Transportation Advisory Committee

0:02Land acknowledgement, as we gather,

0:05let us take the time to reflect on our privilege to live

0:08and work in wealth, a city built over rich indigenous histories.

0:13We are guests here and we should reflect upon

0:15the responsibility to care for this land,

0:17the people who live here today and the generations to come.

0:22If our actions today can move us towards reconciliation,

0:24we should take pause and make those decisions

0:27with intention and gratitude.

0:29This place we call wealth has served

0:31a traditional land, a place of refuge for many people over time,

0:35but more specifically, the Adro-Ronda Rack and the Hendo-No-Shih.

0:42This land is held as the treaty land

0:44and territory of the Mzisaka's of the first credit nation.

0:48Wealth lies directly adjacent to the Halakeng tract

0:51and is part of the longest established traditional underground

0:53of the six nations of the Grand River.

0:56Many First Nations and UNMT peoples called

0:59peoples who have come from across the island call wealth home today.

1:07Next item is disclosure of the Q and A or every interest

1:12and general nature thereof.

1:15I don't see any.

1:17Chair, I noticed that Member Moore has their hand raised,

1:20but that might be a legacy.

1:25Are you chair?

1:26Oh, Member Moore's put their hand down.

1:34Next item we'll be on to is a pool of the minutes.

1:37The recommendation is that the minutes of the April 16, 2026 meeting

1:43transit advisory committee be approved.

1:50Just a mover.

1:51A mover.

1:52I move.

1:55Seconder.

2:00Member Moulton.

2:02All in favor.

2:05Oh, you just asked about any opposed.

2:06Oh, any opposed?

2:08Yes, okay.

2:12Seeing none, that is carried.

2:16So moving on to the committee items,

2:18the first item is the Victoria Road, Stone Road Environmental Assessment.

2:24And Nancy, the floor is yours.

2:27All right, I'll be sharing my screen momentarily.

2:29Let me know if you folks can see it.

2:35All good?

2:36Yes.

2:39Okay, excellent.

2:40Well, welcome everyone and thank you for coming to my presentation

2:43about the Victoria Road and Stone Road Environmental Assessment.

2:46This project will study and recommend preferred solutions

2:50and preliminary designs for the roads and bridges at Victoria Road South

2:53and Stone Road East to support future travel needs previously identified

2:57in the Guelph Transportation Master Plan and the Guelph Innovation District Secondary Plan.

3:03This study will follow the process outlined in the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment Act,

3:07which is a provincially regulated process that ensures that all reasonable options

3:11are considered while minimizing potential environmental impacts

3:14and incorporating public input into the decision-making process.

3:18Phases one and two of the process were completed as part of the Guelph Transformation Master Plan in 2022,

3:24which recommended widening of Victoria Road and Stone Road.

3:28The current Victoria Road and Stone Road Schedule CEA will complete phases three and four

3:33of the Environmental Assessment process and will recommend how these roads should be widened.

3:39So the problem and opportunity statement for the project identifies that this EA study

3:44will develop the preferred road design concept to meet future anticipated traffic

3:49and travel transit needs using a complete streets approach,

3:52will implement walking and cycling facilities,

3:54and finally will upgrade stormwater management facilities to meet the requirements

3:58of the 2023 Stormwater Management Master Plan.

4:04In addition to the Guelph Innovation District Secondary Plan and the Guelph Transportation Master Plan,

4:09this EA is being informed by the Complete Streets Design Guideline,

4:14the Guelph Water and Wastewater Servicing Master Plan, and the Stormwater Management Master Plan.

4:18These three documents help provide best practice guidelines on how to design streets

4:23to meet Guelph's transportation, water, wastewater, and stormwater management needs.

4:29So as part of the EA, we first have to establish a baseline for the natural environment

4:33and cultural heritage conditions before evaluating the potential impacts of different alternatives.

4:38So first up is the natural environment conditions.

4:42Field investigations were undertaken to characterize the natural environments in the study area last year

4:47and will be later fully documented in the Innatural Environment Report.

4:51Natural features in the study area include the Aramosa River and its associated floodplain,

4:56valley, slope, and wetlands, significant woodlands, and habitats for species at risk.

5:02There are also three identified opportunities for wildlife crossings in the study area

5:05on Stone Road, Victoria Road, and also on College Avenue near Victoria.

5:12Cultural heritage conditions were also documented in the Cultural Heritage Environmental Report.

5:18Built heritage resources in the study area include individual buildings like the Frost Building,

5:24while cultural heritage landscapes include landscapes like the Arboretum, the Cotton Gull Fields,

5:28and the Aramosa River, which is a Canadian heritage river tributary.

5:33A stage one archaeological investigation was undertaken and found that most of the study area

5:38had already been previously disturbed and does not retain any archaeological potential.

5:43However, some parts of the area do show potential for archaeological resources

5:47and will require a stage two archaeological assessment if affected by the preferred solution.

5:53So now that we've looked at the existing land use contexts in the study area,

5:57we also have to look at the future land use context.

6:00Improvements on Victoria Road and Stone Road will support growth in the Featured Guelph Innovation District.

6:05So although the area around Stone Road and Victoria Road is currently quite rural,

6:09the area is going to grow more urbanized with time.

6:12And the GID will be accessed through new intersections on Victoria Road South and Stone Road East,

6:18and will include residential, mixed use, and employment land uses

6:21to support thousands of new homes and jobs in the city.

