Complete Streets Canada

The Toronto Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) will launch a new Complete Streets Canada website in mid-June. The website will feature a new-and-improved design, new original research, fact sheets, photographs, and more!

Please check back at www.completestreets.ca in mid-June to see the new website!

Early Bird Registration Now Open for Complete Streets Forum 2011!

The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation is pleased to announce that the early bird registration for the 2011 Complete Streets Forum is now open! Please join us for TCAT’s fourth annual active transportation conference, taking place on April 28 and 29, 2011. Reserve your spot today to take advantage of the early bird pricing!

We are very excited to have some of the world’s foremost authorities on active transportation as keynote speakers for this event:

• Mia Birk from Portland, Oregon (President of and author of Alta Planning + DesignJoyride: Pedaling Toward a Healthier Planet)
• Michel Labrecque from Montréal, Québec (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Société de transport de Montréal and former President of Vélo Québec)
• Roelof Wittink from Utrecht, The Netherlands (founding member of I-CE and recipient of the 2010 Leadership Award for Cycling Promotion from the Cycling Embassy of Denmark)

We invite everyone who is working to improve our communities, cities, and urban landscape to join us in this important conversation. We all need to get around – we’re all in this together. Help to make Complete Streets a reality by registering today! Special early-bird pricing is available only until April 1, 2011.

We are grateful for the support of our government and community partners. Learn more about our sponsors or how to partner with TCAT here. Thanks to generous support from ING Direct, we are pleased to offer 20 Student Scholarships at a reduced rate of only $50. For more details, please contact networkorange@ingdirect.ca

The Complete Streets Forum will take place on April 23, 2010 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. There will also be pre-conference activities taking place on April 22, 2010 at various locations.

The Complete Streets Forum is being organized by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT), a project of the Clean Air Partnership, in partnership with Transportation Options and the City of Toronto with the generous support of our sponsors.

Building on the success of TCAT’s Bike Summit 2008 and 2009 which sold out in advance both years, the Complete Streets Forum will expand the mandate and scope of TCAT’s annual active transportation policy conference.

Learn from leading experts about innovative, creative solutions for designing and implementing safe and inviting streets for everyone, including pedestrians, cyclists, public transit users and motorists. Strategize with other stakeholders about how to effectively address common opportunities and challenges in balancing the needs of all road users.

Overall Goals

• To jointly strategize about new ways to effectively overcome common problems and achieve buy-in for reallocating road space more equitably between cars, public transit, pedestrians and cyclists
• To facilitate collaboration between and within public and non-profit organizations and the general public in order to build upon the growth of cycling and walking
• To share innovative, creative solutions to increase awareness of the benefits of cycling and walking while reducing systemic barriers
• To showcase the most recent bicycle and pedestrian research, policy, and best practices in design, programs, tourism and advocacy)
• To stimulate initiatives and professional networks that will increase the number of people who walk and cycle

Visit here to see the program agenda.

The forum will feature speaker presentations providing policy and project updates, implementation case studies, best practices in planning, and evaluation of urban opportunities. Over 150 delegates are expected to attend from across Ontario representing transportation planners, urban design firms, municipal and provincial government, industry, public health professionals and established non-profit organizations.

The forum will be critical for anyone wanting to learn about the latest approaches to designing healthy cities and the next steps for making Ontario an active transportation leader in North America.

Download the event flyer here.

We all need to get around.  Public streets should be for everyone. Yet, Toronto’s streets are designed primarily to move cars and many people do not have regular access to a car. According to the CAA, in 2008, a mid-sized sedan in Ontario costs $6516/year (or $17.85/day) to own, plus $10.70/km to operate. This means cars are essentially unavailable for many Torontonians.

At the same time, we observe that more people are walking and biking as a means of transportation. Between 2001 and 2006*:

• 33% more people ride their bicycles to work
• 11% more people walked to work
• 2% more people took public transit to work
• 5% fewer people took a car, truck, van, motorcycle, or taxicab as a driver, and 19% fewer as a passenger

For the last 75 years, our streets have been designed to move cars first and foremost. Every year, Toronto invests millions rebuilding its roads, yet the designs continue to prioritize cars over the movement of people and goods. Pedestrians, cyclists and transit are secondary considerations.

Everyone in Toronto would benefit from a road design policy that prioritizes the movement of people and goods over private cars.

* (from Statscan via City of Toronto)

Toronto is currently choking on traffic congestion.  A recent OECD study showed that congestion in the Toronto area costs the economy $3.3 billion a year.

Designing streets only for automobiles reduces opportunities for safe travel choices that can ease traffic congestion: walking, bicycling, and taking public transportation. Providing travel choices can reduce the demand for peak-hour travel in cars, the principal cause of daily congestion.

For a municipality with a growing population, such as Toronto, this represents a cost-effective way to keep people and goods moving freely through the city.

Air quality

Air pollution escalates as more vehicles are put on the road. The result is smog: a toxic chemical mixture which irritates eyes, nose, and throat, and causes respiratory and cardiovascular problems.

A 2006 study showed the average concentration of nitrogen dioxide in Toronto’s air was 20 parts per billion, and 3 times that in Toronto’s most polluted areas. This brought a 40% increase in the relative risk of death from heart disease and stroke in the most polluted areas.

The study also found 1,700 premature deaths and 6,000 hospitalizations in Toronto each year affected by air pollution.

Climate change

The transportation sector accounts for 35% of Toronto’s greenhouse gas emissions. (source)

Toronto’s climate change goals are to:

• reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the urban area by:
  • 6 percent by 2012 (based on 1990 levels)
  • 30 per cent by 2020, and
  • 80 per cent by 2050
• reduce smog-causing pollutants by 20 per cent by 2012

Providing alternatives to automobiles represents a great opportunity to reduce Toronto’s carbon footprint.