The transportation needs of North Battleford in the coming years was the focus of attention at last Monday night’s Planning Committee meeting at City Hall.
It was at that meeting that the Transportation Master Plan was presented to council members. The master plan outlines the vision and objectives of the city when it comes to the wide range of transportation issues and needs facing the community.
The master plan was presented by Rene Rosvold, who is a transportation planner with CIMA+, the engineering and project management firm that developed the document.
According to Rosvold, the master plan takes the city’s “goals, values and aspirations” and “turns them into a set of policies and actions to guide the development of the city’s transportation systems.”
The vision is for a “healthy, green, safe and strong” transportation system, in line with the Official Community Plan’s vision.
Public engagement included a public open house as well as an online survey. According to Rosvold the feedback from that indicated that the most important issues were roadway network safety, increased local transit, attracting business, pedestrian and cycling network safety, and walkability.
Traffic data was also collected for the study back in May and June of 2015.
The presentation included information on such things as regional and peak hour traffic patterns. It also included a look at what a future long-term roadway network might look like for the city.
Those included concepts for future roadways. One of those is a conceptual future expressway that would link Highway 40 to Highway 16 at a point much farther to the east from where the junction is located now. Whether that will actually transpire remains to be seen, however.
Recommendations from the master plan include adopting and implementing the policies outlined, to adopt the long-term roadway network and active roads network, and to work with the Ministry of Highways on matters of mutual interest, among others.
The Planning Committee voted to receive the Transportation Master Plan.