6:27I also want to note that different areas on Stone Road and Victoria Road have

6:32widely different needs and challenges.

6:35So for example, on Victoria Road here north of the river,

6:38we've got some property constraints with residential buildings on one side

6:42and commercial buildings on the other side.

6:44And you can see from our very first cross section on the right hand side of the slide

6:49that the space between the buildings is really quite tight.

6:52Whereas on Victoria Road South of the river,

6:54we have sensitive land uses with the arboretum on one side

6:59and the Featured GID development on the other.

7:02So for this analysis, we developed four sets of alternatives

7:05for each distinct part of the study area.

7:08And after the alternatives were developed,

7:11we evaluated them according to the following evaluation criteria.

7:15The criteria can be roughly divided into five categories,

7:19that being of the natural environment, cultural heritage,

7:22social environment, financial, and technical factors.

7:27So let's get into the alternatives for each of our four segments in the study area.

7:33Our first segment is for Victoria Road north of the Aramosa River.

7:38Under existing conditions, this part of the study area has two lanes in each direction

7:41and a sidewalk on the west side of the road.

7:44There's also a sidewalk on the east side of the road,

7:48closer to York Road, but it stops a little bit south of the ethnic supermarket plaza.

7:54Victoria Road is classified according to Complete Streets Design Guideline

7:58as a residential boulevard and concept two shows a typical cross section

8:02for a residential boulevard with wide planted boulevards

8:07and cycle track and sidewalk on both sides of the street.

8:10However, we are very tight in this area of Victoria Road north segment

8:15as we have residential buildings on one side and commercial buildings on the other.

8:19And these are, you can see the approximate outlines of these buildings in concept one,

8:24which shows existing conditions.

8:27So if we were to try to implement concept two,

8:30we'd have significant impacts of the social environment

8:33and would also incur a high cost relative to the other alternatives.

8:39So as we try to narrow the cross section to fit our available

8:45to fit our required elements into the existing property limits,

8:48we develop concept three.

8:51In concept three, all of the elements we need just fit,

8:54but it does bring the sidewalk almost right up to residents front steps,

8:58which has significant impacts on the usability of front yard parking

9:02and resident comfort and causes this alternative to rank quite poorly

9:06in terms of the social environment.

9:08The very narrow width of the cycle track also provides a poor level of

9:12service for cyclists on Victoria Road.

9:15And Victoria Road is intended to be part of the city cycling spine network.

9:19So it's important for us to try to achieve a comfortable

9:23facility for users of all ages and abilities here.

9:26So the narrow width of the cycle track is also not ideal

9:29because of the steep grade on Victoria Road,

9:31where cyclists might need more space when traveling uphill or downhill.

9:35And finally, we've got some hydro poles in the area

9:38that would need to be relocated to avoid potential conflicts

9:41with cyclists travel if we were to implement concept three.

9:45So because we are very constrained on space,

9:47we developed concept four, which is the last alternative on the slide.

9:52This has a modified complete streets cross section

9:55with a total of four vehicle lanes, sidewalk on both sides,

9:58and a northbound cycle track on the east side of the road.

10:01The southbound cycle track would be detouring through an adjacent laneway

10:05and the Aramossi River Park before rejoining Victoria Road.

10:09And separating the cycle tracks in this manner allows us to avoid

10:13a lot of costs associated with hydro pole relocation,

10:16while also having a full width cycle track for the cycling spine network.

10:21So concept four achieves the active transportation objectives

10:25in this part of the study area and also scores well

10:28in terms of trying to minimize social,

10:31social environmental impacts and costs.

10:36Oops. So our next segment under analysis

10:39is for Victoria Road south of the Aramossi River.

10:42Under existing conditions, the road has a rural cross section

10:45with one vehicle laying in each direction and bike lanes in the shoulder.

10:49Victoria Road south of the Aramossi River is classified

10:52as a residential boulevard under the complete streets guideline.

10:57Correspondingly, concept two for the segment of Victoria Road

11:02shows the full complete streets design for residential boulevard.

11:05And that includes two vehicle lanes in each direction,

11:08a wide planted boulevard, which spaces for trees and utilities

11:12and sidewalk and cycle track on both sides of the road.

11:15Concept three and four are similar to concept two,

11:19but reduce the boulevard width down to a minimum of one meter.

11:22And this is intended to reduce potential land impacts

11:26on narrow parts of Victoria Road, including potential impacts

11:30to sensitive environments in the arboretum.

11:32However, a reduced boulevard reduces the amount of space available

11:36for tree plantings, which can affect the city's ability

11:40to meet urban tree canopy targets.

11:43The reduced boulevard can also affect cyclist comfort

11:46by reducing their buffer from vehicle traffic.

11:49We found in our evaluation that concept two was best able to meet

11:53the policy and transportation objectives on the segment of Victoria Road.

11:57The right of way on Victoria Road is actually already quite wide

12:00and can fit the elements in concept two with minimal impacts

12:03to the natural environment, social environment and cultural heritage.

12:08Elements of concept three with a reduced boulevard can,

12:10however, be used at pinch points near intersections

12:13to avoid grating impacts outside of the right of way.

12:16Oopsies, I've scurled a little bit.

12:21Too fast there.

12:23And our third road segment under consideration is Stone Road

12:27between Victoria Road and GID Street A,

12:30which is located at approximately 375 meters west of Victoria Road.

12:35Under existing conditions, this part of the road has two lanes

12:38in each direction, as well as on-street bike lanes.

