The push for more sidewalks within the City of Greater Sudbury was firmly established during the April 20 operations committee meeting, which saw the city revise its sidewalk scoring matrix.
A flaw was discovered in the existing matrix, in that it didn’t adequately score roadways near built-up commercial areas in outlying communities, which the committee resolved.
Within the updated matrix, these town centres and roadways within 400 metres, or an estimated five-minute walk, have been better prioritized within the city’s list of proposed projects.
“The goal of the Sidewalk Priority Matrix is to look at the city’s road network as a whole to determine where pedestrians are travelling, where there are gaps in the pedestrian infrastructure and prioritize investments in the sidewalk network in order to improve mobility options in the community,” explained the city’s supervisor of traffic and asset management, Joe Rocca.
The Sidewalk Priority Matrix was adopted in 2017 and determines where new sidewalks are installed each year, drawing from variables such as pedestrian traffic and gaps in infrastructure.
The ultimate goal, in keeping with the city’s Community Energy and Emissions Plan, is to establish a 35-per-cent active transportation mode share by 2050.
Alongside better prioritizing town centres, city councillors expressed interest in the city prioritizing other areas, such as Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc’s suggestion that the neighbourhoods surrounding seniors’ residents should become more pedestrian friendly.
With various other sidewalk requests made during last week’s meeting, it became clear that there’s a greater appetite among the city’s elected officials for new sidewalks than the $600,000 budgeted annually.
“We’re starting to recognize things, but we have to go at a quicker pace, here,” Leduc told Sudbury.com this week. “Especially with COVID, you saw a lot of people out walking, which really amplified the situation. … We’re trying to be an active community … and we really don’t have enough in our sidewalk budget to put in more sidewalks.”
This sentiment is music to the ears of Maria Bozzo, who is a co-founder of the Greater Sudbury Safer Sidewalks group.
Although the volunteer community group primarily focuses on advocating for greater winter sidewalk maintenance, she said that any city council support toward sidewalks is positive.
They’re important, she said, “to have a safe way for people to walk around their neighbourhoods. It’s amazing how many people in the city don’t have cars and rely on the network of sidewalks and public transportation to get around.
“The better they’re maintained and the more there are, the easier it will be for more people to leave their cars behind and use the sidewalk as a way of transportation.”
Although the desire for additional sidewalks continues to outweigh the municipal funding available, things have improved in recent years.
Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh, who chaired last week’s operations committee meeting, introduced a successful motion in 2019 to add a $600,000 line item toward new sidewalks to the city’s annual budget.
Prior to that, sidewalks were incorporated into a broader budget and there was no guarantee of an annual investment.
Now, McIntosh told Sudbury.com, “we’re seeing sidewalks go in where they’re needed, not necessarily just because construction is happening on the road.”
For years, she said that Sudbury was built with the idea that everyone drove a car, “but there’s been a real shift in thinking.”
Although McIntosh said she joins others around council chambers in recognizing there’s a desire for the city to create more sidewalks than they have been constructing, the age-old dilemma of shoring up available plays a central role in the debate. It’s a matter of pulling funds from other areas or raising taxes.
“It is a balancing act,” she said, adding that there’s also a significant community push for the city to improve the condition of its roads network.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
