Within the proposed Transportation Master Plan, contains the proposal for a Transit Quality Network.
It is identifying where the City may want to explore placing a “quality transit network” service improvements. The plan includes operational improvements such as transit priority at traffic lights and dedicated travel lanes for all or part of the day.
In areas with no physical constraints to having a 4-lane road, the City is recommending that they widen 2-lane arterial roads into 4-lanes wherever Guelph Transit anticipates future transit routes. This would be better for traffic flow. Cars can continue to move to the other lane to avoid a stopped bus for example and give the City the opportunity to possibly make these lanes dedicated to transit lanes.
As seen on the map below, the dashed yellow lines are where the City would explore the opportunity to convert an existing 4-lane road to have the curb lane be a future dedicated transit lane (all or part of the day). The dashed orange line on the map shows where the City believes it will need to widen a two-lane arterial road to have this option available.
The solid orange line is where the City will run into physical or environmental constraints and cannot widen the road. A good example would be Gordon Street between the University and the river. This means that the City’s only option along with this and other sections are to optimize transit operations with signal timing, service operations, and other measures that do not change the road.
At the end of the day, the Transportation Master Plan is primarily looking at the physical changes to the road network that need to be done such as widening the roads and changes to how the City designs roads. It also looks at high-level policies to guide future transportation-related work. For example, it will direct City Staff to do a future transit master plan to implement these recommendations.
The future Transit Master Plan, starting in 2022, would look at changes in ridership, available road capacity, and all available technology to determine if, where, and when Guelph Transit and the City would move toward dedicated transit lanes.
- With files from J. Jackson and City of Guelph.
