Over the next 25 years, the City of Burlington is going to grow in its urban areas.
With 193,000 people expected to live in Burlington by 2031, the city is planning for future population growth including how people will move through the city.
Over the last 30 years, Burlington's transportation network has accommodated growth by building more roadways. This strategy is no longer sustainable. The city does not have the space to build new roadways and the financial cost to maintain a larger network of roads is significant.
A 21st century city is built around a different transportation model, one designed to provide people of all ages and abilities with more travel choices for things like walking, cycling and transit.
Go Bold
Go Bold is Burlington's Transportation Plan. The plan is built around eight new directions for the City of Burlington. When implemented, these directions will result in a new era of transportation that:
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Provides a wide range of options for getting around regardless of age, means or ability, including walking, cycling, public transit and automobiles
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Uses compact modes of travel like buses, bicycles and walking to efficiently move larger number of people
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Is well connected to transportation systems in surrounding regions
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Offers fast, reliable and more frequent transit
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Features improved facilities and safety for cyclists and pedestrians
New Directions
Fully Align Land Use and Transportation
Ensure all land use and transportation decisions made at City Hall, from policy-making to budgeting, are integrated and support walking, biking, transit.
Rethink Streets
Creating more travel options for the community means thinking differently about how our city streets look and function. One of the ways to allow for more travel choice is to create complete streets. These are streets that are designed to be safe, comfortable and efficient for people of every age and ability including pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and drivers. They also easily connect people to the places they live, work and play.
In rural areas we, envision the potential for rural roads to serve more than just automobiles, but instead as key pieces of infrastructure that improve community interconnectivity and social interaction.
Reprioritize Mobility Choices
Reprioritize decision making at City Hall to support the creation of new facilities for walking, biking, transit that can compete with the automobile.
No New Street Capacity
Land use intensification with further auto-oriented design will only result in continued auto-dependency, expensive infrastructure and overall traffic failure. Understanding that as the city grows, expanded mobility will be achieved by investing in walking, biking, and transit instead of building new roadways.
Make Walking More Enjoyable
Walking is the foundation of the transportation system. Design streets that are safe, vibrant, active and easy to navigate.
Make Biking More Enjoyable
Design streets with biking infrastructure that provides a safe, well connected system throughout the city. In the rural areas, encourage development of biking opportunities over time with infrastructure where strategically appropriate.
Make Public Transit Enjoyable
Implement significant and strategic improvements to transit in order to improve experience and increase ridership. The result is a transit network that offers quick, reliable and more frequent transit service.
"Walk the Talk" in the Follow Through
Dedicate energy and attention to ensuring the actions identified in GoBold are implemented. Align decision making and budgeting to support the new mobility hierarchy.
Get Involved
Thank you to everyone who has provided their feedback about the future of transportation in Burlington through the workbooks and online survey, and at public meetings, events like Canada Day and community centres.
Your input will be used to help shape the policies of a draft new Transportation Plan which will be presented to Burlington City Council early in 2018.
Contact a staff member by emailing us at gobold@burlington.ca