What is an Integrated Transportation Master Plan?
An Integrated Transportation Master Plan (ITMP) is a long range plan which provides a framework and direction for transportation infrastructure needs across a broad area, such as a city or region. The Master Plan can also act as a visioning exercise which presents the objectives that a municipality wishes to achieve in the coming decades and the supporting policies on which infrastructure decisions are based.
Pickering's population is expected to double by 2031, and over the past decade, there has been a significant effort on planning for Central Pickering and the Urban Growth Centre to accommodate the anticipated population growth. This ITMP will put those pieces together and provide a comprehensive plan for the entire City. It will focus on leveraging planned investments to ensure that growth contributes positively to all communities
The ITMP will be informed by existing policies such as:
It will also update the City's Trails & Bicycle Network Plan and create a Complete Streets Guideline.
Municipal Class Environmental Process
The Integrated Transportation Master Plan study will be conducted in accordance with the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (EA) process. The Master Plan will fulfill the requirements of Phase 1, identifying and describing problems or opportunities, and Phase 2, identifying, evaluating, and selecting alternative solutions, preparing solutions to the problems, preparing a general inventory of the existing environment, and initial public and stakeholder consultation.
At the conclusion of the Integrated Transportation Master Plan, individual projects will proceed to Phases 3, 4, and 5 of the Municipal Class EA process, with requirements depending on projected cost and scale. Phase 3 includes a second round of public consultation, as well as more detailed alternative solutions, and more detailed studies on environmental impacts. Phase 4 consists of the completion of the Environmental Study Report, while Phase 5 involves the implementation of the preferred design.