Wellesley council awards $150,000 contract for development of transportation master plan

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Township of Wellesley will soon begin work on a plan that will set goals and objectives for its public works department related to the maintenance and improvement of public roads over the next 25 years, and will also include a road-network mobility plan and transit strategy for the township.

At council’s committee of the whole meeting June 24, councillors awarded a nearly $150,000 contract for the development of a comprehensive transportation master plan to CIMA Canada Inc. While not the lowest of the three bidders that submitted to the township’s request for proposals, director of public works Chris Cook said CIMA Canada submitted a bid that closest met the criteria set out by staff and addressed the unique needs of the township.

“Their approach, methodology and scheduling was very detailed and touched on some important points for us including specifically mentioning the unique mode of transportation that a number of our residents utilize, being the horse and buggies, and accounting for that in every aspect of this process, including public consultation,” Cook said.

“And their proposal was significantly more detailed with how they broke down how the time is allocated and how it will be specifically spent. They also proposed 50 per cent more public engagement than the low bidder, and I believe public input is very important piece of this whole endeavour.”

As the township continues to grow in population, the requirements of infrastructure to meet the needs of residents will expand and change. The transportation master plan will forecast based on that growth over the next 25 years and help provide a strategic direction to council to aid in decision making, and to staff when engaged in transit and mobility discussions with neighbouring municipalities.

The plan will also help staff in creating a 10-year capital forecast and budgeting models for necessary road maintenance, including the paving of gravel roads and the repaving of paved roads, and aid in the development of missing, relevant policies related to infrastructure planning such as traffic-calming and sidewalk-replacement policies.

“This transportation master plan will give council and staff a long-term strategic direction for the transportation network, it will look at mobility and identify gaps in our accessible services, it will look at transit opportunities, strategic direction related to infrastructure improvements, and will utilize numerous resources such as that traffic speed study from last year, the regional transportation master plan, the regional rural transit strategy, the asset management plan that was just recently completed, the development charges study that was completed last year, and several more as well,” Cook said.

“It will be a critical piece of the township official-plan (update, also currently being developed). … This is one of the more exciting projects … that I’ve brought forward in my five years here. It will help set the groundwork and strategic direction for the entire department for the next 25 years, so I’m excited to get started.”

A full cost and implementation plan will be included with the transportation master plan and presented to council for consideration once the plan is complete. The plan’s development itself will be funded through the township’s development-charges and infrastructure reserves.