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Road meeting draws 30 residents By LISA TALLYN Staff Writer About 30 area residents came out to a meeting in Georgetown recently to learn more about Halton Region's plans for transportation over the next 20 years. Dubbed "The Road to Change", the master plan being undertaken by the Region will ultimately be a list of the necessary road expansions, bridges, underpasses, bike paths and dedicated bus lanes that will be needed to accommodate the 300,000 more people expected to call Halton Region home by 2031. The plan will build on Halton's existing transportation master plan developed in 2004, and updated in 2007. That plan lists major roads projects to the year 2021 and is available online at www.halton.ca/ transportation. The Road to Change is just beginning and is to develop a sustainable, integrated transportation system across the region that considers all modes of travel including vehicles, transit, cycling and walking. There is to be an emphasis on cycling, walking, public transit and carpooling. At the meeting, held at Mold-Masters Sportsplex, one area resident asked about the references to the bicycle. "The bicycle seems to be coming up frequently," he said. He asked if there was some recent study that shows there will be "the second coming of the bicycle." "Is there an expected demand for bicycling. The last thing I could see is a surplus of bicycles and pedestrians." Alvara Almunina, the consultant project manager for the master plan, said 5fiveper cent of all trips are walking or cycling. "We're trying to provide the facilities," said Almunia. Another man said the Ontario premier can cancel everything he promised. "The money's not there," he said. "I don't think you'll get people out of the car." Another area resident asked if the recommendations that come out of the plan will be a "one-size-fits-all solution." He said Halton Hills is not like other communities in Halton-- its split into smaller communities and there is a strong farming component-- and said solutions for other communities would not necessarily work here. Alumnia said the Region is looking at each of the community's needs. He said for example, cycling may only be an option in the urban areas of Georgetown. A woman who lives in the rural area said the road she lives on has become a major bypass of Acton and stressed that she would like rural roads to be considered in the plan as rural residents are being impacted by traffic now. "If (you widen) Trafalgar Rd. to six lanes to Oakville I think I would see half the traffic on my road," she said. The Region plan takes into consideration other road and transit projects and studies being looked at by others including the Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan that includes two Halton projects-- rapid transit on Trafalgar Rd. and bus rapid transit on Dundas St., the Niagara Greater Toronto Area Corridor study, Greater Toronto Area West Corridor Study, and Halton-Peel Boundary Area Transportation Study. Over the next few months alternative solutions will be defined and evaluated based on the environment, economics and effectiveness of transportation services. A public workshop will be held June 5 to evaluate alternatives and this fall a second round of public information centres will be held across Halton to present the preferred strategy. It Could $ with HST!! 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