VÉLOROUTE VOYAGEUR CYCLING ROUTE Expansion Report and Implementation Plan MATTAWA TO OTTAWA JANUARY 2019 PREPARED BY: DISCOVERY ROUTES TRAILS ORGANIZATION Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................ 1 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... 2 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 3 2.0 Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail ....................................................................................................... 3 3.0 Voyageur Cycling Route Eastern Expansion ...................................................................................... 4 3.1 Section I: Township of Papineau-Cameron (Map 11) ...................................................................... 7 3.2 Section 2: United Townships of Head, Clara and Maria (Map 12) .................................................... 8 3.3 Section 3: Town of Laurentian Hills/ Town of Deep River (Map 13) ............................................... 13 3.4 Section 4: Garrison Petawawa and Town of Petawawa (Map 14) .................................................. 13 3.5 Section 5: Township of Laurentian Valley/ City of Pembroke (Map 14) ......................................... 19 3.6 Section 6: Township of Whitewater Region (Map 15) .................................................................... 20 3.7 Section 7: Township of Horton/ Township of McNab/ Braeside (Map 16) .................................... 23 3.8 Section 8: Town of Arnprior (Map 16) ............................................................................................ 24 3.9 Section 9: Town of Mississippi Mills (Map 17) ................................................................................ 27 3.10 Section 10: Town of Carleton Place and Township of Beckwith (Map 17) ..................................... 28 3.11 Section 11: City of Ottawa (Map 18) ............................................................................................... 31 4.0 Summary of Existing Conditions ..................................................................................................... 35 5.0 Implementation Plan for Expansion................................................................................................ 36 5.1 Route Authority: Township of Papineau-Cameron ......................................................................... 36 5.2 Route Authority: County of Renfrew .............................................................................................. 37 5.3 Route Authority: Lanark County ..................................................................................................... 39 5.4 Route Authority: City of Ottawa ..................................................................................................... 40 5.5 Route Authority: National Capital Commission .............................................................................. 40 5.6 Route Authority: Ministry of Transportation .................................................................................. 40 6.0 Marketing and Promotion ............................................................................................................... 41 Appendix A: Route Selection Tool Results .................................................................................................. 43 Appendix B: Voyageur Cycling Route Signage Guidelines .......................................................................... 55 List of Figures Map: Overview of preferred routing for Voyageur Cycling Route between Mattawa and Ottawa ............. 5 Map 11: Township of Papineau-Cameron .................................................................................................... 9 Map 12: United Townships of Head, Clara and Maria ................................................................................ 11 Map 13: Town of Laurentian Hills and Town of Deep River ....................................................................... 15 Map 14: Town of Petawawa, Township of Laurentian Valley, City of Pembroke and Garrison Petawawa 17 Map 15: Township of Whitewater Region .................................................................................................. 21 Map 16: Township of Horton, Township of McNab/ Braeside, Town of Arnprior ..................................... 25 Map 17: Town of Mississippi Mills, Town of Carleton Place, Beckwith Township ..................................... 29 Map 18: City of Ottawa ............................................................................................................................... 33 1 | P a g e Acknowledgements The Voyageur Cycling Route Expansion Report and Implementation Plan has been made possible with funding support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. OTF awarded more than $120 million to some 700 projects last year to build healthy and vibrant communities in Ontario. Discovery Routes Trails Organization would like to express our appreciation to the numerous stakeholder organizations and individuals that provided input throughout the study. City of Ottawa Lanark County Tourism Association Lanark County Leeds Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit Mattawa-Bonfield Economic Development Corporation Ministry of Transportation Mississippi Mills Active Transportation Committee Municipality of Mississippi Mills National Capital Commission Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization Ottawa Tourism Ottawa Valley Cycling and Active Transportation Alliance Ottawa Valley Tourist Association Prescott-Russell Economic Development Department Renfrew County Tay Valley Township Recreation Working Group Town of Carleton Place Town of Carleton Place Active Transportation Steering Committee Town of Petawawa Township of Papineau-Cameron Special thanks to the volunteer members the Ottawa Valley Cycling and Active Transportation Alliance and Eastern Ontario Active Transportation partners for your tireless advocacy work. Expansion of the Voyageur Cycling Route into Eastern Ontario would not be possible without your support. 2 | P a g e 1.0 Introduction In 2015, a feasibility study was undertaken for the Voyageur Cycling Route. The study identified a 380km mostly on-road cycling route crossing Northeastern Ontario with connections to provincially and nationally significant cycling routes including the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail, Trans Canada Trail’s The Great Trail and Quebec’s La Route verte. The concept was initiated to align with the vision outlined in Ontario’s Cycling Strategy to establish the Province as a premier cycle tourism destination while creating healthier, active and prosperous communities across Ontario. Discovery Routes Trails Organization based in North Bay is the lead agency coordinating the implementation of the Voyageur Cycling Route, a project that encourages regional and provincial cooperation to grow rural and Northern Ontario economically as a tourism destination for cyclists. Since the initial study, the Voyageur Cycling Route is now being implemented across Northeastern Ontario with road authority endorsement from all 12 municipal jurisdictions and the Ministry of Transportation. Wayfinding signage has been installed along 200km of the route and the first section was launched on June 3, 2018 with 191 cyclists riding 50 to 100km of the Voyageur Cycling Route’s west end. With funding support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Discovery Routes has partnered with the Ottawa Valley Cycling and Active Transportation Alliance and Eastern Ontario Active Transportation Network partners to expand the Voyageur Cycling Route an additional 250km through Eastern Ontario. The expansion will connect communities in a continuous cycling route through Renfrew and Lanark counties to the National Capital Region where a gap exists in the developing province-wide cycling network. It will also connect and overlap The Great Trail at either end creating a secondary, Eastern Ontario loop in the national trail system. This report is intended as an extension of the original 2015 Voyageur Cycling Route Feasibility Study and Implementation Plan that details the cycling route selection methodology and outlines the community, social and economic benefits of the cycling route. The Feasibility Study is available for download on the Discovery Routes website at http://discoveryroutes.ca/vcr. 2.0 Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail Reference is made frequently in the current report to the Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail as the preferred cycling route for approximately 195km. The Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail was once a prosperous railway operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CP) since the late 1800’s. In 2010, use of the rail line was discontinued and became available for purchase. In 2011, the County of Renfrew, County of Lanark and the Township of Papineau-Cameron formed a partnership to acquire 296km of the discontinued rail corridor to be developed into a multi-use recreation trail from outside the Town of Mattawa to the community of Smiths Falls. The partnership operating as the Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail Advisory Committee were successful