Ms. Monica Russell…

Ms. Monica Russell
Senior Policy Analyst
Ministry of Transportation (MTO)
Policy and Planning Division, Transportation Planning Branch Environmental Policy Office (Toronto)
777 Bay Street, Suite 3000
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 2J8
Phone: (416) 585-6310

EBR 013-0190

Re: Draft Provincial Cycling Network, Inaccurate Picture of Cycling in Durham, Lack of connectivity in North Durham, and reflection of desire lines.

Dear Ms. Russell:

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment on the Draft Provincial Cycling Network part of #CycleON 1.0. As a resident of Durham my first concern is that the Regional Cycling Plan 2008, and subsequent drafts created by the Region of Durham, have not included the cycling clubs and groups and other stakeholders in that process. Similarly the Region has not had any form of oversite committee too review and comment on those networks. PICs have been completed to allow for some small amount of public comment. But at those PIC's routes are already presented to the public, and the public is asked to comment. Similar to the process MTO is completing now.

As a result, the Region of Durham, and now MTO have an incomplete and inaccurate picture of cycling in our area. It is not a reflection of the routes that people who ride bikes regularly use, nor is it a reflection of routes that necessarily need the most attention for; Public Safety, Access to Transit to increase Multimodal trips and connectivity between Settlement areas.

My suggestion is instead of collecting data from stakeholders who's primary concern is liability, construction costs and long term maintenance costs, first collect the data from the users. To see how investment into higher order networks, could improve the existing network in use today by those end users. (You can't improve the network of routes used today, if the Region of Durham refuses to take stalk of where people are already riding.). I think of this as the "Rat is never wrong". (Unless the Rat is a consultant)

By not collecting data on where people ride, we have seen "demolition through neglect" of certain route because of substantial growth in durham. No consideration has been given to cyclist as users of these routes and as such they are now not safely rideable. (Conlin Road is one, Ritson south of Winchester, Thornton Road) etc. Luckily in north durham this has not occurred to the same extent. But we have had tier 2 roads that are chip and seal deteriorate to beyond a level that can be ridden. (Cartwright East 1/4 Line Divetts to Mount Joy, Scugog Line 6, until recent Ashburn. I can list others that are rapidly deteriorating with Vac trucks using to dump loads on Greenbelt/Oak Ridge Moraine lands.)

As the Draft Cycling Network is proposed though the Ministry of Transportation. I would expect a Transportation focus, as opposed to a recreation focus. As such, the Green Belt route and Trans Canada Trail, are wonderful recreation routes, but provide little value as transportation options. For example, It might have been desirable to have a train run between Uxbridge and Lindsay, but It is not a common desire line for transportation. It is a great route for recreation opportunities. (And it is popular for that.). I would be disappointed to see resources mean for Higher Order networks to be steer to recreational routes. Perhaps in the future a recreational network could be proposed by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, it would have more routes like this, including the trails in Durham Forest, Walker Woods, Dagmar and probably the Oak Ridge Moraine Trail as well. But as a MTO project I believe it should have a transportation focus.

As the GreenBelt plan released has indicated that the Greenbelt communities are to be sustainable, including economically with that in mind they need assistance with expensive transportation networks on higher order roads. These will be used regularly by locals to access neighboring communities, transit such as GO, DRT, argitoursim locations such as WillowTree Farms, Trading Post, Purple Woods, The Great Blue Heron and other tourists draws as well.

Previous experience in talking to MTO has not been productive. Our family farm is located on 7a between Port Perry and Manchester(2 km) on main GO bus route, and a commonly ridden route by migrant farm workers. The farm is a mere 200 meters from the Urban Boundary of Port Perry. But yet remains unsafe to ride there. In discussions with MTO engineers, when paving last year.. I suggested repeatedly paving the shoulders could make it safer for all users. (Even more then the 12" on the inside of the white line...18" or 24" would help). I was told from MTO staff that doing this would encourage people to cycle this route and that is not what MTO wants to do. So in essence I was instructed that some routes should be made kept less safe to discourage use and despite the possibility of multimodal GO transit access and tying 2 almost touching Greenbelt communities together. I was further instructed to refer to Bikeways and that the only safe option would be to provide a separate MUP, 7m away from the road. This would have to be done at our lower tier municipalities expense, entirely. (MTO is only interested in moving vehicles, equal users need not be considered...check your the number of people moved counts on these rural routes....or should I say vehicle counts..MTO would say zero cyclists. Any route for that matter is zero because traffic counts do not consider other users in our area and unfairly weight SOV's.)

Currently Scugog Township has 200+ million dollars in road work to complete. It is growing at 5% a year. With an operating budget, smaller then Rouge National Park (180 Million /10 years), and all the responsibilities to a population of 22,000 (3 Ice rinks, 10 community centers, 432 km of roads..etc etc.) Spread across a large geographical area, sandwiched between the Inner Ring and Outer ring, our roads are seeing increased volumes of cross cutters, larger trucks and more frequent speeders. The Cycling network is important to our citizens and getting it right is important. Unfortunately the Greenbelt Model created for our NET ZERO municipality is not sustainable, and I firmly believe this will play out over time. As a resident and a small farmer (5 hectare), I am looking for the Province to in create sustainable models for the GreenBelt and the cycling plan, coupled with transit is an important part of that plan.

