Essex County seeks to map its transportation future

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How does one make a roadmap of a roadmap? 

If you’re Jerry Behl, Essex County’s manager of transportation planning and development, you get cracking on a master plan for the region’s transportation in the region for the next 30 years. 

It’s not simply about widening roads or building new ones. It’s tying together economic growth, social opportunities, micro-transportation – such as ebikes – and a predicted substantial increase in the county’s population. 

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The 2021 Census had about 193,000 people living in Essex County, among its seven municipalities and the various rural areas. 

But that population is expected to grow from 30 to 50 per cent in the next 30 years, said Alvaro Almuina, vice-president of municipal transportation for R.J. Burnside and Associates, an engineering and environmental consulting firm, who is guiding the development of the county’s transportation master plan. 

That means, said Behl, the county is looking at a population of somewhere between 268,000 and 315,000 people. 

The county can expect to add from 2,300 to 3,900 new residents each year. For perspective, for the last 15 years, the county has grown at a rate of about 1,000 new residents per year. 

Add to that expected growth in Windsor, which is expected to hit 2.9 per cent a year until at least 2028. Economic growth in the region – with the NextStar EV battery plant, and its many suppliers, means robust growth is expected well into the foreseeable future. 

That makes transportation master plan – a guiding document that will help future decisionmakers – an important tool not only to ensure county residents can travel to and from work, but also to ensure an efficient movement of goods. 

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It must also take into account the possible effects of climate change as environmental pressures such as flooding affect the county’s roads. 

“In future years, if fuel prices were to rise to an extent where people are thinking much more about saving money, perhaps we would see more smaller vehicles or ebikes,” said Behl in an interview with the Windsor Star. 

That is one of the many considerations the master plan must entertain in putting together a transportation master plan over the next few months. The process started last June, with a couple of public meetings so far. More are expected in February with the process scheduled to go well into the summer. 

The first public meeting took place at the Essex Civic Centre earlier this fall, and the second took place at the Ciociaro Club on Dec. 5. 

So far, the process hasn’t grabbed residents’ imagination. While employees of the various counties and the Essex Region Conservation Authority attended the most recent meeting, only a handful of interested residents took part. 

Almuina, who is guiding the process, said the process of getting people from A to B is complicated. 

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He cited key themes: safe and “equitable” travel – meaning transportation opportunities exist for “multi-model” transportation – cars, public transit, bicycles, ebikes, and it must work for everyone – families, seniors, those without cars and those who need accessible transportation. 

It must also make the most efficient use of energy and not just fossil fuels. 

Nadine Ibrahim, an assistant professor urban engineering at the University of Waterloo, told the audience at the public meeting that congestion isn’t solved by bigger roads or new technology. 

“If everybody was to drive an electric vehicle, we still have the exact same congestion we have today,” she said, in the wake of an expected increase in population. 

Many residents in Windsor-Essex commute outside their own region to work. So the master plan must consider not just where people live, but where they’re going to work. 

Justin Jones, who leads the Active Transportation Section at HDR, an engineering firm that focuses on “smart” transportation said about 30 per cent of the population does not drive due to age, income or other factors, Jones said. 

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“I think it’s really important for us to emphasize that we are failing to serve about 30 per cent of our population when we only design for plate people who can drive,” he said. 

The county has done some modelling already, mapping out the city’s major road network that will help discover what is needed to address the growing population. 

There is no public transit system serving the entire county but there are buses that operate from Windsor to LaSalle, Amherstburg, Kingsville, Essex and Leamington. 

Is a county-wide public transit system needed? 

“Feedback that I have so far is that there is an interest in providing more transit within the county,” said Behl, saying timing of such a system is a chicken and egg scenario, depending on when ridership would be enough to support it. 

Ibrahim notes municipalities such as Wellington County, Pembroke and the District Municipality of Muskoka are experimenting with on-demand public transportation. 

And what of bike lanes? Premier Doug Ford has recently issued more stringent rules regarding where they can be placed, but if ebikes do become more popular, would more bike lanes be needed and where would they be best located? And would an electric charging infrastructure be needed? 

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All questions for the master plan. 

The County Wide Active Transportation system, a non-motorized trail system that first developed a master plan in 2012, then updated it a few years ago, aims to have an 800-km network connecting all seven local municipalities and the municipality of Chatham-Kent. 

“It’s getting this balance between all these things … which road do we have? Cyclists and cycle facilities, on all roads and maybe county roads aren’t the best place every time for some cyclists,” said Behl. “In some places they’re the only really good direct alternatives.” 

Lori Newton who spoke at the public meeting, lauded LaSalle, Tecumseh, Kingsville and Amherstburg for their systems of walking and biking trails that connect with roads, and with ERCA’s trail system, as well as Windsor’s waterfront trail system. 

But she noted the region’s transportation system was largely mapped out and built in after the Second World War and engaged only able-bodied men who needed to get to and from work as quickly as possible. 

“It’s not going to surprise anybody that (the design of transportation system) often leads to under serving vulnerable road users, pedestrians and cyclists, often as we widen car lanes to accommodate even ever widening and larger vehicles,” Newton said. 

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Simply building roads to accommodate all modes of transportation isn’t working, she said. 

“I used to believe that share the road was the way to go. … But I don’t think it is fair and it isn’t safe for people walking in cycling to have to share the road with a two-tonne truck who view vulnerable road users as an impediment, as an obstacle in their very important car journey.” 

There is also the question of resilience, a term that’s prominent among policy makers and infrastructure planners in recent years.  

Several roads have been shut down in the county this year due to flooding. Resilience in the transportation system means it can withstand the potential ravages of climate change, or that doesn’t break down in the face of gasoline shortages. 

Behl is seeking more “meaningful” engagement than he’s getting from the public meetings. 

He plans to reach out to migrant workers, students, the elderly population, Indigenous communities, greenhouse growers and any others who have a stake in the transportation of people and goods throughout the region. 

Ibrahim says residents must participate to make sure the county’s future is well planned, just as those in previous decades did. 

“The decisions we make today will far outlive us … We’re at a stage where we can influence the decisions three decades from now, so it’s a huge responsibility, but we have the ability to influence now.” 

The county has an online survey asking for public input. The survey can be found on the Essex County Master Transportation Plan website at: tinyurl.com/r329pd2c.

[email protected] 

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