Ottawa is on the cusp of a major cycling renewal plan. Some councillors and activists hope this is the first step towards becoming a renowned bike-friendly city, similar to Portland or Montreal.
For Portland, Oregon, it began with a few simple ideas. A bridge there needed a facelift – repainting and repaving. City council decided to spend a little bit extra to widen the sidewalks to accommodate cyclists. They also converted some nearby general traffic lanes to bike lanes.
Over 17 years, traffic over the bridge increased by 20 per cent. This would have meant complete gridlock for any other city. Not Portland. Only one per cent of the increase was due to cars; the rest was cyclists.
More than six per cent of Portland residents commute by bike. Bicycling Magazine consistently names it one of the 10 best cycling cities in the world.
In Ottawa, only about two per cent of residents bike to work. City council wants to increase that to three per cent by 2012 and six per cent by 2021. A new proposal requests $16.7 million of the 2010 budget to be devoted to cycling projects: a large increase from 2009.
Last year, council only spent $700,000 of a possible $5 million outlined in its Cycling Plan. They cut Can-Bike, a free program that teaches safe cycling. This summer also saw a spike in car-cyclist collisions. Overall, it was an unfortunate year for cycling in Ottawa.
The new proposal should result in major improvements for cycling throughout the city, councillors say. The plan’s architects are River Ward Coun. Maria McRae and Kitchissippi Ward Coun. Christine Leadman.
“We’re going to [have] an unprecedented investment in our cycling and pedestrian facilities,” says McRae.
According to the proposal, the city will start by hiring more employees to study and implement cycling projects. Currently only one staff member has that responsibility.
Another new employee will promote safe cycling in local schools and communities. The previously cut Can-Bike program will be reinstated.
The city will spend $4 million on specific cycling projects, such as bike lanes across the Pretoria Bridge and along Carling Avenue.
The Bixi bicycle-share program will also undergo a major expansion.
This summer four pay-as-you-go bike rental stations were installed in Ottawa-Gatineau. The National Capital Commission will expand the system to 50 stations, says Capital Ward Coun. Clive Doucet.
He says Bixi should fill the critical two-kilometre gaps in the city's transportation network.
Doucet says it will create “a really integrated, coherent, useful city-wide system.”
But there will be significant debate over station locations, Doucet predicts.
Council will have to balance the needs of commuters and tourists. It may have to decide, for example, between a station near a hotel or a transit station. The choice won't be easy.
However, the identical program in Montreal began with a smaller pilot project than that of Ottawa-Gatineau.
It has expanded to 400 stations in its third year.
The transportation committee briefly discussed the possibility of a Ottawa bike lane in the downtown area.
This pilot project would run east-west and would be segregated – separated from cars by paint, curbing or even a different pavement elevation.
Most bicycle-friendly cities, such as Portland and Montreal, use segregated bike lanes. In Montreal, downtown bike lanes are plowed before 7 a.m. all winter.
This makes year-round bicycle commuting more appealing to the average cyclist.
Easy to use facilities are the key to success, says Dianne Cox, cycling activist and co-founder of Cycling Vision.
“If we want bicycling to be expanded in our city . . . we’ve got to do it by making infrastructure visible on the road to make the average person feel confident and comfortable getting on their bike.”
In the coming month, budget debates will continue.
As in Portland, city council will have to decide whether to spend a little bit extra on a few simple ideas.