12:41Stone Road west of GID Street A is classified as a residential boulevard

12:45as per the Complete Streets Design Guideline.

12:47And the typical cross section for the residential boulevard,

12:51is shown again in concept two.

12:53So this will look very familiar to what you just saw for Victoria Road,

12:58but it's got two lanes in each direction, nice wide planted boulevards

13:01and sidewalk and cycle track on both sides of the road.

13:05Concept three is again quite similar,

13:07but reduces the boulevard width down to a minimum of one meter.

13:11Concept three is intended to reduce potential impacts

13:14to the social environments, natural environment and cultural heritage

13:17in constrained areas.

13:19But again, it comes at the cost of reduced space for tree plantings

13:23and having a reduced potential buffer between after transportation

13:28and the vehicle lanes.

13:31So like with the south segment of Victoria Road,

13:35the available right of way on this part of Stone Road is quite wide

13:38and can actually generally fit concept two with minimal alterations.

13:43So concept two was chosen as a preferred alternative

13:46because it can fulfill the streets after transportation objectives

13:49while minimizing potential impacts in the surrounding environment.

13:53Elements of concept three with a reduced boulevard can be used at pinch points,

13:57especially in your intersections, to reduce creating impacts outside of the right of way.

14:03And our final segment here is Stone Road east of GID Street A,

14:09all the way eastwards to Watson Parkway.

14:12This part of Stone Road is currently one lane in each direction

14:15with a bike lane in the shoulder.

14:17The road is also classified as an employment boulevard,

14:20which means that it would have two lanes in each direction

14:23and a multi-use path on both sides, as per the Complete Streets Design guideline.

14:28However, we found in our traffic study that widening to four lanes

14:31is actually not required on this segment of Stone Road.

14:36We only need one lane in each direction to carry the anticipated level of traffic

14:41that would be that that's forecasted for the future in this area.

14:45So concept three was developed, which includes an urban cross section,

14:50one lane in each direction and multi-use path on both sides of the road.

14:54However, concept three still requires a widening of Stone Road bridge,

15:00which would entail some additional construction cost.

15:04So we ended up developing concept four to try to avoid widening the Stone Road bridge.

15:11Concept four includes a multi-use path on the north side of Stone Road,

15:14which would provide access to the future transit facility,

15:18a phase four of the Guelph Innovation District,

15:21as well as the trail network on the north side of Stone Road.

15:28Stone Road concept four is the least costly of these alternatives

15:32because it doesn't require widening the bridge.

15:34And we're able to fulfill our active transportation objectives in the area

15:39while minimizing potential impacts on the natural environment,

15:42cultural heritage and social environments.

15:45So concept four is currently our preferred alternative

15:49for the eastern segment of Stone Road.

15:53In addition to the road segments that we've just discussed,

15:56the EA study also recommends the following treatments

15:59at intersections and crossings in the study area.

16:03There will be a new roundabout at Watson Parkway in Stone Road,

16:06which will reduce the potential severity of collisions

16:09while also reducing vehicle delays and emissions.

16:12Existing and proposed signalized intersections in the study area

16:16will receive protected intersection upgrades

16:18to help facilitate active transportation crossings.

16:22And finally, a new trail crossing at the Royal Recreational Trail

16:25on Victoria Road south of the Aramasa River

16:28is recommended as per the trails master plan.

16:32I'll also note that the feasibility of the following crossings

16:36are still being evaluated as part of the traffic impact study,

16:39including a potential additional trail crossing on Stone Road

16:43west of the Aramasa River to connect with potential future city trails

16:48and a potential pedestrian crossing

16:51or signalized intersection on York Road between...

16:56Sorry, a potential pedestrian crossing or intersection

16:59on Victoria Road between York Road and the Aramasa River

17:02is also being considered.

17:04However, I do note that these items are still under analysis

17:07and will only be incorporated into the preliminary design

17:11if recommended in the traffic study.

17:14So the next steps of our study are to review the feedback

17:18that we received from the public,

17:20technical agencies and the First Nations,

17:22including from our public open house on June 11th,

17:27and including the feedback that I'm hoping to receive

17:30from the committee here today.

17:32So after we have received the feedback,

17:34we will confirm and refine the preferred signs

17:36for Victoria Road and Stone Road.

17:38Then we will prepare the environmental study report

17:41to try to fully assess and identify impacts of mitigation measures

17:45associated with the preliminary preferred design.

17:48This report is slated for completion by early 2027,

17:52at which point we will issue the notice of study completion

17:55and proceed to design and construction as planned in the capital budget.

18:00Anyway, that is the end of my presentation,

18:02and I'd be really pleased if I could get any questions

18:05or feedback at this time from the committee.

18:08But thank you for your time.

18:11I have a question.

18:13Yes?

18:15When there's a lack of space on a road,

18:18why is the option always to move the bike lane

18:22instead of reducing the number of car lanes?

18:24The first, the reason I'm asking this question is the first

18:30the first option or the first road, I think it was Victoria.

18:35One of the slides you showed was the one where you had the bottom,

18:39what highlighted as this is what we recommend.

18:42Yes.

18:43It's this one.

18:44Yes.

18:45What will likely happen is if you bike to one of those businesses there,

18:48I can't tell what the shops are,

18:51but if you bike there and then you decide to bike back in the opposite direction,

18:55how is someone supposed to know that there is a bike lane

18:58but it just happens to be behind a bunch of houses

19:00or behind something else?

