On Thursday, November 12, 2015, Regional Council endorsed in principal the Halton Region Active Transportation Master Plan (ATMP), which provides Halton with the required strategy and infrastructure initiatives to promote non-motorized travel throughout the Region to the year 2031. The ATMP is the first of its kind for Halton and focuses on the two most common forms of active transportation: cycling and walking.
Regional Council is committed to building healthy and complete communities. Ensuring active transportation is built in as part of our comprehensive transportation network is a key component to meeting this vision. The Active Transportation Plan will make it easier and safer for residents to choose walking and cycling to get around, which is good for everyone.
Working in partnership with the Local Municipalities, the ATMP provides Halton with a strategy for on-road and off-road active transportation infrastructure. This includes bike lanes, sidewalks, multi-use trails and crosswalks. The proposed infrastructure includes 470 kilometres of new on-road infrastructure and 359 kilometres of off-road infrastructure throughout the region.
Active transportation may bring many benefits to any community, such as improved road safety for all road users, reduced congestion, improvements to air quality, increase in physical activity, reduced numbers in chronic disease and reduced household travel costs. The approximate cost to implement Halton's ATMP is $110 million, with the vision of having active transportation facilities included on all Regional roads by 2031.
The ATMP aligns with the Halton Transportation Master Plan (TMP) - the Road to Change, which seeks to provide a balanced and multi-modal transportation system serving all road users, including cyclists and pedestrians. Specifically, the ATMP will support Halton's vision to achieve a seven-fold increase of cycling and walking trips made during peak hours by 2031. To learn more about the Active Transportation Master Plan, please visit halton.ca/activetransportation.