Most commuters are not travelling to the Greater Toronto Area for work; 80 per cent of work-related car trips stay within the geographic boundaries of Simcoe County.

And that has incredible implications as Simcoe County plans how to manage growth over the next 25 years.

It means advocating for a wider Highway 400, as well as for the proposed but shelved Bradford bypass.

It means investing in county roads, and it could mean creating some new bypasses and some new county roads to move traffic through the region.

“Sixty per cent of Simcoe County based trips stay within the county, and those are working trips. That astounded us. If you include Barrie and Orillia, that number jumps to 80 per cent. That astounded us,” said Nathan Westendorp, a Simcoe County planner co-ordinating the region’s transportation master plan as part of the provincially mandated growth management process.

“The perception is that many people head to places south (of the county for work). It shows we must continue to invest in our roads and infrastructure. You cannot deny the importance of adequate linkages to the south. The GTA is the primary employment area for many people, hence the return of the GO train (to Barrie).”

The county’s traffic consultants used Transportation Tomorrow survey data collected in 2006, just as work on the Intergovernmental Action Plan (IGAP) process concluded; IGAP examined the environmental impact of growth, and set the stage for the growth management process now underway.

With the first draft of the county’s Growth Management Study to be discussed at county council next Tuesday, the growth management process picks up speed later in the week, with a series of public open houses – April 24 in Midland, April 25 in Midhurst and April 29 in Alliston.

The Growth Management Study will have a proposed transportation master plan appended to it, to support the movement of people and goods, as well as a plan to protect natural heritage features. All three components will be discussed at the open houses.

But in terms of transportation, the key is to get people and goods moving – to attract new investment and assist current employers to grow, as well as to attract and keep a skilled labour force.

“Eighty per cent (of drivers) are staying in the county. Over one million cars use county roads every day. If we’re growing to 667,000 (residents), we need to get people in and around the Simcoe area efficiently and safely,” said the planner explained.

As well as the large number of local work-related trips, the county’s study reiterated the need for Highway 400 widening, as traffic bottlenecks in Barrie, as well as for better highway access, particularly in the area that’s to become the Highway 400 Enterprise Zone, the industrial lands adjacent to Highway 400 in Innisfil, New Tecumseth and Bradford West Gwillimbury.

“A lot of people see Highway 400 as a commuter highway, but it is also a gateway to the north and a route for seasonal tourism. We’ve got ski hills and beaches, and when you get to Barrie, it’s a bit of a bottleneck. Economically that has impact,” said Westendorp.

“It’s a high-order arterial (road) for Barrie. It’s incredible how many purposes the 400 has, so it’s important to keep investing in that, as well as in transit. We cannot minimize the important of shifting our mode of travel, but it has to be cost-effective and convenient.”

Assumptions about Highway 400 widening to 10 lanes were also based on the extension of Highway 427 northward – a project that has since been axed, as the province decided to not extend the road beyond the Greenbelt. That puts further pressure on Highway 400, as well as some county and local roads, particularly in the county’s southwest.

Some commuters take Airport Road south in the GTA, while truck traffic may wind along local and county roads to the west part of the GTA, Westendorp noted.

The county’s plan also calls for the creation of another east-west link through the county, to give quick access from Clearview to Highway 93 in Oro-Medonte Township; the linkage would also facilitate travel up to Midland from the county’s west.

“One of the things we heard is it’s very hard to get around and through Wasaga Beach. The town is doing its share, but they’re asking the county what we can do. Should be upgrade a local road, Flos 4, to a county road?” asked Westendorp, noting the road intersects Highway 26 at Fergusonvale and Highway 93 near Horseshoe Valley. It would offer an alternative to Highway 26

“When you look at it, I think it’s not such a bad idea,” the planner said. “It can link Airport Road with Highway 93.”

The public input sessions will feature storyboards that show some of the significant findings and possible solutions, including upgrades to county and local roads, as well as possible interchange improvements.

The sessions take place Thursday, April 24 from 5 to 8:30, at the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre in Midland; Friday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Simcoe County Museum in Midhurst, and Tuesday, April 29, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at the Nottawasaga Inn’s Bordeaux Boardroom.

“It’s imperative we continue to work with the province and encourage the province to invest in Simcoe County. They’ve said Barrie will be an urban growth centre, so we need to invest to accommodate the growth economically and population-wise,” he said, adding the public and the county have to put the Highway 400 upgrades back on the province’s radar.