City Council to review request for Grant application towards development of Integrated Transportation Plan for Prince Rupert

Transportation elements made for some of the themes to
City of Prince Rupert's 2030 Vision planning
(image from City of PR website)

A request to pursue some funding for development of a Transportation plan for Prince Rupert will be on the Agenda for tonight's Special Council session, with the city's contract planners from iPlan providing a report that outlines the positives they see towards such an initiative.

In the report, Rob Buchan from iPlan, providing his report under the title of City Planner, notes as to how the need for such a Transportation Plan has been identified in previous community engagements and ties that theme into the recent discussion on parking issues in the downtown core.

The importance and need for a downtown parking strategy has also been raised as an important goal, and is a critical action for enabling the revitalization of the City Centre. The Province is providing funding for new transportation plans that include active transportation.

His notes on the topic also observe how the provincial grant program through UBCM of up to $20,000 could cover the active transportation element of a program, but for a larger Master Transportation plan the cost could be as high as 70,000 dollars.

The maximum grant that the City can qualify for is $20,000.00. 

This amount of funding may be sufficient to undertake the active transportation component but additional funding will be necessary to fund the entire master transportation plan. 

Total funding required has not yet been fully determined but it is estimated to be in the order of $50,000 to $70,000.00. The contribution of $20,000 towards this expenditure would be significant.

A Report on Transportation grant funding from
iPlan for City Council
(click to enlarge)

The deadline for applications to the funding program comes up on May 21st.

The need for a more dedicated approach to Transportation themes was a focus for the local Complete Streets group in the city, which outlined some of their thoughts towards improved transportation last September.

Elements of Transportation themes have made for part of the City's 2030 Vision planning in recent years.

Council members will consider the request to make application for the funding as part of this afternoons Special Session which will start at 4 PM

More notes on past Council discussions can be explored from our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.