Below are comments I have drafted up for both the Region of Durham and the Township of Scugog.

At this time we would like to comment on the Draft Provincial Cycling Network part of #CycleON 1.0. Of primary and immediate concern is the lack of connectivity of Port Perry to the provincial cycling network. Port Perry, is a fully greenbelted community with little growth. Tourism is a key economic driver in our community. Not having Scugog connected will seriously hinder our business to attract cyclist to our area and limit the ability of our citizens to cycle to other urban areas (UOIT in Oshawa would be a desire route). Scugog has barriers that make it picturesque, yet difficult to navigate by bicycle: those being Lake Scugog, which presents a significant east west barrier for riders and, the Oak Ridges Moraine Trail to the south (leaving only 3 locations across along the entire width of the municipality. And basically only 3 locations between York Durham line and Highway 35 and beyond approximately 50Km (Ashburn, Old Simcoe- Simcoe, Old Scugog, difficult at Airport Lands...)(and past 35 is not much better all the way to Millbrook because Ganaraska is on the South)

This can be immediately repaired by recognizing and establishing the Northern and West portion of the original Scugog Country side loop front the Greenbelt Map as part of the Provincial Cycling Network and establish it as the designated Greenbelt Route. Scugog is working hard to complete road repairs to the 6th Line, a key part of this route. We need assistance in particular to establish Simcoe Street, Shirley Road to Coates (at minimum, Raglan would be preferable (the current main Greenbelt route))

Highway 7A must be established as an east west corridor for Scugog. 7A is the only road to Scugog Island (Durham Regional Road 7), home of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nations and Great Blue Heron Casino , and the only really direct route to our four eastern Hamlets (Blackstock, Cadmus, Nestleton and Caesarea (Lake Scugog here is also a draw). Cycling connections to the First Nations lands benefit both residents and visitors (tourists), alike.

The other east-west corridor that needs to be established is Shirley Road (Durham Regional Road 19), this is the common route for riders to travel east-west in Scugog, but far removed from the desire line of 7A as a connector. 7A is routinely used to link cyclists from Old Scugog Road to Durham Regional Road 57 north to Caesarea, and beyond to Kawartha Lakes.

The routes above and the following need to be included on MTO’s cycling network:

Simcoe St. - Shirley Road to Raglan Road Old Simcoe - Port Perry - Queen St. to Simcoe St. (Durham Regional Road 2) Scugog Line 6 - Port Perry Queen St. to Marsh Hill Road Coates Road – Simcoe (Durham 2) to Hwy 12 Scugog/Whitby Townline - Hwy 12 to Ashburn Shirley Road(Durham 19) - Simcoe St. to Durham 57 7A Port Perry East to Island Road (Durham 7) 7A Blackstock to Durham 57 (Caesarea) 7A Island Road (Durham 7) to Blackstock 7A Durham 57 to Nestleton Island Road (Durham 7) 7A to Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nations* Simcoe St.(Durham 2) - Shirley Road to Port Perry to Seagrave to Brock Township Old Scugog - Durham 57 to Burkton Durham 57 - 7a to Caesarea to Hwy 35 Edgerton Road - Durham 57 to Scugog Manverse Townline Devitts Road - Durham 57 to Scugog Manverse Townline Scugog Manvers Townline - Edgerton Road to Devitts Road Hwy 12 Whitby to Brock Township 7A - Queen St to Manchester Hwy 12 Lake Ridge Road (Durham Regional Road 23) Scugog Townline, north to Oak Ridges Moraine Trail Scugog Line 4 Old Simcoe to Hwy 12 Cartright East 1/4 Line Cadmus to Mount Joy Road Mount Joy Road Cartright East 1/4 Line to Old Scugog Nestleton Road Hwy 57 to Edgerton Road Cartright West 1/4 Line Shirley Road to Hwy 7a A long term route to Brock township should be investicated...Old Simcoe from Port Perry North to Brock 18/18a....currently a beautiful gravel road route.

We recommend that the province adopt a policy regarding a minimum width paved shoulder, (Book 18 Guidelines recommend a minimum of 1.2 meters for on-road cyclists, but we understand 1.5 meters is also being considered). It should be noted that if a paved should policies be adopted by the province, this would support the connections in this submission, including Highways 7A and 12. Similarly, should the Region of Durham adopt a similar policy, many of the routes would be rectified, without specific facilities required.

Thank you for the consideration of our submission and we look forward to working with the Province of Ontario to build long term links to our communities for our residents and tourists alike. We are excited that MTO is moving to create its network and look forward to being a part of it.

Regards.

*Indigenous lands are shown on the Draft Cycling Network map with the exception of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nations. This should be noted as a destination on MTO’s planned network.

[Original Comment ID: 209484]