19:04I'm not trying to be difficult here,

19:06but it is this is a practical consideration

19:08and what will likely happen is someone was bike there

19:11will likely bike the wrong way down the path that they just took.

19:15So why can't the solution be

19:17inconvenient scar drivers 300 meters,

19:20let them deal with one lane,

19:22but people on a bike can just cross the street.

19:26I think here a comment about the way finding here is

19:30about the potential friction for

19:34cyclists who have headed north to the Plaza

19:37and now need to head south is a very fair one.

19:40One that we're going to have to look at very closely during preliminary

19:43in detail design to ensure that the way finding is there

19:46and that people are able to see that there is a connection

19:50to a cyclist facility heading northbound.

19:53However, with regards to narrowing the lanes on Victoria Road

20:00from two lanes to one lane in this segment,

20:03that would be very difficult as we know that this area is already

20:07quite congested and we are expecting quite a bit of growth

20:12in terms of the vehicle traffic demand in the future.

20:18So for that reason, we have tried to maintain the existing

20:23number of lanes on this side on the second section of Victoria Road.

20:29That's fine.

20:31But I do acknowledge that having the visibility,

20:36that having the cycling facility detour in the laneway

20:41behind the houses is not ideal for visibility.

20:47The only one I wanted to make was in this end as of being

20:51what gets built, what is almost certain to happen is

20:56people on bikes will use that one lane,

20:58that one side of the road as a two-way bike path.

21:03That is what is almost certain to happen.

21:13Thank you, Art, in terms of some of the constraints we're facing

21:17for how we're designing or redesigning roads.

21:20So through some of the recent provincial regulations

21:25we are having, we're seeing some constraints in terms of like

21:28removal of a vehicle lane so we can add a bike lane.

21:34And we haven't received more clarification from the province

21:37in terms of how we can approach this in our project.

21:40So that's also a constraint.

21:52I mean, oh, through you, Chair, I'm so sorry.

21:56Unfortunately, you are unable to speak to the item that you have.

21:59I just thought I'd, well, just then.

22:02And Chair, I just wanted to note that both staff members,

22:05Steve Anderson and member Jolvia, had their hand raised.

22:08Okay. What's first?

22:10Steve Anderson had his hand raised.

22:12He's since put it down, but maybe you want to see if he has anything to add.

22:16Steve, do you want to add anything to the discussion right now?

22:19No, I'll get captured my comments. Thank you.

22:22Thank you. So then Joel. Yes. Go ahead.

22:26I just have concerns also about the bike lane through the neighborhood there.

22:31I don't know if that's Lawrence Avenue or the laneway adjacent to it,

22:34but I do know there's quite a lot of parked cars that happen in there.

22:38And I don't know how well a bike route through this area with

22:44significant obstacles would function.

22:47Has much consideration given to that?

22:50We haven't looked very, we haven't looked too hard into the parking in the adjacent laneway.

23:00This is the laneway besides Lawrence, not Lawrence itself.

23:07But it's something that we could definitely look at as design progresses.

23:12Currently we've been focused on the more of the physical constraints and environmental constraints in the area so far.

23:19But as we proceed with the design, certainly we would like to confirm it's operationally feasible as well.

23:26That's great. Thank you.

23:33I have a question about the Stoner Road East and the GID Street A, the preferred concept.

23:40It's led to a one lane each way from your projections.

23:48So as a data analyst, I understand projections and that's great.

23:52But with the new date, sometimes data is correct and depending on the week.

23:58When I was dealing with something, we use the old census data.

24:01We knew no census data is coming out shortly.

24:05What is the feasibility of putting in a turn lane?

24:09Because there's going to be a driveway just past, I think.

24:16Yeah, there'll be a driveway to the GID innovations on our pass.

24:21Sorry, are you asking about how access to the Guelph Innovation District will be facilitated in between these sections here?

24:35Yeah.

24:36Yes. This, the proposed intersection of Stone Road and GID Street A will be signalized and there will be some turn lanes.

24:44I can't remember the exact configuration, but I definitely remember that it will be signalized and it will have pedestrian crossings and crossrides to allow people to transition from after

24:57transportation facilities on both sides to the MOP on the north side.

25:01Okay.

25:04I can also speak to the traffic modeling question, but if you could repeat it one more time, please.

25:11I just, for the data, are you using like current traffic patterns because if you were to add all the homes and businesses, that's going to increase traffic flow.

25:20Yes.

25:21So we've gone through quite an involved traffic projections exercise here.

25:27We've got the existing volumes on the road.

25:30We've added background growth through the existing traffic volumes and we've also added the projected growth from, I think, the latest available traffic studies from the Guelph Innovation District at the time.

25:44And that included at the time the latest population and employment projections for the area.

25:50So we've added the growth on to confirm that we actually still only need one lane in each direction on this part of Stone.

25:59Thank you.

26:04Any other questions or comments?

26:06I'm pretty sure we can do that.

26:19If you want, I can put a slide and we can work on that.

26:23Okay.

26:24So just to capture what Eldridge said.

26:26Yes.

26:27So just, yeah, that'd be great. Thank you.

26:30Thank you, Chair.

26:49There was some great discussion there. Unfortunately, I have not captured all the recommendations.

26:57The one recommendation noted so far is that the Transportation Advisory Committee provide the following feedback on the Victoria Road, Stone Road environmental assessment.

27:09And I noted that staff address concerns about the impact of parked cars on cyclists in the laneway beside Lawrence Avenue.

