Despite a somewhat limited attendance due to the first snowfall of the season and icy road conditions, the City of Moose Jaw held its scheduled Transportation Master Plan (TMP) open house event Oct. 24, 2023.
The event was held from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre and allowed the public the opportunity to give feedback and learn more about the plan’s ongoing development.
The TMP is a long-range plan that gives an overall direction for the current and future development needs regarding transportation infrastructure in a given area such as a city or region.
TMPs are updated on a routine basis, which is typically every eight to 10 years. Revised plans are scheduled due to the constantly evolving nature of transportation in a city that continually grows, contracts, and sees a variety of other changes.
The contractor for this year’s TMP is the KGS Group.
KGS Group organized the event as a come-and-go open house, and guests were invited to strike up conversations and provide their feedback while representatives listened and answered questions.
To gather information for the research phase of the project, 502 people were asked by the contractor to take a survey covering a wide variety of transportation points across Moose Jaw. These questions involved areas such as points of regular traffic congestion and individual mode of transportation preferences.
Using this and other information from research, KGS Group was able to compile data to come up with an accurate view of the local transportation situation.
One early finding is that both cycling and mass transit are underrepresented in the city. When asked how residents currently travel, five per cent of the surveyed population said they cycle and six per cent say they use transit. When they were then asked how they would prefer to travel, both categories were represented at 24 per cent each.
This result indicates that future development should prioritize mass transit and should seek to connect and expand biking routes throughout the city.
When further asked about cycling experiences, survey participants stated that roadways can feel dangerous, some roads are too narrow to accommodate cyclists, and a dedicated cycling lane is needed.
In regard to mass transit, survey participants stated that bus hours need to be extended to evenings and weekends, and long waiting times will need to be addressed.
Results from the survey also suggest that areas such as sidewalks, carpooling, or scooters require less investment priority as they are reportedly used less commonly.
Preparing a current and accurate TMP is significant as all future city planning decisions are based on this information. The results indicate areas where further investment will have the best impact and helps improve safety, mobility, and quality of life.
The current TMP is built around existing data points and does not include future development plans such as the proposed school in the southwest corner of the city.
Once this school has been built, a follow-up survey will be required after a period of time to address transportation changes that result from the new project. Similar changes can only be addressed once enough data has been gathered to form an accurate representation of the situation.
The TMP is expected to be completed and presented to city council for review in 2024.
In response to some providers blocking access to Canadian news on their platforms, our website, MooseJawToday.com will continue to be your source for hyper-local Moose Jaw news. Bookmark MooseJawToday.com and sign up for our free online newsletter to read the latest local developments.
