Abstract Manager

Home to 10 million people, the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) is the economic engine of the province and Canada, generating two-thirds of Ontario’s gross domestic product (GDP). A well-functioning transportation system is critical to Ontario’s economic prosperity and the quality of life for the nearly 15 million people who will call the GGH home by 2051.

In March 2022, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation released Connecting the GGH: A Transportation Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, a comprehensive, multimodal and long-term transportation plan to ensure that the regional transportation system meets the needs of today and is future ready and resilient for a rapidly growing population.

In developing the plan, the Ministry considered significant population growth, economic transitions, impacts of climate change, new technologies and shifting demographics that present new and increased demands on Ontario’s current and future transportation systems.

In order to consider how the GGH’s transportation needs might change over the next 50 years, the transportation planning process included a strategic foresight exercise. The team also conducted analysis of the impact that potential disruptors may have on the future transportation network, including increasing proliferation of connected/ automated vehicles, adoption of electric vehicles, increased job automation, changes in marine freight patterns, near-sourcing of goods, and digitalization of the supply chain.

The plan has been developed with input from partners including municipalities, Indigenous communities and organizations, transit agencies, community and business stakeholders. The result is a 30-year vision and plan for regional mobility.

While the development of the plan was underway in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to multiple changes in how and where people work and travel in the GGH. Recognizing the potential long-term impact of these shifts in travel patterns, the ministry revisited and expanded the disruptors to account for the potential long-term impact of the pandemic.

This presentation will describe the process and considerations, with tips and lessons on regional transportation planning that can be applied in communities of all sizes. The presentation is intended to provide an overview of the overall plan development process. It is complementary to Multimodal Network Planning - developing and applying measures of effectiveness to evaluate solutions in the GGH, which will provide an in-depth examination of the development and application of the evaluation methodology for the plan.