27:17I believe that was from Member Meir.

27:21And I know Member Rubello had some comments. So I will now turn it back over to the committee to add or alter whatever feedback they would like to provide to staff.

27:34Go ahead, Joel.

27:36Maybe just more broad than parked cars, but just ensuring that the alternate route for cyclists is safe and optimized.

27:47If it does have to diverge off of Victoria Street.

27:52And I was right. We had to have like adequate signage to allow cyclists to know there is like a detour kind of of the detour through the lane.

28:43Yeah, the detour for, I forget what the direction was, I think it was south.

28:48Yes, that's right.

28:50Thank you.

28:51For the detour going south of the location of the detour going south, that's the number.

29:10Want to add anything? Change anything?

29:24Oh, there was a motion. There was a motion to receive the presentation as well. So we can move both of them at the same time.

29:33Okay, let's do that.

29:34Share that one as well.

30:03Sure.

30:04I seem to share the motion.

30:06So the recommendation is to that the transportation advisory committee received the presentation titled Victoria Road and Stone Road Environmental Assessment.

30:41And we're going to do everything at once.

30:43Yes.

30:44Okay. And the second one is you can read it on the screen.

30:47Sure.

30:48I can read it.

30:49The second one is that the transportation advisory committee provide the following feedback on the Victoria Road, Stone Road Environmental Assessment.

30:57That staff ensure that the passage for cyclists is safe and optimized in the laneway beside Lawrence Avenue, and that there is adequate signage and forming cyclists of the detour going south.

31:07Sure. I'll turn over you.

31:11Thanks for a mover and a second.

31:13Mover.

31:14A seconder.

31:19Okay.

31:20Anyone oppose?

31:22Motion carries.

31:27Yes.

31:28Okay.

31:29Okay.

31:30I'm going to turn over.

31:44I enjoy my chair.

31:46Does it actually say what is the school?

31:52Yeah.

31:53So the second item is about pedestrian crossing near schools and pedestrian crossings near schools and transit coordination.

32:07I'll give that to you.

32:09Thank you.

32:11So my presentation is pedestrian crossing near schools and transit coordination just as Vice-Chairman Bellows up.

32:27Yes.

32:28Oh, sorry.

32:29Did you want to share?

32:31No, it's correct.

32:33Okay.

32:35So how can we ensure that every child walking to school and every resident accessing transit has a safe place to cross the street?

32:43Thanks.

32:45So this is important because pedestrian crossings are more just painted lines.

32:49They are critical connections that allow residents to access public transit safely, walk their children to school, reach parks, community centers, businesses, support active transportation, and other communities.

33:02When crossings are unsafe, missing, people are less likely to walk and likely to drive, increasing congestion and reducing community connectivity.

33:11This can also lead to risky behavior and crossing the street where you're not supposed to and darting between traffic.

33:19The schools don't challenge children are among the most vulnerable road users because they have a limited ability to judge the speed and distance of a vehicle.

33:32With increased pedestrian activity during arrival of distance of time, it can lead to confusion of who to cross, who to cross with.

33:42And some parents feel forced to drive their kids because they're walking with a safe with inadequate crossings before they reach like the crossing guard or even over train tracks, for example.

33:56Some concerns would be wide crossing roads with with crossing on one side and then traffic not yielding to the people crossing the street, for example.

34:10An inadequate signage of crosswalks speeding vehicles and for visibility in your intersections, either for vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians, anyone using a road or sidewalk.

34:25So children should never have to cross a road that adults consider unsafe.

34:30So if you don't feel safe crossing it, you want to want your child crossing it by themselves or with younger peers.

34:39So school and transit access.

34:43And students safely and conveniently access transit from school.

34:47This isn't important because some students in high schools might have clubs, sports teams, before and after school commitments, even attending co-op placements when they don't have access to a car or someone to drive them, taking a taxi or working out of quickly.

35:06So I'm going to review some secondary schools and give some both strengths and opportunities for improvement.

35:13Strong examples include Bishop Acton L, CCBI, College Heights and GCBI.

35:19The transit stops are located nearby. There's all they have stayed crossing with either a crosswalk or traffic lights with crossings on them.

35:29And there's a direct connection between the school and transit.

35:33So with this you have good coordination and it supports states to travel.

35:41Some places that can have improvement are St. James and John F. Ross.

35:46For example, St. James at closest bus stop is on Rangford, I think, and it's about a five minute walk.

35:55There's also no crossings across the road in that one section.

36:01And that requires a longer walk, obviously from the transit. It's still safe, but convenience can be improved.

36:08So an opportunity area would be Arlady and Florence. There is no crossing from the east side from the bus stop.

36:16And there's also trail, the Royal City Trail, I think it's called.

36:23And there is a little island where you can cross. You have to wait for a gap in traffic and that's some distance away from the bus stop.

36:31So students are not going to be going down, crossing, going back up.

36:35So for this location, access to transit could be safer with a crossing or the crosswalk.

36:47The Two Rivers High School is currently being balanced and I think will be operational soon.

36:54We just want to make sure that with any new school, the transit access should be planned together from the beginning to avoid any issues down the line.

37:04So successful locations have safe crossings nearby transit and direct walking routes.

37:09When one is missing, accessibility suffers. Small gaps in infrastructure can lead to longer walks, unsafe crossing behavior, reduced transit use, more vehicle drop-offs.

37:20So the goal is simple. Every student should have a safe way to reach transit as well as transit users just to be safe navigating around the city.

