By Lina Khouri
Dressed in athletic pants and colourful windbreakers, Ottawa cycling enthusiasts contributed feedback and concerns to the Ottawa Cycling Plan draft at a city council meeting last week.
The purpose of the Ottawa Roads and Cycling Advisory Committee meeting was to discuss amendments to the plan that would make Ottawa a safer city for cyclists.
The plan calls for the creation of more bike lanes beside city and residential roads. The conflict is that the downtown routes selected in the cycling plan are also planned to serve light rail commuter train on Slater and Albert streets.
Alayne McGregor, of Cycle Alliance Ontario, was one of the 30 people present at the meeting.
She fears the light rail plan to run through Centretown to the Rideau Centre will encroach on cyclists, causing them to ride too close to cars and increasing their chances of injury.
“The light rail track is essentially putting in a hazard for cyclists all the way downtown. Cyclists are going to have to learn carefully how to cross those tracks and it is more difficult when you have a lot of traffic around,” McGregor says.
If the train tracks are implemented, cars and cyclists would have to share the middle lane on Slater and Albert streets. McGregor is concerned because bicycle wheels can catch in between the tracks and cause the rider to fall.
The proposed commuter train plan also calls for the removal of existing bike lanes on MacKenzie King Bridge because there is not enough room for both.
“There’s a bike lane there that works extremely well and a good way to connect to other routes. The LRT project completely forgot to mention that these cycle lanes exist,” McGregor says.
Members of the Roads and Cycling Advisory Committee are trying to find a way to keep the bike lanes intact.
One suggestion is another possible train route downtown.“There are alternative routes to look at. One would be Wellington (Street) to Rideau which the developers are reluctant to do because they said they are parade routes,” says committee member Melanie Ransom.
Peter Steacy, light rail project manager, says the concern with this path is it’s often shut down for city events because it’s part of Confederation Boulevard. He said having a commuter train there would crowd up an already busy area.
Other alternatives Ransom proposed were to decrease the speed limit on Slater and Albert streets or install the train underground.
Steacy suggested the bicycle plan be rerouted to have lanes going through Laurier Avenue Bridge or follow the route linking University of Ottawa to Somerset. Cyclist Jeff Noakes mentioned this area is difficult to bike on because it is so crowded.
Steacy realizes MacKenzie King Bridge and Slater and Albert streets are not large enough to accommodate bike lanes, buses, cars and light rail. He says it is up to the Environmental Assessment group to solve this space problem.
Rob Orchin, one of the cycle plan overseers, agrees with waiting for the environmental assessment. He does not intend to change the main routes outlined in the plan before July, when the assessment will be completed.
Guidelines in the cycle plan consists of building a network of bike trails, improving cycling facilities, promoting tourism and awareness on safe cycling techniques and making the same cycling policies in all Ottawa communities.
Suggestions at the meeting included better signs for cycle routes and more public knowledge of the plan. The draft estimates a cost of $124.7 million over 20 years.