sept 22/17.pdf 2 Friday, September 22, 2017 brooklintowncrier.com Less than Half the Picture By Richard Bercuson Durham - Crawling, Exasperating, Booming The Durham region has a transportation master plan. Its motto should be "You might get there from here - somehow, sometime." Instead, it chose the more mundane and less provocative "Durham: Moving, Connecting, Growing." You can slog through it at durhamtmp.ca. It doesn't take an acutely observant person to notice the population has long since surpassed road capacity. Homes have sprouted; roads not so much. Developers don't build roads. They buy land, construct gaggles of little communities and rake in the dough. Roads - and mass transit - aren't their thing although they pay fees to have roads connect to their sites. Drive through the new developments bounded by Harmony and Conlin to get the picture. Dirt roads, winding crescents, and only a couple of major ways in or out. The region is a macrocosm of a school whose population growth has forced the existence of a portable city. (How long before BHS, Brooklin's only secondary school, reaches that point?) Our road system is in a similar state: narrow, insufficient, and in dire need of upgrades. Durham's plan for Brooklin is limited. It indicates the widening of Win- chester, a regional road, between Baldwin and Anderson, to three lanes "and perhaps more." This is to be done between 2017 and 2021. The "perhaps more" phrase is off- putting if you live or have a business on Winchester. It suggests razing establishments, a ridiculous thought if partly because it suggests that merely widening current roads solves the problem. Included in the 302 page report that featured a traffic study from 2011, obsolete a day after it was completed, was expanding Winchester from Anderson to Garrard to four lanes as well as widening the tiny traverse-challenged bridge over the creek and adding sidewalks "where required." Where required? Shouldn't they be everywhere? The solution to Durham's, and Brooklin's traffic woes isn't just in widening existing roads. Some key routes need alternatives. Brooklin's Secondary Plan includes a vital route from Cochrane Street, south of the 407, dipping south and then east above Conlin, cutting across Thickson, and meeting up with Garrard. The idea is to reroute drivers travelling to and from the eastern part of Whitby and Oshawa and thus getting them off the Winchester parking lot. This arterial is labelled as a B level route, akin to Taunton or Rossland in terms of design. What we need are more such arterial "B" roads. The Durham TMP is mostly about widening. Well, the 401 has been widened aplenty. It's still a slow miserable route at the best of times, which are few. A ring road south of Brooklin, as described, would be a start. Another one north to meet up with and go through the explosion of homes at the northern points of Whitby and Oshawa would be another. Until such time, breathe, people, breathe. "Proud to be a Brooklinite" Founded in 2000 and published 24 times per year. Editor, Richard Bercuson 613-769-8629 • editorofbtc@gmail.com The Brooklin Town Crier is locally owned and operated and is a publication of Appletree Graphic Design Inc. We accept advertising in good faith but do not endorse advertisers nor advertisements. All editorial submissions are subject to editing. For advertising information, contact: 905.655.7642 Email: yeswomanbrooklin@gmail.com Next Issue: Friday, October 6, 2017 Deadline: Friday, September 29, 2017 Celebrate Culture Days 2017 Durham Tourism is inviting residents and visitors to participate in Culture Days, an interactive, free celebration of local arts and culture, taking place September 29 to October 1. The three-day national celebration sees hundreds of thousands of artists and cultural organizations, in hundreds of cities and towns across Canada, come together to share their cultural spirit and passion. Many free and interactive events will be held during the celebration, in several communities including Durham Region. Durham residents and visitors are encouraged to explore their creativity, and experience creative expression through the region's talented artists, musicians, creators, historians and more. More than 30 events, throughout all eight area municipalities, have registered on the Culture Days Ontario website. For an updated listing of these events, visit on.culturedays.ca.