The City of Saint-Hyacinthe recently presented to residents its first Active and Sustainable Mobility Plan (ASMP), developed by Mobility Planning and Management experts at EXP. In the face of climate change, the City wanted to rethink its urban territory based on the principles of user-friendliness, resilience and sustainability. EXP’s Mobility Management team provided strategic guidance throughout this process to identify solutions for the future.
For Eric Léonard, Director of Mobility Planning and Management, sustainable mobility is key to building more resilient, accessible and inclusive communities. More and more cities and municipalities are planning their growth and urban development by defining strategies, including an ASMP, that promote sustainable public transportation for their residents. Eric explains why the ASMP is a transformative tool for active public transportation and how the City of Saint-Hyacinthe will use it to rethink mobility for the communities of today and tomorrow.
Question: First of all, what is an ASMP?
Answer: An ASMP is a tool that cities and municipalities use for strategic mobility planning. Residents’ travel patterns are shaped by the way villages, cities and urban areas are developed. Our understanding of municipal regulations, combined with our multidisciplinary services, allows us to develop this tool based on sustainable mobility goals. For the City of Saint-Hyacinthe, the ASMP is more than just a strategic document; it is a concrete lever for rethinking how its residents get around and for creating healthy, active and sustainable living environments.
Question: What are the key steps in developing an ASMP?
Answer: There are five key steps in developing an ASMP: diagnosing the situation, defining the vision and objectives, establishing guiding principles, identifying actions to take and prioritizing these actions. The diagnostic stage is critical, as it provides a clear understanding of territory, neighbourhoods, urban structure and travel patterns, while identifying barriers to mobility. For the City’s ASMP, we were able to identify various issues and the region’s current and future requirements in this stage. Public consultations (conducted through workshops, discussions and surveys) helped identify multiple priorities. These included enhancing active transportation networks, improving accessibility to public transit, aligning the functionality of mobility networks and balancing the needs of ecological transition with mobility requirements. The sequence of interventions was been established based on priority requirements, the complexity of the work and implementation costs.
Question: What is the basis for making recommendations to cities and municipalities?
Answer: The recommendation and decision-making process is quite complex and requires careful deliberation by the working committee. Drawing on the diagnosis and priorities established with the client, our experts analyze the data and the territory before proposing what steps to take to meet the set objectives. In Saint-Hyacinthe, for example, sidewalk design emerged as a key issue. Some are too narrow to allow for fluid movement of people with reduced mobility, while others are simply non-existent in strategic, high-traffic areas. We therefore recommended specific actions to create an efficient pedestrian network that makes travel more user-friendly, accessible and safe.
Question: Which engineering disciplines are typically involved in developing an ASMP?
Answer: Our strength in sustainable mobility projects lies in the combined expertise of our urban planning, design and mobility team. Our turnkey, multidisciplinary approach is a major asset for clients looking to rethink or optimize their infrastructure and develop every facet of sustainable mobility in their projects.
To learn more about how our teams can support your sustainable mobility projects, contact Eric Léonard.
Resource
- Le Saint-Hyacinthe de demain : la Ville dévoile son Plan de mobilité active et durable [The Saint-Hyacinthe of tomorrow: City unveils its active and sustainable mobility plan] (press release, in French)