Here’s what to know about Medicine Hat’s proposed transportation plan

The plan is focused on increasing safety, future transportation technologies and improving active transportation infrastructure.

Active transportation refers to walking, cycling and any other human-powered form of getting around.

City engineers — along with outside experts — have developed the plan over the course of two years with a process that included public consultation.

However, some residents said they wanted to have more of a say after the plan was presented during an April 28 council committee of the whole meeting.

Council at its May 20 meeting decided to defer making a final decision on the plan, citing the need to hear residents out through a public hearing.

That received praise from at least three people often critical of the city’s elected officials.

That non-statutory — meaning not legally required — hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on July 7.

Officials told CHAT News in May the hearing was meant to take place in June or July.

The full 85-page draft Transportation Master Plan report can be read on the city’s Shape Your City page.

Engineer: no specifics

Some residents point out the master plan lays out the removal of lanes from specific roadways in Medicine Hat.

Sandeep Pareek, manager of engineering in the Municipal Works division, claimed the document is broad and doesn’t dive into specifics.

“The Transportation Master Plan identifies corridors that would need updates in the future, but it doesn’t get into the details project-level specific,” he told CHAT News in an interview.

“It’s development-driven or it is the condition-driven kind of upgrades that are required to those roads, but it doesn’t get into details of what the road would look like or what kind of infrastructure that needs to be built.”

Pareek said getting feedback from residents is part of the process for most individual projects.

He explained that staff will present an early concept, receive feedback from the public and try to address any concerns that arise.

“This is not a project specific document, this is a high-level policy document that talks about how the road transportation system needs to cater for 30 years down the road,” said Pareek.

Are there projects?

While most of the Transportation Master Plan is a broad outline of where Medicine Hat is headed over the next 25 years, it does include a list of “comprehensive corridor studies” that propose some specific changes.

For example, city engineers propose the addition of a multi-use path for Third Street Northwest between Second Avenue Northeast and Seventh Avenue Northwest by 2026.

Building the path would be achieved by narrowing the street’s existing two lanes, according to the document.

The street is classified as an arterial roadway but engineers write it functions like a collector due to its proximity to a residential area.

Staff estimate the project would cost $7.45 million.

Another project that has caught the ire of some residents is a proposal to better optimize Kingsway Avenue with improvements to pavement condition and potential active transportation add-ons.

While there is no explicit mention of planned lane reductions for the avenue, any initiative to widen sidewalks or cycling lanes could reduce the space for vehicles.

Those ideas are drawn from the plan’s shift to prioritize active transportation — walking, running and cycling — while maintaining support for regular vehicle travel.

The priorities are derived from what residents tell the city they want to see.

The top three priorities in the transportation public survey were enhancing the active transportation network, reducing travel times and congestion and improving traffic management around school zones.

Alternatively, the lowest-ranked priorities were increasing transit service levels, reducing transportation costs and improving the safety of goods movement — for example, transport trucks.

What critics say

Kollektiv Cycle owner Sabrina Moore says she was not genuinely consulted when a plan was introduced that would see two parking spots in front of her business removed for a new lane.

Two parking spots on Sixth Avenue Southeast across the street from Kollektiv Cycle will be removed to extend a merge lane southbound.

She points to her experience as a warning for what could happen with the transportation plan.

Another business owner, Greg Bueckert, said in a post to social media that the plan’s main objective is to “discourage driving vehicles completely.”

He encouraged residents to submit written or electronic letters against the plan by Monday.

“Here is your chance to express your disgust about the waste of your tax dollars and the destruction of our existing comfortable roadways,” Bueckert wrote.

Residents can drop off submissions at the city clerk’s office at city hall or by email at clerk@medicinehat.ca.

by Olivia Thorington

Here’s what to know about Medicine Hat’s proposed transportation plan

Engineer: no specifics

Are there projects?

What critics say

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