Develop Bicycle Access

Idea:

Cycling needs to be developed in our city. Forcing cyclists to ride a narrow strip of pavement with faint markers is far from ideal and dangerous. In Europe I have seen cities like Bolzano Italy that ( because space is limited in an ancient city) assign sidewalks on one side of the road as cycle paths while pedestrians use the other side. Think of University which has long sidewalks on both sides and for the most part utilized by a sprinkling of pedestrians.at any one time. By using sidewalks for cycle paths , we could enhance access to the downtown area. In more crowded sections of town, we need to build dedicated access routes. In Spain I saw wide sidewalks and on one half the cyclist is given priority - but these cyclists were protected from the vehicular traffic. Better and safer cycle paths would reduce traffic, increase fitness, create new opportunities for tourism. We also need to develop new opportunities for tourism and recreation. A good idea would be to extend the trail past Springhill all the way to Mactaquac and from there connecting to the TransCanada Trail on the north side of the river. Thanks for listening! Cheers

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for taking an interest in Cycling Safety in the City. As part of infrastructure renewal each year, improvements are being made along corridors to better accommodate cycling. This starts at the design stage for corridors to ensure when they are rebuilt they that provide improved mobility to walking and cycling where feasible. Some examples of work undertaken in this area include adding a multi-use trail along the side of Wilsey Road when it was upgraded in 2019 and adding curb separated bike lanes on Brookside Drive in 2020 in the first of a 3-year phased project. Our aim is to continue these types of upgrades whenever it's financially feasible in the years ahead.

We agree it would be fantastic to have a multi-use trail running all the way to Mactaquac on the old rail bed! Unfortunately, when the rail lines were divested in and around the City, the Dept of Natural Resources and the City retained the lines within the City for future use (trails); however, the lines outside the City on the south side of the River where you describe were sold to the abutting property owners. Looking back, it is very unfortunate given how use of the trail system has expanded, but it would be very challenging to convince all existing property owners to sell the former rail line back to create the trail.