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economist sunsuntribune transportation saturday aug 21 2004 i staff photosteve somerville by roy green staff writer f you think york region is the only place plagued by traffic congestion think again in portugal this week a donkey cart beat a porsche in a two- kilometre race the cart pulled by a seven-year- old donkey named tironi was the first to reach the port of viana do castelo from the suburb of areosa in the race staged to highlight the extent of traffic congestion in northern portugal so as you while away your life in neighbourhood traffic take heart you are not alone newmarket council passed a resolution this week calling on the region and the province to acceler ate major road projects including widening hwy 404 to three lanes in each direction to davis drive roads built to accommodate daily traffic of 30000 vehicles are facing volumes of 51000 and local streets built for 1500 cars are seeing 5000 newmarket regional coun cillor tony van bynen said six of 12 primary intersections are facing gridlock during peak hours all this in just 14 square miles in markham the board of trade said traffic jams are driving busi nesses away in a presentation to regional council in june board president ruth burkhblder said parts of hwy 7 warden avenue and kennedy road become parking lots during peak traffic periods how did we get to this point and is anyone doing anything aboutit since the early 1990s and with the regions official plan in 1994 weve been changing the way we plan urban structure said bryan tuckey the regions planning com missioner our transportation master plan is a framework to change the pattern of the way traf fic planning was done in the past steering large hunks of future growth into four higher density centres in markham richmond hill vaughan and newmarket is a key element of that planning but even the bestlaid plans failed to cope with the fastest pop ulation growth in canada accord ing to regional planners ross oads yorks congestion challenge over the last five years the regions population has increased by roughly the equivalent popula tion of the town of aurora every year neil garbe the regions direc tor of community planning said weve been trying to keep pace with 35000 to 40000 new people each year in the 33 years since the region was created in 1971 the population has grown from 169000 to 855000 and york is now the sixth largest municipality in canada so why not build roads before homes go up in theory that would be great said paul may the regions director of infrastructure planning the way development charges are set when development happens is when you get the development charges the other danger of getting too far ahead is sometimes devel opment plans change you dont want to be wasting funds for some thing you require in 10 years time when infrastructure minister david caplan announced ontarios plans to cope with urban sprawl last month he called it the last chance to build the future we wantv at current rates new housing will consume 1000 square kilome tres of the countryside an area dou ble the size of toronto by 2031 traffic congestion would also add 45 per cent to commuting times and air quality will sufferwith a 40- percent increase in vehicle emis sions mr caplan said while there is a plan for coping with congestion implementation doesnt always keep pace with growth according to mr may sometimes we get delayed on a project through the environmental assessment process or property acquisition design or permits he said the regions approach to traffic york region is a wellplanned community we have spearheaded a very aggressive transit program as aggressive as anywhere in the province bryan tuckey regional planning commissioner just the facts vehicle trips between the region and toronto from 7 am to 7 pm increased by 57000 between 1998 and 2001 the toronto board of trade estimates the cost of delays and wasted fuel due to traffic congestion in the gta in 1996 was 600 million by 2021 it will grow to 3 billion the average gta car carries only 116 people while one go bus can replace 50 cars the average go train carries the same number of people as 1400 cars i the typical number of vehicles in one kilometre of bumpertobumper traffic is about 130 the number of buses need ed to transport the same number of people while taking only 60 metres of road space is four congestion is threerpronged according to mr may road widening and improve ments to local roads regional roads and highways a major rapid transit program and travel demand management programs to find alternatives to automobile use such as car pools cycling working from home and staggered work hours the regions 2004 budget includes almost 180 million for road construction and mainte nance 88 million for- transit and another 82 million for the first phase of quick startits ambitious rapid transit program it has also opened the first of three smart commute centres in the region to implement traffic demand management programs york region is a wellplanned community mr tuckey said we have spearheaded a very aggressive transit program as aggressive as anywhere in the province but addressing the problem of infrastructure as weve said over and over again is a sustainability issue we really do need money from the upper levels of govern ment for infrastructure what would it take to get you to commute by public transit check out our poll in the dis cussion forums section ofyorkregioncom we are open for business and it looks like next year too unionville golf centre t uniotwille golf centre 9054771148 44 main st unionville km south of hwy 7 buy 1 green fee get a 2nd at 12 price of equal or lesser value valid mon to fri 9am4pm expires sept 3 2004 q valid mon to fri 11am4pm expires sept 3 2004 save 5 on jumbo range pail