The Arterial Roads Review Ad hoc Steering Committee (ARRASC) met on October 1, 2009, at 8:35 a.m. in the Council Chamber, Regional Administrative Headquarters, 10 Peel Centre Drive, Suite A, Brampton.

Chaired by Councillor R. Paterak

1. DECLARATIONS OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST - Nil


2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

RECOMMENDATION ARRASC-1-2009:

That the agenda for the October 1, 2009 Arterial Roads Review Ad hoc Steering Committee meeting be approved.

3. DELEGATIONS/PRESENTATIONS

a) Peter Hillier, Senior Project Manager – Transportation Division, Delcan Corporation, Providing an Update on the Arterial Road Rationalization Review II Project and to Illustrate the Work Plan

Received

Damian Albanese introduced Peter Hillier, Senior Project Manager, Transportation Division of Delcan Corporation.

Damian Albanese, Director Transportation informed the Committee that it was proposed to schedule future meetings of the Arterial Roads Review Ad Hoc Steering Committee meetings to align the project’s schedule and to update on project milestone dates of February, May and September 2010.

Peter Hillier stated that Delcan Corporation was retained in late summer of 2009 to assist in the Arterial Road Rationalization Review Phase II Project. He stated that Delcan is primarily an employee-owned, multinational company with their head office in Markham, Ontario, with branch offices in Niagara Falls, London, Ottawa and Hamilton.

Peter Hillier stated that one of the critical elements of the project is to develop methodologies to assess and evaluate the nine options that were established by the Region of Peel and its municipal partners. Delcan is currently in the process of developing those methodologies. The initialization of the project occurred at the first staff working group meeting held on September 3, 2009, which provided basic project understandings, including the establishment and following of communication protocols critical to the project.

Peter Hillier stated that one of the major challenges of the project will be to measure the data collected against the respective service levels. It was anticipated to complete the project by the middle of 2010, dependant on the availability and analysis of the data collected.

Peter Hillier listed the following key deliverables of the project:

• Evaluation methodology developed with the Working Group;
• Evaluation methodology approved by the Staff Steering Committee;
• Best practice research and reporting;
• Data collection and weighting against the nine options;
• Follow up data collection through interviews;
• Regular Working Group meetings;
• Updates to the ARRASC at deliverable milestone dates; and
• Final report and documentation of project outcomes.

Summarizing the steps forward on the project, Peter Hillier stated that the Working Group and the Staff Steering Committee will approve the evaluation methodology process at the meeting on October 1, 2009.

Chair Kolb inquired whether the Ad-hoc Committee could be given a better understanding of the methodologies referred to by Delcan Corporation.

Peter Hillier stated that the methodologies will be dependant on the service elements that the Working Group identifies as part of the evaluation and the kind of information or data received. The proposal submitted by Delcan Corporation used winter maintenance as a simple example. A typical format for winter maintenance is doing a comparative cost analysis per lane kilometer for each municipality depending on the required service level. In addition, what will be considered are planned capital improvements affecting the particular service, for example, road maintenance and sort of data.

Peter Hillier listed the following eleven criteria established by the Steering Group in the Terms of Reference which will be used to analyze various types of data received:

• Financial;
• Service delivery;
• Customer service;
• Network effectiveness;
• Planning;
• Capital project delivery;
• Existing contracts;
• Equipment;
• Facilities;
• Human resources; and
• Timing.

Peter Hillier responded that recommendations will be made to the Working Group based on information received relative to each of the above categories from the four municipalities.

Councillor Paterak inquired whether network effectiveness, relative to the external connections to the road network, would be considered as one of the methodologies.

Peter Hillier stated that access to expressways and freeways, which are normally identified as major arterial roads, their connections to neighboring municipalities is part of the network effectiveness that will be considered as one of the methodologies in the project.

Councillor Paterak inquired as to how traffic origin and destination will be monitored.

Peter Hillier stated that it will depend on the feedback received from the Working Group with respect to the methodologies and on the priorities placed on the type of data generated.

Councillor Saito requested that the ARRASC be kept informed, either through a meeting or through a report, of the proposed methodologies agreed upon by the Working Group.

Damian Albanese noted that it is proposed to provide the ARRASC with a report in November 2009, on the methodologies agreed upon by the Working Group and Steering Committee.

Councillor Paterak informed that one of the key aspects of the methodologies should consider the effective use of arterial roads throughout the Region.

Chair Kolb stated that the issue of population growth over the next 10 to 25 years should form an important part of the methodologies.

Peter Hillier stated that future growth has been taken into consideration in the long term road plans and future road networks.

4. REPORTS

a) Arterial Road Rationalization Review Phase II, Capital Project 08-4325 – All Wards

Received

5. COMMUNICATIONS - Nil


6. OTHER BUSINESS - Nil


7. NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the Arterial Roads Review Ad hoc Steering Committee is scheduled for Thursday, November 5, 2009, immediately following Regional Council, Council Chamber, 5th floor, Regional Administrative Headquarters, 10 Peel Centre Drive, Suite A, Brampton, Ontario.

Please forward regrets to Stephanie Jurrius, Legislative Specialist, (905) 791-7800, ext. 4502 or at stephanie.jurrius@peelregion.ca.

8. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 8:58 a.m.