37:30A proactive approach. So rather than waiting for collisions near misses, complain sick humanly, which is the main way the city deals with some issues.

37:43We would want a proactive approach, looking at school walking routes, transit locations and high speed pedestrian activity corridors.

37:51For walking routes to speak to schools and see which ways for students to come in from to assess if it does need a crosswalk or more crossing guards.

38:02So the questions we should ask are where are people already crossing and use that as a natural way to crosswalk, where do children walk, where do transit riders naturally travel.

38:14So the infrastructure should reflect the human behavior instead of trying to make a new way happen.

38:22So the conclusion is every resident should be able to walk to school safely, reach transit safely and move through the community safely.

38:30Investing in pedestrian crossings near schools and transit stops is not simply a transportation issue, but it is a community safety issue.

38:39So a connected city begins with safe crossings.

38:46Chair, let's chair that part.

38:51Okay.

38:53So my recommendation is that the Transportation Advisory Committee recommends staff to explore an option of adding pedestrian crossings to high school areas and align bus stops to coordinate with these crossings.

39:05That is an end of my presentation.

39:07Now I want to

39:24We do delegate first and then questions.

39:28We have a delegate as well.

39:32Speak to this.

39:33Victoria.

39:35Virginia.

39:36Sorry.

39:37Sorry.

39:38Our

39:43Register delegate is Virginia Anderson of Guelph Community for Active Transportation GCAT.

39:52Virginia, you will have up to five minutes to address the committee after which committee members may ask you questions of clarification.

40:00I will now turn it over to you.

40:02I will note if you like.

40:04Yes, if you don't mind just so the members online can see you.

40:08Thank you.

40:11You're welcome.

40:15That's all okay.

40:17Anywhere that's okay.

40:19I'm actually visible.

40:22Okay.

40:23Well, thank you all for allowing me to speak to delegate the Transportation Advisory Committee.

40:29I am Virginia Anderson and I am the chair of the board of directors for Guelph Community for Active Transportation.

40:38And I don't know how many of you are familiar with GCAT, but our mission is to basically make active transportation, which we say is walking, cycling and rolling to be safe, equitable and enjoyable for everyone.

40:58And so I've kind of prepared very basic general marks, not very formal, but just saying that we are GCAT is generally in the core of this proposal to review the crossings for school children and to facilitate transit connections.

41:24I think that the one thing that I will add is actually I would broaden it to be not just high schools, but to recommend to review pedestrian crossings and connection to transit for all schools and not limited.

41:39I think that this is particularly important because children and youth are basically kind of the least served members of our community for transportation in our city and not it's not limited to Guelph, but they are vulnerable road users and also cannot legally drive.

42:03So I have limited options for how they get around and you know, given their vulnerability, we also want to make sure that they can safely get around the city and go to school and activities.

42:18So I think that it's great to be to take a proactive approach. I talked with a city staff person about the new high school coming up, you know, noticing that there is I forget what the intersection is but it's the main road just to the west of Victoria that go that.

42:45I forget what the road is but.

42:47No, no, no, no. So there's a road that's like a residential road but it's a pretty main one that would cross up to the high school. Colonial.

42:56Colonial.

42:57Yeah, colonial.

42:58I think colonial.

42:59Yeah.

43:00So I think I would predict and I can many others would predict that many people from the neighborhood might want like would like to walk to school using colonial drive as a pathway and there's no planned crossing at this time.

43:18No pedestrian crossing to the day.

43:22So, and the staff person said, well, we have to wait till a warrant process is going like is undertaken to see whether or not a pedestrian crossing is warranted at that location.

43:39So, instead of waiting for people to unsafely cross across go across a busy road to see if we have 80 people a day who need to we're making that choice to unsafely cross that why don't we be proactive about installing pedestrian access from the get go.

44:05So, again, thank you generally in support.

44:09Thank you for having me and these I'm moving to any questions.

44:26One big question is I did see over here that shall see I think it was.

44:32Hi, yes, I did have some questions and recommendations. Thank you so much for the delegate you actually had one of my suggestions which is that we expand this to elementary schools.

44:49I live beside a school that had a death earlier this year at the pedestrian crossing and so the impact of people trying to get to the bus, trying to beat the light trying to beat the school bus the big yellow buses is quite high and I do think you're correct in saying that this is something that needs to be expanded beyond just the high

45:17schools because there are middle school students who are traveling by themselves on public transportation and going to school without a parent assisting them and they to deserve access to safe methods to cross the road.

45:33So thank you to the delegate. I do have one question for you. And that is, are there you've highlighted some areas already of some issues that you've spotted. Are there any other high risk areas that you can spot currently or that may come with future expansion that you think we should be aware of.

45:58So I, and recall we had an individual actually bring up. I think not adding a formal like signalized pedestrian crossing but at least adding like painted line crossings by an elementary school that's at exhibition park.

46:17Remind me does anyone know how big school you got victory. I think it's victory public schools so we've had someone contact GCAT requesting to start the process to get a pedestrian crossing and it's on the like north side street of it because there's many people coming from that direction and there's poor visibility and people going quickly coming off of like will which to get to the school.

46:46So I think the many schools like all the schools should be reviewed like more thoroughly but we had a out of the blue random, not random but out of the query about that school as an example.

47:02Thank you.

47:05You're welcome.

47:09Thank you. I'm a hub. I, I really appreciate the solution. I think it's a great step towards the safety for children.

