What is a Transportation Master Plan?
A Transportation Master Plan is a comprehensive and long-term planning document that provides the strategic framework to guide the enhancement, management, and investment in a city’s transportation infrastructure. It is a crucial tool for ensuring that the mobility network (which includes all modes of travel: walking, cycling, transit, auto, goods, and emergency vehicles) is aligned with broader community goals, sustainable development principles, and the needs of residents, businesses, and visitors. The TMP also helps guide the City on the transportation elements required for the transportation network to fully support the Official Community Plan at the City’s full build out.
A typical transportation master plan would include these components:
- A comprehensive assessment of current conditions – taking inventory of the current infrastructure and travel behaviour within the city allows for the identification of existing challenges and opportunities for improvement that can be explored.
- Future growth and demand – historic growth patterns are used to forecast future demand, and these are supplemented by planned and approved developments that are consistent with the city’s Official Community Plan; this enables the planning work to provide adequate capacity and infrastructure for future needs.
- Public and Interested Parties Engagement – Engaging with the public, local businesses, relevant organizations, and agencies to gather input and insight that can only be derived from those who live and breathe the community. This is a vital step to ensure that the needs and aspirations of the community are fully considered in the development of the plan. Multiple instances of engagement are required to provide opportunities for the community to influence the direction of the plan by providing insight on current challenges, ideas and feedback on emerging ideas and opportunities, and to ensure they have been considered in decision making for the larger transportation network..
- Identifying goals and objectives – Based on an understanding of the existing conditions, and the needs of the community, a clear set of goals for the future transportation network is defined to reflect the priorities and areas of focus that should be considered when developing proposed solutions.
- Future year analysis – based on the forecast growth and demand, a picture of how the transportation network will perform in the future is developed to provide a baseline against which to test proposed solutions.
- Opportunities and improvements – areas for improvement are identified and tested against the baseline conditions such that measurable benefits can be quantified.
- Policy framework – ultimately, the TMP is a strategic policy document that guides decision-making and prioritization of transportation projects and initiatives, based on the identified goals and objectives. This framework includes strategies to reduce congestion, improve safety, promote sustainable modes of travel, and enhance connectivity.
- Recommended network – the most frequently-utilized output of the TMP process is the series of maps that illustrate the proposed future state of the transportation network according to each mode. As an example, this will include an active transportation map that identifies where proposed new connections of sidewalks, bike lanes, trails, or other active mobility infrastructure is recommended to be built, but similar maps are produced for all modes (including parking).
- Financial planning and implementation – above all else, the TMP should be a functional document that provides a practical and implementable series of projects and initiatives with estimated costs and associated triggers for when the recommendations become necessary, this informs capital budget management as well as operational planning and maintenance.
The plan provides a roadmap to ensure a well-coordinated, efficient, and sustainable mobility network that aligns with the goals and aspirations of the community it serves.
Who is McElhanney Ltd.
Established in 1910, McElhanney is an employee-owned company which provides surveying, engineering, GIS and remote sensing, community and transportation planning, landscape architecture, environmental services, and more. McElhanney’s multidisciplinary team is made up of 1,400 professional engineers, planners, scientists, landscape architects, technologist, geospatial and geomatics experts in BC, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Florida. Offices on Vancouver Island include Nanaimo, Courtenay, Victoria, Duncan, and Campbell River. McElhanney is an Envision certified company with the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure and are ISO 9001:2015 Quality Control and COR Safety certified.