Tillsonburg’s transportation master plan adopted by council

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

A truck bypass, new stoplights, lower speed limits, bike lanes and more trails were all part of the town’s new transportation master plan, but the elimination of angle parking on Broadway was not.

Kevin Jones of Paradigm Transportation Solutions Ltd. shared the final document with council, the culmination of a process that started in December 2023.

Jones explained a transportation master plan is “A systematic and strategic review of transportation, all forms of transportation in a community.”

It looks at how transportation is working now, how growth will affect the transportation network, what changes are needed, and what the priorities are over the next 5 to 10 years.

The study was completed in four phases, including two public information sessions and an online survey. The first open house, held in June 2024, attracted 96 people. The second, in April 2026, only had 17 in attendance. The survey, though, had great input, with 653 people submitting comments.

Through the public input, Jones heard:

• Support for enhanced transit

• Support for future truck bypass

• Support for new active transportation infrastructure and enhanced crossings at major roads

• Concerns about parking

From the input and study of traffic patterns, the team came up with a series of recommendations.

“Our recommendations are designed to see a modest increase in walking and biking because the public thought that was important,” Jones said.

To facilitate this, the plan suggests enhancing a network of interconnected trails and creating on-road cycling opportunities. A part of this would be 6.6 km of new multi-use paths on major road boulevards and 15 km of new on-road bike lanes on secondary roads. A 10.1-km trail network through recreational areas would be central to the system. Nine new pedestrian crossings would need to be created to support the network.

The plan is based on the assumption of growth and suggests road modifications to address it.

“We are forecasting some congestion on Broadway, on Oxford Street, through the downtown and north Tillson Ave,” Jones said.

New stoplights at Tillson Ave/North Street, Quarter Town Line/North Street, Concession Street/Lisgar Ave are suggested, as are new all-way stops at Bridge Street/Bidwell Street, and Bidwell Street/Brock Street. A variety of intersection improvements are needed for Broadway/North Street, Tillson Ave/Oxford Street, Simcoe Street/Goshen Street, Vienna Road/Townline Road, and Cedar Street/Simcoe Street. Also raised was the possibility of looking at red light cameras at the Broadway/North Street and Oxford Street/Tillson Ave to see if it would be beneficial in reducing the collision count in those intersections.

Enhancing the transit system is another suggestion in the plan.

“A lot of people tell us they won’t take transit because it doesn’t serve them when they are done work,” Jones said.

Adding later hours, an expanded route and weekend service would cost the town $600,000 annually. Jones said this could be done gradually as demand increases and the town has the budget for it.

The largest part of the plan is protecting a truck bypass, with the preferred suggestion being a corridor to the west of town.

“I call this a conversation starter,” Jones said.

Many who provided feedback commented that the trucks have to be removed from the downtown. About 9,000 trucks per day come through Tillsonburg, and many stop in town.

Before arriving at the suggestion of a route to the west of town, outside town limits, the plan team looked at five different alternatives. Jones said an initiative of this magnitude will need to be done in partnership with Oxford County.

The plan also contained initiatives to enhance the downtown for pedestrians.

“There is an opportunity to make your downtown more friendly for pedestrians,” Jones said, suggesting managing speed in the downtown and enhancing pedestrian crossings. Although the study looked at revisiting downtown angle parking, Jones said there wasn’t a lot of support for that.

He suggested future councils consider a parking levy with a user-pay system that will make people think about if they want to pay to park in the premium spots downtown, or if they want to walk a block.

The study also looked at reducing speed limits in some neighbourhoods to 40 km/h, as well as in the downtown.

The total cost of implementing suggestions in the study is $15 million in capital costs.

Coun. Chris Parker questioned the figure of 9,000 trucks per day.

Jones said a lot of this is truck traffic on Highway 3 in town limits, but another 1,000 per day come into town from the north. In addition, a number of trucks started their journeys in town, and then left.

Parker also had questions about the transit figure of 5.3 per cent wanting improvements. Relating that number to the 630 who responded to the survey, he said that would be only 30 wanted to see improved transit.

Jones explained the 5.3 per cent number comes from those who reported using transit in the census, and countered that almost half of those who responded to the survey wanted transit improvements.

Continuing questions about transit, Parker asked whether the $600,000 cost would be offset by additional revenue from increased ridership opportunities and whether it would approach revenue neutrality.

“There’s not a transit system in Canada that’s revenue neutral,” Jones answered, explaining the $600,000 would be an additional cost.

Deputy Mayor Dave Beres pointed out some cities that installed bicycle lanes are finding these take away from vehicle lanes, and are reconsidering the decision. He asked if this was considered in the report.

Jones answered that provincial legislation now restricts taking traffic lanes out to create bicycle lanes, and instead wide shoulders would be utilized.

None of the recommendations in our traffic take lanes away from traffic.

Coun. Bob Parsons, who said he rides his bicycle in town, said it’s unsafe to ride on Broadway with cars backing out.

“Is there going to be any consideration - I access the side streets - to have places to park bikes somewhere not too far from Broadway,” he asked.

Jones said they heard there was nowhere to park bikes downtown, and that this would be a small step at a modest cost.

Mayor Deb Gilvesy asked if multi-use sidewalks, which are more common in Europe, were being considered instead of the standard boulevard and sidewalk used now.

“We could be developing better and smarter and thinking of adding active transportation,” she said.

The mayor also had questions about the truck bypass route not being in town, and if land expropriation costs were included in the cost estimate.

Jones said this report could be leveraged to go to the county for partnership, and that these reports don’t include land expropriation costs, as that is a variable.

With Director of Operations Carlos Reyes writing the report accompanying the study, Gilvesy asked and received confirmation that angle parking on Broadway would not be changed. Removing angle parking is one alternative identified in the report.

Parker said there were many good suggestions in the report, but he suggested the motion to adopt it have the words ‘in principle’ added. Coun. Pete Luciani, who presented the motion, said that any of the suggestions in the report must come back to council, and that this wasn’t needed.

Beres commented it was good the truck bypass was included in the report.

“That will be something that will carry a lot of weight the next time the county looks at a master plan,” he said, adding the bypass wouldn’t be feasible on just the town’s tax base.

The final motion that was passed was to accept the report for information and to direct “staff to bring forward programs, studies, and projects included in the 2026 Transportation Master Plan preferred strategy for consideration in future capital and operational budget deliberations.”