Assessment
• develop a Goods Movement Strategy to update and support the local and regional economy

City staff will also build a protected cycling network and a core on- and off-street active transportation network that is maintained throughout winter, implement a staged quality transit network and update the transportation policies in the Official Plan. Read the report for a full list of master plan outcomes.

The Transportation Master Plan reflects four stages of community engagement that took place from 2019 to 2021 and is a priority action of the Strategic Plan: Guelph. Future Ready. This plan presents the opportunity to address multiple strategic priorities identified by the community in Guelph’s Community Plan. Implementing the master plan will help reduce societal health care costs by reducing collision severity, contribute to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and increase active transportation to support healthy living.

The cost to design and implement complete and connected roads moving forward, as laid out in the master plan, represents an increase between zero to seven per cent above the average cost of road reconstruction costs in 2021 up to a total of $26 million over 10 years. The long-term cost to maintain roads is estimated at $376,200 annually by 2031.

Next steps

A final document will be published as a Municipal Class Master Plan Environmental Assessment in spring 2022. This document represents the completion of phases 1 and 2 of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process and will serve as the basis for future investigations for specific projects identified in the master plan.

Moving forward, staff will update the master plan every five years to ensure the transportation model reflects updated population and employment growth, as well as report on key performance indicators.

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