[getsmart-l] Bradford bypass plan shelved but not eliminated

[Janet May]

http://www.yorkregion.com/article/73558

 

Bradford Bypass plan shelved, but not eliminated 

 

 East Gwillimbury 

Apr 24, 2008 09:22 PM 

Detractor wants it written out, but town keeping it in official plan for
future 
By: Sean Pearce 

While some commuters and politicians are mourning the province passing on
building a Bradford Bypass, others are saying good riddance to the much
discussed thoroughfare.

Laura Bowman of the York-Simcoe Naturalists is just one such person who said
governments at all levels need to think less about roads and more about
sustainable solutions for transportation and congestion. 

The fact York Region cites Transportation Ministry studies showing the need
for the bypass by 2025 is misleading, Ms Bowman said, because studies rely
on information 11 years out of date.

"There's no data to back up that the need for this road is urgent," she
said. "The environmental assessment done in 1997 did not include any
definitive traffic study."

And Ms Bowman said she's not alone in her assertion building new highways
and extending others is old thinking. She said the York Region Environmental
Association and the Ontario Smart Growth Network agree with the York-Simcoe
Naturalists a Bradford Bypass is a bad move.

The 1997 environmental assessment for the bypass, she said, was approved
with a host of conditions that have never been met.

For York Region to pass a resolution asking for the Bradford Bypass to be
included in future provincial plans ignores the careful work and
consideration in documents such as the growth plan, Ms Bowman said. Those
studies have shown there's just no need for a Bradford Bypass or an
extension of Hwy. 404 even up to Ravenshoe Road, she added.

"You have to ask yourself, are there solutions to that congestion with the
infrastructure we have now?" she said.

When governments build new highways, they encourage more growth, she said,
which just leads to more traffic.

Governments should be pushing to build more and improved transit rather than
highways, Ms Bowman said. She added she's frustrated the bypass and the Hwy.
404 extension continue to be included in the official plans of York Region
and other municipalities.

East Gwillimbury Mayor James Young said the Bradford Bypass remains in his
town's official plan, because it's just prudent planning. 

He said he supports the intent of the bypass and views it as a viable means
of getting traffic from highways 400 to 404, although, in the end, he'd like
to see it built a little further north than its last proposed alignment. 

"We're trying to plan all of our infrastructure to accommodate 30 or 40
years down the road," he said. "The Bradford Bypass and the Hwy. 404
extension are going to be a part of that."

To Mr. Young, the question isn't so much if the routes will be constructed,
but rather when. East Gwillimbury, he said, is working towards a complete
transportation strategy that includes transit and other green initiatives.
But the reality is highways will also have to be a part of that.

For now, he said, the bypass remains in the plan and the municipality and
the region will continue to wait and see what happens next. The ball is in
the province's court.

"Provincial governments change and policies change within existing
governments," Mr. Young said. "When the Liberals came to power I sat down
with the minister of transportation and we were told the Bradford Bypass was
more of a priority than the Hwy. 404 extension." 

 

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