Take bike-lane design for a spin

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This article was published 18/06/2016 (3563 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new design for downtown Garry Street to accommodate cyclists will be made public next week.

The Garry Street makeover includes a three-metre cycling lane, two southbound lanes, a parking lane, a metre-wide curb separating cyclists from traffic, wider sidewalks, street paving, new traffic signals and new underground water mains.

“It’s a pretty significant project,” said Scott Suderman, the city’s transportation facilities planning engineer.

The separate cycling lane is a 1.5-kilometre route that runs from Assiniboine Avenue to Ellice Avenue/Notre Dame Avenue and then north into the Exchange District along Arthur Street to McDermot Avenue.

The separated bike lane will be extended along Notre Dame Avenue to Adelaide Street.

Residents can get a look at the new design Thursday at The Forks. The city has provided a link to the design on its website for those unable to attend. Feedback can be submitted online.

The design is the result of year-long consultations that started with options for new downtown cycling lanes, including separated one-way lanes on both Garry and Fort Streets.

Suderman said while the public reaction was evenly divided in support of the three options, the Garry Street route was chosen as the safest for cyclists and the one that will allow bike travel in both directions.

“We want to go back (to the public) and say ‘Did we hear you right, is this the right facility?’” Suderman said. “We’re confident it is, (but) there is still refinement we can work into the design that we get from public feedback.”

The proposed design has elicited a less-than-enthusiastic response from Bike Winnipeg, a city lobby group.

“Well, it’s better than nothing,” said Mark Cohoe, Bike Winnipeg’s executive director.

Cohoe said it looks attractive, but he’s concerned the city won’t be ready for the increased number of cyclists the new bike path will attract.

“I think they’re building it too small to begin with — it’s sort of an under-capacity pathway,” Cohoe said. “Our preference would be… to make sure we’re creating enough capacity that we can grow into the future as we grow the network.”

Cohoe said he wants the city to create wider, separated cycling lanes on both Garry and Fort streets, with wider sidewalks and boulevards that can accommodate patios that would attract cyclists and pedestrians.

Cohoe said low traffic counts on Garry and Fort streets — both one-way streets — don’t justify having two lanes for traffic. He’d prefer to see traffic on both streets reduced to one lane. There are also two lanes of parking on each street.

Suderman said the proposed design allows for cycling in both directions on Garry Street, adding he believes the proposed width will accommodate future growth. The existing bike lane on Fort will remain in place after the Garry project is completed, he said.

The event at The Forks will include proposed designs for a protected bike lane in the West Alexander neighbourhood along McDermot Avenue — which would be a natural extension of the Garry corridor – and designs for an enhanced cycling crossing at Assiniboine Avenue at Main Street, into The Forks.

Suderman said construction on the Assiniboine/Main crossing is expected to start in two weeks and be finished two to three weeks later.

More detailed work needs to be done on the Garry corridor before construction begins in spring 2017, Suderman said.

Construction will be halted during the Canada Summer Games in summer 2017, he said, adding it’s expected the Garry corridor won’t be completed until the end of the 2018 construction season.

Suderman said the budget for the separated bike corridor won’t be known until detailed design work that incorporates public feedback is completed.

The budget for the cycling corridor will be part of the street-makeover budget, he said, which also hasn’t been determined.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca