The City of Mississauga was the first in Ontario to implement the Crossride program.
Crosswalks will no longer be just for pedestrians in Ottawa, as city officials prepare to roll out a number of “crossrides” in the coming months.
And according to a municipal transportation planner, a key intersection in Centretown is on the priority list.
Crossrides look and function similar to crosswalks – with painted lines and signage – to direct cyclists to ride safely through designated intersections.
Under provincial law, cyclists are required to get off their bikes and walk through intersections with pedestrian crosswalks. Failing to do so carries an $85 fine.
Many cyclists ride through crosswalks anyway, says city planner Zlatko Krstulich, but the crossride program would allow them to do so legally.
The aim is to keep cyclists and pedestrians separate, he says, to prevent collisions or near-misses.
“It’s a matter of reducing conflict.”
The city has not released where the initial crossrides will be, but Krstulich says they’ll be in locations where there are already multi-use pathways.
Depending on the success of these locations, he says, crossrides will be built into the Wellington Street intersection near the Portage Bridge, where construction is due to begin this summer.
Crossrides are a relatively new phenomenon. They were not included in the Ottawa Cycling Plan, Krstulich says, because there was little knowledge of them when the plan was made.
But crossrides officially arrived in Ontario last June, when the City of Mississauga launched a pilot project that is still underway.
So far the program has been a success, says Andy Harvey, manager of mass transit and parking in Mississauga.
“We’ve found (crossrides) valuable and we’re going to expand it,” he says, adding that users find them easy to understand and “visually cute.”
And while the crossrides are designed to segregate cyclists and pedestrians, Harvey said as cars get used to them, they also increase safety and visibility for cyclists.
Alex deVries, vice-president of Citizens for Safe Cycling, says it’s “ludicrous” to think all cyclists will dismount at crosswalks, and says the crossrides are a great idea.
“This is something that will help both pedestrians and cyclists,” he says.
“It’ll make cyclists feel a lot more welcome in those neighbourhoods.”