47:17I'm a student. Only is that when I think about this, I'm like if we care about the safe trip for for for children when they want to go to school and come back.

47:31So how about the time that they get off from the bus and they want to reach their home. So how we want to make sure that they are safe there because it sounds to me that okay we have will have this crossings in front of the school and we are sure that they can get on safely.

47:47But how we make sure that they are safe until they reach their homes. This is the only comment that they have. Thank you.

47:55I'm not sure if it's addressed to me, but I think.

48:03Stop.

48:05I just kind of brainless.

48:06I can help with that.

48:13Okay. Yeah, good afternoon everyone. I'll just introduce myself. Steve Anderson to the best of my knowledge, no relation to the deli it.

48:22I'm the manager of.

48:24Oh, perfect.

48:26I'm the manager of transportation engineering. So to that specific question. So we have a committee at the city called active and safe routes to school.

48:37And they are principally involved with the movement of children from the time they leave their house to the time they get to their school. So we do have a committee looking at those things that you just mentioned.

48:51And in terms of the overall presentation and motion, I'm happy to report that this work is already underway.

49:00Our road safety action plan, the vision zero action plan was approved by council in either March or April of 2025 and item 27 in that plan specifically speaks to this item and studying pedestrian crossings near bus stops.

49:17I see Laura from transit is there. She's been involved. We've already done this work. We have all of the data. We're just sort of analyzing that. So I just wanted to reiterate that this work is already underway and we're sort of penciled in to come back to council with an update on this matter in 2027.

49:38And I have the clarification is item 27 only around crossings for pedestrian or sorry for transit stops.

49:50So I'll read it verbatim review mid block bus stop locations and evaluate the safety of pedestrian crossings. However, item 26 develop a list of locations where trails meter road mid block and enhanced pedestrian and cycling crossings could be prioritized for consideration.

50:07There's a few different items in the action plan that speak to pedestrian crossings we've engaged a consultant.

50:16Actually next Thursday we have an all day workshop with them around pedestrian crossings and best practice and all that types of things. So, and we also there was a comment earlier.

50:30We do as part of that council presentation and I can, I can send that information if you'd like to go back and watch it. We have identified what we've called a high risk network in Guelph.

50:41And those are our focus areas and obviously it factors in pedestrians, you know, presence of sidewalks one side both sides, vehicle volume vehicle speed collision history likelihood of collisions, all that stuff to help us pinpoint areas where we should be focusing areas of pedestrian crossings.

51:00And that's one of the key points of enhanced safety measures.

51:10Steve, can I make a limited point please about crossings.

51:15By all means.

51:17There are a few crossing like there's one right outside here on opposite crafty road and there's a crossing there with the site for pedestrians says pedestrians yielded to traffic.

51:30One place cars in almost all of the places cars into pedestrians but one here where it's different can be confusing both for people crossing the street and the people in cars.

51:41That's a limited point I want to make.

51:44Joel, please go ahead.

51:47I don't disagree with anything you've said.

51:50I

51:53We're all friends here. I do not love that crossing in the way it's set up.

51:57It's being evaluated as part of the reconstruction of Matt Dennell Street.

52:02The same problem pedestrian just start walking but yeah, it's not an actual crossing.

52:09So I'm glad to hear it's in the redesign of that knowledge. It's fantastic.

52:14Thanks to you. Thank you Steve.

52:17Thank you.

52:21I think I've got two questions. The first one for the delegation.

52:27When GCAP makes recommendations about specific intersections or locations within the city is it normally anecdotal or is there any sort of data based approach that is being used to pinpoint locations.

52:46I will say that I think it's a combination of both.

52:51So anecdotes or lived experience by individuals and then we also have done surveys of our members and like email lists subscribers to get feedback to get more of a

53:08better understanding of what people think about priorities or specific intersections.

53:19I'm just my concern I guess rises from the similar way that we were doing the traffic assessment for cities or streets within the city where the loudest voices get the get the safer streets or get the streets

53:36closer to ones that maybe need it. So I would just that I guess that's my concern with bringing up specific, you know, not necessarily one offs but where one person has a concern, and it might be a very valid concern that is can be backed up by data.

53:56If it is one person for whatever reason, I would just want to make sure that there is more than just one person who has a specific issue.

54:09I don't respond to that.

54:11Joel, I agree. And I guess I had some anecdotes to kind of some characterization to what I was saying or add kind of a story to go along with it, but I'm not advocating for any specific school.

54:30I'm just advocating in general for, you know, taking a look at schools in general across the city and making sure that there's like adequate and safe pedestrian crossings or those accessing school.

54:49Great. Now I appreciate it for sure. My other point would be maybe directed more towards if there's a staff member who can answer but I was curious, does the city review parking bylaws in and around schools because I know during pick up and drop off times it can be quite hectic and I'm sure that leads to

55:10Incense or near misses with pedestrians and cyclists. Is there anybody able to speak to that?

55:18Yeah, Joe, I'm happy to answer that question.

55:22Yes. Yes, is the answer to that that the challenge we have of course is we have way more schools than we have by law officers so good behavior tends to happen when enforcement is on site and bad behavior tends to happen when enforcement is not on site it is a consistent ongoing

55:40challenge and some schools are worse offenders than others but we do the best we can with the resources we have.

55:50Thank you. That's all for me.

55:55I'm so sorry I'm just, I have a question around.

