Gillian, Adam and byketown are spot on in their replies.
But there is a safe bike route from Stitsville to downtown! That trail in front of the high school and old train station is easy to connect to the western parkway route, through the greenbelt. Sorry I can’t describe it better, but there’s a set of MUPs for you!
Had a certain mayoral candidate been elected, this might have happened in Ottawa. Alas! I think that voters were scared by the rounded-up number (#theBword) and the opponent cynically took advantage of people's fears of cyclists by distorting their argument. In retrospect, it might have been better to have set a more modest budget target with a clearer explanation of what we'd be getting for that money.
There are lots of studies out there that make the. case that reducing the number of lanes dedicated to cars can actually move more people AND more cars through the same blocks, if only because drivers aren't fighting to change lanes as much. This is well documented in New York and other cities. But we should also look at the Dutch model that dedicates certain streets for bicycles and others for cars. The notion of needing to build "complete" streets on every street and avenue is fine, but it is ultimately very expensive to do this on every street, and probably not necessary.
We can do a lot by adopting Mikael Colville-Andersen's 20-40-60-80 km/h guidelines for cycling infrastructure instead of just hoping that a magic line of paint is going to keep cyclists safe on stroads where drivers are going over 80 km/h. His Copenhagenize book provides some common sense directions on this.
Of course I wholeheartedly agree with building a full bike network. I see what Amsterdam has done and other cities in Europe. But how do you accomplish that for cyclists here who live amid the sprawl in Stittsville or Barrhaven and other ex-urbs and suburbs and outlying areas? I live in Stittsville and am an avid cyclist. If there was a safe way to cycle downtown, I would do it. How do you address that?
I appreciate that you are fit and keen enough to cycle from Stitsville to downtown. Good on ya! But I suspect that most people are not as ambitious as you, and I don't see a cross-regional super bike highway as the highest priority.
I would suggest that we might prioritize building neighbourhood networks connecting residential areas to schools, public facilities, transit hubs and commercial districts (i.e., ensuring that everyone in Stitsville, Kanata, Barrhaven, etc. can do their shorter errands on a bike if they want to). Bike riding can easily fulfil many of these shorter journeys.
I'd also suggest that we finish and repair the network through the downtown core before building connections to the outlying areas. That sounds a bit selfish, I realize as I live in the outer urban core, but I think that the rates of cycling are likely higher in these central neighbourhoods and more commuters and tourists will be riding in these areas just by virtue of them being downtown. Right now, we have moments of fair-to-good cycling infrastructure (e.g., the new lanes in front of Parliament) that just.....ends.... presumably they are awaiting the installation of the teleporters? There is no connection to the next set of bike lanes and paths and limited signage. As well, some of the established bike lanes (e.g., the Laurier Ave lanes) are in such crappy shape that they are not longer enjoyable or even safe to ride. The city needs to budget for maintenance -- including repairing the green lanes and bike icons every year -- or we are just going to have half-baked infrastructure forever.
Of course, if we can fulfill those two priorities, I'm all in for a cross-Ottawa bike superhighway -- this would be great for folks with electric bikes and for recreational cyclists, as well as intrepid cyclists like yourself.
Not to be glib, but I'd take the answer as their article.
Build the bike network. Now.
And as they said, not necessarily the "final" network, but a complete network, including those downtown to suburban linkages, etc.
While a strong network in the suburbs would also be nice, I'm generally going to be more comfortable finding a way through Barrhaven without a fully separated network than making it downtown or to Kanata, so those major linkages are what will drive usage. Strong integration with public transit could also provide a similar function.
Gillian, Adam and byketown are spot on in their replies.
But there is a safe bike route from Stitsville to downtown! That trail in front of the high school and old train station is easy to connect to the western parkway route, through the greenbelt. Sorry I can’t describe it better, but there’s a set of MUPs for you!
(Barrhaven not so much)
Had a certain mayoral candidate been elected, this might have happened in Ottawa. Alas! I think that voters were scared by the rounded-up number (#theBword) and the opponent cynically took advantage of people's fears of cyclists by distorting their argument. In retrospect, it might have been better to have set a more modest budget target with a clearer explanation of what we'd be getting for that money.
There are lots of studies out there that make the. case that reducing the number of lanes dedicated to cars can actually move more people AND more cars through the same blocks, if only because drivers aren't fighting to change lanes as much. This is well documented in New York and other cities. But we should also look at the Dutch model that dedicates certain streets for bicycles and others for cars. The notion of needing to build "complete" streets on every street and avenue is fine, but it is ultimately very expensive to do this on every street, and probably not necessary.
We can do a lot by adopting Mikael Colville-Andersen's 20-40-60-80 km/h guidelines for cycling infrastructure instead of just hoping that a magic line of paint is going to keep cyclists safe on stroads where drivers are going over 80 km/h. His Copenhagenize book provides some common sense directions on this.
Hi Neil and Catherine,
Of course I wholeheartedly agree with building a full bike network. I see what Amsterdam has done and other cities in Europe. But how do you accomplish that for cyclists here who live amid the sprawl in Stittsville or Barrhaven and other ex-urbs and suburbs and outlying areas? I live in Stittsville and am an avid cyclist. If there was a safe way to cycle downtown, I would do it. How do you address that?
Gillian
I appreciate that you are fit and keen enough to cycle from Stitsville to downtown. Good on ya! But I suspect that most people are not as ambitious as you, and I don't see a cross-regional super bike highway as the highest priority.
I would suggest that we might prioritize building neighbourhood networks connecting residential areas to schools, public facilities, transit hubs and commercial districts (i.e., ensuring that everyone in Stitsville, Kanata, Barrhaven, etc. can do their shorter errands on a bike if they want to). Bike riding can easily fulfil many of these shorter journeys.
I'd also suggest that we finish and repair the network through the downtown core before building connections to the outlying areas. That sounds a bit selfish, I realize as I live in the outer urban core, but I think that the rates of cycling are likely higher in these central neighbourhoods and more commuters and tourists will be riding in these areas just by virtue of them being downtown. Right now, we have moments of fair-to-good cycling infrastructure (e.g., the new lanes in front of Parliament) that just.....ends.... presumably they are awaiting the installation of the teleporters? There is no connection to the next set of bike lanes and paths and limited signage. As well, some of the established bike lanes (e.g., the Laurier Ave lanes) are in such crappy shape that they are not longer enjoyable or even safe to ride. The city needs to budget for maintenance -- including repairing the green lanes and bike icons every year -- or we are just going to have half-baked infrastructure forever.
Of course, if we can fulfill those two priorities, I'm all in for a cross-Ottawa bike superhighway -- this would be great for folks with electric bikes and for recreational cyclists, as well as intrepid cyclists like yourself.
Not to be glib, but I'd take the answer as their article.
Build the bike network. Now.
And as they said, not necessarily the "final" network, but a complete network, including those downtown to suburban linkages, etc.
While a strong network in the suburbs would also be nice, I'm generally going to be more comfortable finding a way through Barrhaven without a fully separated network than making it downtown or to Kanata, so those major linkages are what will drive usage. Strong integration with public transit could also provide a similar function.