A transportation strategic plan should help manage increasing levels of traffic in the Town of the Blue Mountains, but any hope for a Blue Mountain-Thornbury bypass is at least 20 years away.

At a meeting held Saturday to gather public input regarding transportation and traffic issues facing the Blue Mountains, Ken Teasdale, a Senior Project Manager with the Ministry of Transportation's Planning and Design Section, said the decision to build a bypass would take at least three years and then another 10-20 years of planning and environmental studies before it could be built.

In the meantime, Teasdale said, the Comprehensive Transportation Strategic Plan, a joint undertaking by Grey County, the MTO and The Town of the Blue Mountains, will study traffic volumes, identify problem areas and suggest ways to improve traffic flow.

The study is looking at existing and future traffic operations around the base of Blue Mountain in the winter and along Highway 26 in the summer.

"The study will look at the transportation needs of the town as a result of increased development pressure," said Teasdale. "It's a way to look forward and we're projecting traffic volumes for the next 20 years," he said.

"We're looking at a Highway Access Management Plan, which will include the possible closure of some intersections and the amalgamation of others, as well as asking developers to pay for some of these changes," said Teasdale, who described Highway 26 as a "highly travelled scenic corridor."

The study has so far identified several existing problem areas, including County Road 19 operating near capacity east of Mountain Drive, and the intersections at Highway 26 and County Road 21 (Long Point Road) and Grey Road 19 and Mountain Drive operating poorly because of high volumes.

Projecting into the future to 2018, the study takes into consideration new development growth, including 52 identified new developments that include 5,000 residential units as well as additional commercial and tourism developments. This new development will generate an estimated 2,000 to 3,100 more trips during peak hours.

This new development will mean Highway 26 and Grey Road 19 will exceed their capacity and the majority of intersections will experience poor operations during the winter.

During peak periods in the summer, the study projects that minor street approaches will experience poor operation due to heavy volume on Highway 26. The intersection at Bruce St. and Highway 26 will experience long delays and traffic signals will be warranted at Highway 26 intersections with Grey Roads 113, 2, and 21, and Lora Bay Drive.

To cope with these increased volumes, the plan recommends a Highway Access Management Plan, part of which will consider the closure and/or realignment of some existing public and private roads. Intersection being reviewed for potential closure include (involving either new road connections or alternative routes along existing road networks, include: Timmons St. (east and west junctions), Lakeshore Road, Lakewood Cr., Brophy's Lane, Hidden Lake Rd., Woodland Park Rd., Gibson Way, Front Road, Fraser Cr., Hoover lane, 35 Sideroad.

Other realignment options being reviewed include: Blue Mountain Drive (opposite Hope St.), Craigleith Provincial Park entrance (opposite Arrowhead Road)and Lakeshore Road (opposite Grey Road 2).

The potential closure of Lakeshore Road drew Todd Oliver to Saturday's public meeting.

"If you try to turn south on Grey Road 19 off of Lakeshore Road you're risking your life," said Oliver, explaining that the hill and corner combine to make the section of road extremely dangerous, especially during peak traffic periods. "The bottleneck turning onto (Grey) 19 would be even worse if they close the intersection at the east end of Lakeshore."

Oliver was also concerned with drainage issues near his property, saying that a culvert cannot handle the high water coming down off the mountain during spring thaw.

In spite of his concerns, he's in favour of the study moving forward. "We need this study - we need to do something - my concern is the increasing congestion and how they are going to deal with it."

Oliver's concerns were indicative of the public reaction in general to the study. Teasdale said most of the public's comments were either general concerns about the increasing congestion on local roads or specific concerns about the closure and realignment of individual intersections.

Deputy Mayor Duncan McKinlay attended the public information meeting in Craigleith on Saturday afternoon and said the study is a necessary step for short term management of traffic in the Town of the Blue Mountains.

KcKinlay noted that the town was already moving forward with the creation of a traffic circle to alleviate congestion at the intersection of County Road 19 and Scenic Caves Road.

"I was pleased to see that the study confirmed the failure of this intersection

"There's nothing new or exciting here, but it brings it altogether to allow the creation of an overall plan," said McKinlay. "It's worth noting that the traffic study encompasses both residential growth, but resort growth as well.

But McKinlay also noted that increased traffic is a fact of life on the Collingwood to Thornbury corridor and residents were going to have to adjust their driving habits in order to adapt.

"It's something that I'm learning now - I just have to adjust my driving and plan what route I'm going to take to avoid left hand turns. City residents do it all the time and it's something we're going to have to get used to here.