56:05Just the, I'll just ask my question I don't know how to phrase it sorry. So, if we're talking about students in particular, the city has a program in which children are able to ride for free, which is an encouraging opportunity for kids to use the buses during the summertime.

56:30Is there any way for us to build in some form of a recommendation for safety towards bus stops at community centers that are hosting summer camps as well.

56:44So, I'm not sure if you have any of the, the high schools. I only asked that because we know these kids are going to be going for basketball and, you know, for summer camp and they might be traveling in groups without an adult.

57:00So, I think it would be a good space to provide some additional safety. And then my other recommendation is, so I was a teen who took, actually I was a child who took public transportation.

57:12My family didn't have a car until I was in the end stage of high school. So I'm very familiar with how kids use public transportation. And I love kids they're very smart, but they're also not the smartest.

57:25So, you can put in as many mitigations and crosswalks and bright lights, and they will still J walk, they will still run across the road in front of cars.

57:35Is there room in the recommendation to add in an educational component in collaboration with the school boards.

57:43I ask that because the more that we can encourage students to actually use the sidewalks and actually use the crosswalks, the easier it will be to have these systems working because the, the worst thing that can happen is we put all this energy into building

58:02crosswalks and then the kids just cross five feet away from where the actual crosswalk is because their friends are doing it. I used to work across from Lord's there is a marked crossing yes there's a an island space that people can wait on but there is a marked crossing and I would watch as kids

58:20actively just walked around to the marked crossing for whatever reason they've decided. So I think an educational component may be critical for ensuring that they actually do use any marked crossings.

58:36I think that as something our school actually does do education around crossing and where to cross and how to cross, and I don't additional could help, but it is there present in our school I don't know other schools.

58:53And like you said it doesn't help because you just do what you want to do at the end anyways.

59:01I'll just say education is an ongoing thing we work on is the road safety team.

59:08It's just one of those things we we often say pedestrians are like water they will find the path of least resistance so that's just part of the fun we have any other questions.

59:24I just maybe add one more thing on this.

59:30Just just for the awareness of everybody in the room. We do annually ask for funds to install new pedestrian crossings. If if you go to Guelph.ca budget page the item is TF 0028.

59:46If this motion passes and it's near and dear to our hearts. I would just encourage people as candidates mayoral candidates, council candidates come to your door to just reiterate the importance of this because we can only install as many measures as we get budget for.

1:00:03So I'll just I'll just remind everyone that unfortunately we don't have unlimited funds for these types of measures.

1:00:16Okay, looks like there are no other questions. We do have to write the.

1:00:25What's the correct term for this recommendation. So there is one here.

1:00:31I didn't share that his lecture. Yes, please.

1:00:52Okay, so first I'm going to read the recommendation that was presented by Italian Cruisin.

1:01:00The recommendation is that the transportation advisory committee recommend that staff explore the option of adding pedestrian crossings to high school areas and align bus stops to coordinate with these crossings.

1:01:14Members have provided some feedback on additions to this recommendation.

1:01:21So they may wish to workshop or pass this motion instead.

1:01:28The alternate was that the transportation advisory committee recommend the following that staff explore the option of adding pedestrian crossings to high school elementary and middle school areas as well as community centers with youth programs and align bus stops to coordinate with these

1:01:45crossings and that staff develop an educational component on the importance of marked crossings for students.

1:01:55I turn it over to you vice chair to get discussion on if they wish to pass the original one or if they wish to workshop a second motion.

1:02:07I'm going to jump the guard a little bit and say that the second one is more complete. Does anyone disagree?

1:02:17No, thanks, please.

1:02:19I don't disagree. I do agree with you that the second one's more complete and I like the recommendation from the delegation to expand that from just high schools to any school.

1:02:33I prefer the second recommendation.

1:02:37I don't know that when I was putting the institution together, I did look at elementary schools and it was just getting overwhelming for me to put together.

1:02:44So I focus on high schools as they predominantly will be using classes more than elementary school students.

1:02:51So I care about elementary school kids too. It was just a lot for me to do.

1:02:55No worries.

1:03:01That's fine. Last thing I want to just increase.

1:03:05So now we vote.

1:03:09So we need someone to move this place.

1:03:13Can we fix the typo in the second line?

1:03:17That staff develop an educational component.

1:03:24Thank you.

1:03:25And then competent instead.

1:03:36Now I'll move it.

1:03:40Thank you. And second.

1:03:44If anyone who disagrees, please raise your hand.

1:03:48Okay. No one has the hands.

1:03:51So carries.

1:03:55But you.

1:04:01We do not have any chair or staff announcements.

1:04:05I'm sure you have one.

1:04:07Thank you for your chair.

1:04:10I just want to announce that the July meeting is our last meeting of the year.

1:04:17And this is because we're going into the municipal election.

1:04:22The election will be in October and we will not be having any advisory committees until that time.

1:04:30Every member, your term ends on November 15th.

1:04:34And I encourage you to reapply to the committee should you wish to.

1:04:39Applications open up once again in September.

1:04:42And I am happy to send you all an email in September with the link to reapply.

1:04:47And chair that is my only an incident.

1:04:50Thank you.

1:04:52So adjournments.

1:04:57They have a mover to adjourn.

1:05:00I can move.

1:05:01Second.

1:05:03Meeting is adjourned.

1:05:05And as mentioned, our next meeting and last meeting is July 16th of 2020.

1:05:11Thank you, everyone.

1:05:13Thank you.

1:05:15Thank you.

1:05:17Thank you. Have a good night.