Cycling enthusiasts such as Hans Moor want a new bike lane to connect Westboro to downtown.
Local community associations and cycling advocates say they want new bike lanes linking Westboro and downtown Ottawa to become a central focus of the city’s cycling advisory committee.
The Dalhousie Community Association is eager to work with the city’s roads and cycling advisory committee and other cycling advocates to develop plans for new bike lanes and other infrastructure improvements that would better connect Westboro and Centretown along Scott and Albert streets, says Eric Darwin, the association’s president.
This east-west cycling route needs to be developed, says Darwin, who cycles in the area. “Scott and Albert streets are very busy, four-lane commuter roads going into the downtown . . . it’s dangerous mixing cyclists with 50-kilometres-per hour bus and car traffic.”
The existing off-road paths between Scott and Albert streets and the transitway are not well designed, he says.
“You can cycle it, but there are little chunks of it that are missing and the intersection approaches are bad,” says Darwin.
Ottawa’s Citizens for Safe Cycling also recognizes east-west routes need improvements, says Hans Moor, president of the cycling organization.
“Developing a proper east-west route is a big issue for us,” says Moor.
He notes that an improved bike connection near other busy Centretown streets, such as Bronson Avenue – where the cyclist of 40 years says he is scared to cycle – would provide safer route alternatives.
The City of Ottawa has made progress developing east-west routes, Darwin notes, pointing to the on-road bike lanes that were added last summer along Scott Street, from Holland Avenue to Churchill Avenue, west of Tunney’s Pasture.
Still, cycling advocates say the rest of the links need improvements, particularly the undeveloped Albert Street portion through Centretown.
“The Laurier segregated bike lane is fantastic, river paths are fantastic. It is these in-between areas we can work on to make them more comfortable for cyclists of all abilities,” says Kathleen Wilker, president of Hintonburg Cycling Champions.
Developing bike paths east-west would create connections between Westboro, Hintonburg, and downtown, alleviating traffic congestion in Centretown, she adds.
“We are not going to be building new roads in Centretown, so there is only so much capacity on roads like Bank or Bronson and if you can divert some of those vehicles to people who are taking bikes, then that means you can fit that many more people through downtown,” says Michael Powell, chair of the roads and cycling advisory committee. “It’s a good deal for the city − getting people out of cars and onto bicycles is a cheaper method of getting people through downtown.”
Approximately 190,000 trips have been recorded on the Laurier Avenue segregated bike lane since the pilot project opened last summer, says Moor.
“I just want to keep seeing progress,” says Powell.
This summer, the city is building bike lanes that will run north-south along the O-Train corridor, through the Somerset Bridge underpass and connecting the Ottawa River paths to Gladstone Avenue in Centretown.
The project is part of the 2012 budget of $12.1 million to build and maintain existing cycling networks over the next three years, according to the budget summary.
"(The cycling advisory committee) is going to keep busy making sure that money is being used in a way that is expeditious and useful for cyclists,” says Powell.