Award-winning proposals for cycling plan ignored

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This article was published 02/06/2017 (3077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City officials this week put the brakes on a proposal from Coun. Janice Lukes to fast-track the downtown segment of the city-wide bike network, ignoring the recommendation of its own award-winning 2015 cycling strategy and what’s being done elsewhere.

Coun. Marty Morantz, chairman of the committee, cited the administrative report which said city hall should follow a “balanced” approach to building its city-wide bike network.

“When Coun. Lukes says we should ‘rush’ to implement a downtown cycling grid, we have to be careful,” Morantz told reporters following the public works committee meeting. “That’s a new issue outside the pedestrian cycling strategy.”

Lukes said it appears that Morantz hasn’t read the 2015 strategy very carefully, adding it actually recommends building the downtown portion as quickly as possible.

The strategy on page 312 recommends Winnipeg “should focus on a number of ‘quick wins’ to move forward with implementing the strategies immediately and to build momentum,” including the downtown network.

Lukes said she can’t explain the administration and Morantz’s opposition to an approach that has been recognized around the world.

Transportation consultant Tom Bertulis said when cities are building a cycling network, they should concentrate on building the downtown segment first, citing the Calgary approach.

Bertulis said the downtown area is where cyclists congregate, adding it’s important to build a network of protected bike lanes to attract riders.

“If I were to start somewhere, I would start downtown where you have your highest volume streets,” Bertulis said.

Morantz also questioned the need to build protected bike lanes, even though that is a core component of the city’s cycling strategy. Morantz cited the work of pioneering cycling proponent John Forester, who has argued that separate lanes aren’t necessary to ensure cyclist safety as long as cyclists are following the rules of the road.

Bertulis said Forester’s work was ground-breaking in the 1970s when dedicated bike lanes were first contemplated but it’s no longer appropriate.

“It’s very outdated thinking,” Bertulis said. “When Forester was big, it was the ‘70s, there were very few bike facilities and it made sense to be aware of the road and sharing space with cars…We live in a different world now where we actually have really, really safe cycle tracks. It was a great idea at the time but 2017, it’s no longer a good idea.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca