Attention to bike lane lacking, cyclists say

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This article was published 01/02/2018 (2799 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been almost four years since the City of Winnipeg installed its first protected bike lane on Sherbrook Street, yet drivers continue to park in its midst, blocking the way for cyclists.

Regular snow clearing of the lane has also been lacklustre, according to cyclists, even though the adjacent street is designated Priority 1 on the city’s list.

Coun. Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) says she noticed four cars parked in the Sherbrook bike lane just this week.

“There’s no clear barrier, like a cement barricade, to make sure that cars don’t park in the lane,” Gerbasi said Wednesday.

“It’s harder to see in the winter visually, especially if the snow isn’t plowed very well.”

The councillor said city staff saw her tweet about the incident Monday and are now looking into the matter. She suggested the city might consider installing a barrier to alert drivers they shouldn’t park directly next to the curb.

Signage in the area is fairly clear. A graphic image of a car designates drivers can park for free for two hours between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday; a cyclist logo next to the car image indicates there’s a black diamond lane for bikes on the right.

At least one driver was parked in the bike lane Wednesday morning, causing cyclist Grace MacEwan to swerve closer to traffic.

MacEwan said she bikes the stretch daily and although vehicles are sometimes obstacles, the snow clearing — or lack thereof — is worse.

The vehicle she avoided belonged to Lewis Rackham, a retired resident of Whyte Ridge who told the Free Press he parked there for a 10-minute errand because he didn’t know any better.

“I didn’t see anything — oh, shoot,” he said, noticing one of the signs. “I was thinking, ‘Well, there’s nobody here.’”

Mark Cohoe, director of advocacy group Bike Winnipeg, said most cyclists’ issue with the Sherbrook Street protected lane isn’t dodging parked cars, though delivery vans and taxis are usually the guilty culprits parking there from what he’s seen and heard.

Poor and irregular snow clearing of the bike lane is more controversial, he said.

“Ninety-five per cent of the time, I don’t have a problem with vehicles in there,” Cohoe said. “The snow clearing has definitely been an issue, moreso on the Maryland (Street bike lane) side than the Sherbrook side.”

Driving by the aforementioned spots Tuesday and Wednesday, Cohoe’s assertion rang true. The Sherbrook bike lane was slushy in spots and Maryland’s lane was snow-covered and hard to spot at all.

Cheryl Anderson, the city’s acting director of street maintenance, said the bike lanes were scheduled to be plowed Wednesday afternoon.

Anderson called the snow-clearing process for active transportation trails “a bit confusing, because if the active transportation is right on the roadway, it would be (plowed) similar to a roadway.”

But if the trail is removed from the road, such as a sidewalk or the Sherbrook protected lane is, it could take longer to plow since it would require different (namely smaller) equipment.

If the city wants to encourage active transportation, including all-season cycling, Cohoe said clearing bike lanes and pathways needs to be a top priority. Otherwise, the mushy or slippery lanes can become a safety hazard.

“It causes problems, obviously, to not have (the Sherbrook and Maryland bike lanes) available in winter. There’s a lot of use with people going to Health Sciences Centre and the University of Winnipeg, who do try to make use of that. It’s a pretty important connection,” he said.

Gerbasi said driver awareness of bike lanes such as on Sherbrook Street “is kind of a cultural change that needs to happen.”

“I think it is happening, but it’s happening a little bit slowly in some cases,” she said. “But the more we put in this kind of infrastructure, the more it will become the norm and people will get used to it.”

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @_jessbu