The objective of the…

The objective of the province’s plan is to identify a long-term aspirational network of cycling routes across Ontario that will: •Promote recreational cycling and cycle tourism, •Connect municipal cycling routes and places of interest, •Identify areas of provincial infrastructure that should accommodate cycling; and, •Prioritize future cycling infrastructure investments on provincial highways.

While it was difficult to interpret what was being depicted due to the small scale and resolution of the pdf file, in reviewing the ‘Province Wide Cycling Network South’ map, we found inaccuracies and omissions. For instance while the Waterfront, Greenbelt and Humber Valley trails are included in the current draft province wide network, only the southern Mississauga portion of the existing Etobicoke Creek trail is shown, and then only as part of the “connecting cycling network” not as part of the Province Wide Network. Much of the trail portion in Mississauga is shown as existing off road while in reality much of the off-road trail segments exist only in very rough, unimproved form and most of the trail is on the road. Also, none of the existing trail between the 407 and Bovaird is shown while in reality this trail exists and most of it off-road.

We believe, given that the primary purpose of the cycling network is to, “connect the regions of the province, providing access to major communities and destinations”, that the exclusion of the Etobicoke Creek Trail from the Cycling Network is a major omission to the plan that needs to be corrected. We would ask that the province include the Etobicoke Creek Trail in the cycling network for the following reasons: •Brampton is currently the 9th largest city in Canada with a population forecasted to exceed 900,000 by 2031. The current draft of the cycling network would only provide services to Brampton through an extension to the West Humber Trail on the very eastern edge of the City, •Brampton has an active an growing cycling population that uses the multi-use trail network for both recreation and utilitarian purposes, •The Etobicoke Creek Trail currently runs for over 23 kilometres through the middle of Brampton and is within a 10 minute bike ride of more than 50% of Brampton’s current 600,000 plus population, •With the help of an OMCIP grant the Etobicoke Creek Trail was extended 3 kilometres into south Caledon in 2016 and now connects with Kennedy Road, •With the addition of trail and road signage and relatively small infrastructure investments, the trail could be extended to the north partly using existing roads to connect with the Greenbelt Trail. •With the help of an OMCIP grant, the Etobicoke Creek Trail is in the process of being extended to the south to connect into existing trail sections in Mississauga, •In Mississauga, there are an additional 10 kilometres of off road trail currently in place, running along portions of Mississauga’s eastern border with Etobicoke, •A ‘Sherway trail extension’ is currently funded and being planned that would create a trail connection under the QEW, •Once these sections are in place it would take very little additional infrastructure investment to fill in gaps yielding a contiguous trail, (composed of both on and off road segments), that would connect the Greenbelt Trail in the North to the Waterfront Trail to the South, potentially providing active transportation services to over 1 million Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga residents and employees, •The placement of this completed trail would provide unique, unparalleled access connecting residential areas, employment lands, commercial centres and downtown cores, •The trail would also run parallel to Centennial Park in Etobicoke providing access for connection to the PanAm path network into Toronto, •Positioned as a scenic, safe and accessible active transportation corridor, the Etobicoke Creek Trail will be a draw for cycle tourism with an obvious and easy connection between major recreational trails plus the connection between Toronto centre west and Caledon.

As another omission, the Province’s plan to build a cycle track as part of the LRT implementation along Hurontario from Port Credit in Mississauga to Steeles Ave in Brampton is not shown on the draft network map. While this part of the network may not be completed until 2022 we believe that, for planning purposes, it should be depicted as a proposed link in the Province-wide cycling network.

Thank you for your consideration.

[Original Comment ID: 209245]