It’s been a week. I’m on Day #6 of my second Covid infection in 9 months. On the mend and looking forward to getting out to meet with residents again soon.
Last week on short notice I signed up to speak to the TSC about the proposed cycle route & streetscaping proposal for University, Morris & South/Cartaret/Oakland.
My comments are at the 44:00 mark of this video.
https://www.youtube.com/live/CVGzxtb-1sA
In general, I am happy to see progress on this project, but I am concerned with how long it is taking us to achieve a minimum grid AAA network. This ~2 km route will take another 4 years to be completed. The minimum grid completion was first planned for 2022.
I also agree with Councillor Cuttell that we should have better information on how this plan will affect the transit-only or pedestrianization options for Spring Garden Road before moving beyond the 30% design phase. I hope that the impacts will become clearer when the project comes to the full council as Councillor Mason suggested, without delaying the implementation.
I believe there are tactical (faster & cheaper) changes we can make on many of our streets to make them safer for cycling, like retrofitting intersections to make them protected for people walking, rolling & cycling. Especially if we are not afraid to give up a few parking spots.
For example: I often cycle on Veterans Memorial Lane from Jubilee to Summer. This stretch of road had no parking on it until recently. Instead of adding parking spaces to our city during a climate emergency, we could have dedicated this space for cycling, e-scooters etc. and installed bollards so that the slip lane would be used for only Active Transportation (AT) modes. (I was nearly hit here recently by a driver in a truck that decided it was wide enough for both of us.) Instead, we have encouraged driving by adding parking spaces and discouraged cycling because now cyclists need to merge with vehicle traffic to get around the parked cars.
My vision for AT planning in HRM is that we reach out to organizations like 8 80 cities and the Dutch Cycling Embassy etc. to help us with workshops to be inspired and learn more about best practices on how to implement the five design principals of the CROW bike design manual: cohesion, directness, safety, comfort and attractiveness. Closer to home, Montreal has certainly demonstrated that better public spaces and AT routes are possible in a timely manner. Train trip, anyone?!