“If we develop a county-wide, visible and connected Active Transportation Plan that is convenient and accommodates the needs of existing and future users, it will encourage active transportation year round and improve quality of life for both residents and visitors to the region, making Wellington County one of the most desirable municipalities in which to live, work and visit.”
That’s how Karen Armstrong of the Wellington Dufferin Guelph Health Unit summarized, for Wellington North Council, her presentation on a proposed Active Transportation Plan at a recent meeting. Active transportation is defined as human-powered transportation – anything that gets a person active and out of vehicles – including walking, cycling, wheeling, in-line skating, skateboarding, cross country skiing, canoeing and kayaking.
Health concerns in Wellington Dufferin Guelph are backed up by statistics, she said. The risk of obesity goes up six per cent for every hour spent in a car while the risk goes down for every kilometer walked each day. A high school student who uses motorized transport adds two to three pounds a year. Fifty-four per cent of Wellington Dufferin Guelph adult residents, over the age of 18, are overweight or obese and 88 per cent of children aren’t active enough for healthy growth and development.
Armstrong said the Wellington County in motion committee has been analyzing the situation, what impedes people from being more active and what municipalities can do to fix the situation. Having cycle lanes, wide enough sidewalks for baby strollers and wheelchairs, an abundance of green space promotes walking and cycling.
She also pointed out that 48 per cent of Ontario seniors have no vehicle – in Wellington Dufferin Guelph 32 per cent of the population will be 50 or older by 2011 – and 19.3 per cent of Wellington County residents are under the age of 14.
“Over half of the residents can’t drive cars and yet we still build our communities around cars,” she pointed out.
The Town of Minto, as a result, has passed a resolution recognizing “that walking and cycling are two active modes of transportation that contribute to a healthy and physically active community (and that) encouraging active transportation has positive affects on the social and physical well-being of individuals in the community which can lower heathcare costs”. The resolution points out “by working together the municipalities in the County of Wellington can integrate current activities, within each individual municipality, to develop a linked county-wide Active Transportation Plan and as partners we can seek grant funds for such a plan.”
Wellington North passed a resolution supporting Minto in its resolve to support “the creation of a terms of reference for a county-wide Active Transportation Plan (and) the Wellington Dufferin Guelph in motion regional and local committees as the group to assist with the preparation of grant applications and the undertaking of community consultation towards the preparation of a Terms of Reference.”
Armstrong thanked council for its support of the resolution. If grant money is received a work group will be formed, she said, to move active transportation forward. The next step in the process will be planning workshops, to be held across the region in September/October, to get input from residents.
Councillor Dan Yake said cycle trails and wider sidewalks and walking trails are “issues we need to take a good hard look at as we go ahead (with planning).”
Mayor Mike Broomhead pointed out that in projects in the community “we have gone to a full wide of five feet for sidewalks currently being poured and are identifying sidewalks that need to be replaced.”