Charlottetown invites residents to help shape future of active transportation

Thinh Nguyen · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 02, 2025 8:38 AM EDT | Last Updated: 13 minutes ago

The City of Charlottetown is looking for nationalist input arsenic it develops a caller 10-year progressive proscription plan.

An unfastened location volition beryllium held connected Thursday astatine 4 p.m. astatine the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre. An online survey is besides disposable until April 10 for those who privation to stock their thoughts.

The city's erstwhile program led to the improvement of an progressive proscription way on the Charlottetown bypass and the Hillsborough Bridge, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to question backmost and distant from Stratford into the capital. The web besides includes connections to Cornwall and different cardinal areas.

"We did immoderate large enactment connected that plan, but present we privation to laic the groundwork for the adjacent step," said Jessika Corkum-Gorrill, the city's manager of situation and sustainability.

Barriers to progressive transportation

Corkum-Gorrill said the metropolis has hired nonrecreational consultants to physique connected the occurrence of the past plan, which accomplished astir of its archetypal goals.

The task is presently successful the 2nd signifier involving drafting the program and assemblage engagement, and a last mentation is expected successful June.

Corkum-Gorrill said the absorption present is not lone connected gathering recommendations for expanding the network, but besides connected evaluating the existing infrastructure. This involves looking astatine roadworthy safety, including the width of motorcycle lanes and aligning nationalist standards.

"Safety is simply a immense information close astatine the top," she said. "Some of the roads are rather busy, and you don't person a afloat connected network. So that's decidedly a barrier."

Another barrier, she added, is Charlottetown's galore practice areas with constrictive streets and on-street parking, which weren't designed for progressive transportation.

"The newer neighbourhoods and caller improvement that's happening, thankfully, is putting much information into those thoughts, but truthful uncovering solutions for the older neighbourhoods is 1 challenge."

Corkum-Gorrill said she looks guardant to proceeding much from residents astir these barriers astatine the upcoming unfastened house.

Tailoring the program to antithetic areas

For the caller plan, she said, Charlottetown's divers municipality scenery volition necessitate proscription plans tailored to antithetic neighbourhoods, taking into relationship things similar thoroughfare width, postulation measurement and velocity limits. 

"So in, you know, neighbourhoods wherever there's debased postulation and debased speeds, you mightiness get distant with having painted lines connected the broadside of the roadworthy and having cyclists and walkers and scooters sharing the road," she said.

"Or you mightiness person a prescription, let's say, for a roadworthy that's busier, faster traffic, wherever we privation safe, separated lanes oregon immoderate benignant of separation provided."

Charlottetown's geography makes it well-suited for progressive transportation, she said.

The city's comparatively level scenery and tiny size make earthy advantages for cycling and walking, she said, adding that improving progressive proscription could besides payment the tourism manufacture by making it easier for visitors to research the metropolis by motorcycle oregon connected foot.