Durham is a large regional municipality in the eastern end of the Greater Toronto Area. The fast-growing region is home to many suburban, urban, and rural communities.
Durham
On August 7, 2020, the Regional Municipality of Durham compiled a Council Information Package. In it are a number of resolutions from various municipalities within the Region of Durham, with some including Complete Streets within their resolutions. They are as follows:
- The City of Pickering, in July 2020, advised that “when assessing new development, and reconstructing or building new public roads, new Regional Official Plan policies that would better support planning for all
road users include policies indicating that a “complete street” includes the provision of sidewalks/multi use paths, boulevard planting and street lighting, and that it is a Regional responsibility to provide the pedestrian/cycling, planting and street lighting components of a complete street on Regional roads.” (p.43) - Within the same advisory memo, staff recommended that “supporting the Strategic Goods Movement while preserving a complete streets approach include design standards that not only best manage the movement of goods (e.g., implementing street elements for loading and deliveries, traffic calming, off-hour delivery programs), but also supports Durham Vision Zero to mitigate pedestrian/cyclist and freight conflicts” (p.45)
The Region of Durham adopted a Complete Streets approach in the Durham Transportation Master Plan 2017. The Plan makes frequent reference to incorporating Complete Streets guidelines in all “right-of-way planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance” (p. 56). As the Region of Durham is responsible for regional roads, which are often quite hostile to cyclists, pedestrians and transit users, the Plan specifically requires the adoption of a Complete Streets approach to these corridors in order “to offer safety, comfort and convenience to all users (i.e. pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and motorists) regardless of their age or ability” (p. 127). The plan encourages lower-tier municipalities in the Region of Durham to adopt and implement dedicated Complete Streets policies (p. xvi).