Whitby is a mid-sized town with a population of approximately 130,000 located within Ontario’s Durham Region about 20 kilometers east of Toronto’s Scarborough border. Highway 401 runs through the south end of Whitby with two interchanges in the city. Four different railways pass through the town and it is also served by frequent GO Transit rail service.
Whitby
In its first special Council meeting following the 2018 election, Whitby Council moved a resolution that outlined the Town’s Council Goals for the 2018-2022 Term of Council. There is an emphasis on implementing Complete Streets in Whitby as part of the ten goals. One of the objectives in the document states, “To make our streets and neighbourhoods safer through innovative and best-practice design standards and traffic calming measures that reduce traffic speeds; to increase citizen involvement in building Complete Streets; to effectively manage parking on residential streets and in our downtowns; and to reduce the traffic impact of new developments on existing neighbourhoods.”
In 2017, Whitby Council received a staff update report on the ongoing Active Transportation Plan (ATP) study. The ATP will present the framework, themes, and recommended direction and action items, including a proposed network and associated policies. Complete Streets is one of seven themes in the ATP that is currently underway. The ATP will also include engineering recommendations to make streets in Whitby more complete, and an outline of the steps required to implement Complete Streets in Whitby. Whitby Council directed staff to report back to Council with a final draft of the Active Transportation Plan Study for Council’s consideration.