Abstract Manager

The Government of Prince Edward Island is shifting the mindset on how Islanders and tourist think about traveling around the Province. Active transportation (AT) has been a priority of the GPEI for many years, and the investments made to date have driven a positive increase in the AT culture island wide.

In 2019, GPEI launched a 5-year $25 M Active Transportation Fund that would be active through 2020-2025. The AT Fund invests $5 M each year into enhancing active transportation in PEI. With over $20 M invested to date, and additional dollars from partner investments, there have been significant infrastructure improvements that are enhancing user safety and enabling confidence in users navigating new pathways and skills. Partnerships and engagement with municipalities, Indigenous communities, and non-governmental organizations are increasing the numbers of Islanders choosing to commute actively, thereby reducing emissions created by passenger transportation – part of PEI’s “Net Zero 2030” goal. Four years into the AT Fund, over one hundred projects have been supported and funded through this initiative and 33.8 KM of separated AT pathways have been constructed.

Strategic planning for new routes was done in collaboration with current AT users and those who would like to use AT more frequently. From this strategic planning endeavor, the PEI AT Network Plan was created. The Plan builds on the Province’s Active Transportation Strategy to guide GPEIs work and lays out which routes should be complete in the future. The Plan is intended to be used by municipalities and organizations to guide their own AT initiatives and projects, by providing recommendations for sizing and configuration of AT infrastructure and providing preliminary unit costs.

Other GPEI initiatives are enhancing the usership for AT, as well, including investments in road shoulder widening, maintenance to the Confederation Trail (the spine of the AT network) and installing auxiliary AT infrastructure like bike racks and signage. Since 2019, there has been 105 KM of road shoulders widened and 115 bike racks installed at schools and other public buildings.

The success of the Active Transportation Fund is a crucial component of Prince Edward Island’s pathway to reduce carbon emissions, safeguard the environment, and increase the vitality of our communities. The Province and members from the Provincial Active Transportation Group would be honored to share our active transportation efforts with everyone at the TAC 2024 Conference.