Thunder Bay developing new transportation master plan

Street design, bike lanes, transit routes and how best to get people and goods around town are all under the microscope as city officials and consultants in Thunder Bay, Ont. work on a new transportation master plan.

The city held the first of three planned public forums on the issue Wednesday.

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The document, which, at this point, is scheduled to go to city council for approval in December would replace the existing transportation plan which was drawn up in 1989.

It was designed around cars, by-and-large- Consultant Brian Hollingworth on Thunder Bay's transportation network

"Back then the direction was really around capacity planning," said Kayla Dixon, Thunder Bay's engineering and operations director, adding that it primarily focused on vehicles and roads.

"So lots of recommendations around road widening, intersection improvements, parking improvements, that kind of thing," she said.

The new plan being drawn up is intended to act as a guide to how Thunder Bay's transportation system will look over the next 20 years or so. That means setting policy for how things like roads, sidewalks, bike lanes, transit and traffic flow are managed and updated.

"Thunder Bay has — I call it great bones — it's got a great transportation network but it was designed around cars by-and-large," said Brian Hollingworth, the lead consultant with IBI Group Inc.

"The way cities are moving [now] to provide more opportunities for walking and cycling ... it's about re-balancing the street network."

Open house draws a crowd

The public meeting at the Italian Cultural Centre on Wednesday drew a crowd of city residents who were asked to give input on what they'd like to see in future planning.

People jotted down ideas or areas for improvement and posted them onto poster boards, filled out surveys and asked questions of city staff and the consulting team.

Several residents who attended spoke to CBC News about things like bettering amenities for cyclists and pedestrians and improving traffic flow, with some suggesting a move towards turning some major arteries into one-way streets.

"There's lot of extra lanes there, so to have dedicated cycle traffic I think would be really safe, really easy to do," said Bill Jerome.

"I've lived in other cities where they have one-way streets, it doesn't get in the way of you trying to get somewhere, you can actually get there much easier."

Officials said the next open house is tentatively scheduled for the spring.