Going down the active transportation path

TRURO — As the Town of Truro works towards an Active Transportation Master Plan, engaging with the public to cycle through ideas and goals is part of the process.

The engagement took the form of a community workshop at the Douglas Street Recreation Centre recently that was well attended and accomplished what consultant Trace Planning and Design hoped for.

“The purpose of the meeting this evening was to get people out to give us ideas about places they want to go, how they want to get there, and what is their level of comfort moving around the town now,” said landscape architect Jim Scott from the design business.

“What do we really have to do to bring your street network, your trail network, up to the international standards you’ve applied to your downtown and parks because here (Truro) is as good as anywhere,” Scott, an Onslow native, said. “What gentle actions can we do to our street/ trail network to make them as good as the rest of Truro?”

Scott said a lot of the discussion revolved around multiuse streets.

“To try and find ways where bicycles, people who might be rollerblading, running, walking, hiking, pushing babies, can all work together in the same street corridor and do it in a safe environment,” he said. “Without, in any way, impacting what the cars are doing today. That’s a big challenge, but there are ways to do it.”

Scott said they’re roughly at the 30 per cent mark as far as their work.

“After tonight and in another two weeks, we’ll be done collecting all the information where we can start putting some kind of plan together,” he said. “Then we’ll come back and meet with people again. Ask, ‘did we hear you properly, are these the types of facilities you want to see built into your town?’

“There is a survey up, we do have additional meetings coming up, and they can contact us with anything they want to bring up.”

Trace Planning and Design (Kennedy Longaphie) can be contacted at 506-386-2946 or by email at kennedy@tracestudio.ca. The online survey is found at bit.ly/truro-at.

Truro Coun. Juliana Barnard, one of four town councillors in attendance, said there was great participation and a lot of strong ideas brought forward.

“You can really feel like there is some momentum building for an active transportation plan that would be good for people getting to where they need to be in town, whether it’s work, school, or recreational opportunities,” she said.

“(A plan) so we have a variety of ways for people to get around, whether it’s walking, on a bicycle, skateboard, scooter, wheelchair. There are a lot of ways to be using active transportation, so I’m excited to see what was presented here tonight. You can see it taking shape, which is exciting.”

Asked about specific streets such as some of Truro’s busiest — Prince, Robie, and Willow — Barnard said those were definitely in the mix, but many areas were discussed.

“There was a discussion about Prince Street and how to make it more multi-use. Robie Street, it looks more like they’re looking at alternative routes which would take people to the area but not necessarily on Robie because it’s challenging to make it safe and useable,” she said.

“Willow Street/mcclures Mills, a lot of people brought that up, but people brought up a lot of ideas. There are the larger routes and small routes to get from one place to another in the town and then there are connecting all the trails. As Jim said, we have world-class Victoria Park and the Railyard, how can we combine how people love to use the trails here with getting through and around town, to different places.”

Barnard said active transportation also helps the town as a member of Partners for Climate Protection.

“We need to have a greenhouse gases reduction plan, so this will help us reduce our emissions as a community,” she said. “People will be healthier, happier, and we’ve talked about having art along the routes. The culture and history of the town, we can bring that out. Riding a bicycle, you can visit different parts of the town and learn more about its history, and culture.”