OAKVILLE, ON – Good Roads is delighted to announce Sarah Baker as the recipient of the 2024 Good Roads Bursary. Sarah, an incoming civil engineering student at the University of Ottawa, impressed the selection committee with her thoughtful and well-researched essay on integrating Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) into municipal infrastructure projects.

Sarah’s winning essay proposes practical and innovative strategies for municipalities to ensure infrastructure projects serve all members of the community. A key recommendation is to reform public consultation by moving beyond traditional formats and engaging residents in spaces they frequent daily, such as grocery stores, public libraries, and cultural festivals. “I think it’s essential just because it kind of reaches a wider spread of our population instead of just like a very specific circle,” Sarah stated in a recent interview. The goal is to gather more diverse feedback to create truly inclusive public works.

Her passion for this topic is rooted in personal experience. Throughout high school, Sarah used the Ride Well public transit program in Wellington County. This gave her a firsthand look at the critical role accessible transportation plays for students, seniors, and low-income community members in accessing jobs and essential services. Her essay uses the Ride Well program as a detailed case study, highlighting how its affordable, direct, and ride-sharing model could be a template for other municipalities across Ontario.

Recognizing the financial challenges these programs face, Sarah suggests that municipalities look to higher levels of government for grants to ensure their long-term viability without passing the cost on to the users who can least afford it.

Inspired by her father’s career in municipal infrastructure, Sarah is eager to begin her studies and pursue her long-term goal of becoming a structural engineer. She aims to design accessible and sustainable infrastructure for growing communities and hopes to one day mentor future generations of young engineers.

“It was really interesting to make that essay and kind of just learn more about my community itself,” Sarah said, offering advice to future applicants. “I would definitely say seek out for help…for like really good websites and just keep working at it”.

Good Roads congratulates Sarah Baker on this achievement. Her forward-thinking ideas and commitment to community improvement represent the very best of the next generation of infrastructure leaders.

To read Sarah’s full award-winning essay, click here.