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McCallion rejects bike lane plea
Won't consider turning existing traffic lanes over to cyclists
Matthew Coutts
National Post
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Mississauga cyclists will ask today to take a lane on the city's major roadways from cars, but Mayor Hazel McCallion says she's not on the same path.
Jeff Wachman, a Mississauga businessman and cycling enthusiast, will take a petition to council at a 9 a.m. meeting. He said yesterday the city needs to become more bike-friendly.
''Mississauga is a car city. It's a car suburb, and there really isn't a safe place to cycle,'' he said.
But Ms. McCallion said she rarely sees people using their bikes to commute to work and doesn't like the idea.
''When the roads were established in Mississauga, they were not established on the basis of bicycle lanes. The roads were built for cars and trucks,'' she said.
The petition, supported by nearly 400 signatures and an uncounted number of e-mails sent directly to City Hall, requests that the city ''designate a one-metre-wide path ... in both directions along the full length'' of nine major routes.
Mr. Wachman says the best way to make room would be to eliminate a lane of traffic on six-lane roads.
''I don't think the city needs three-lane boulevards everywhere,'' Mr. Wachman said. ''They don't work for store owners, they don't work for pedestrians and they don't work for cyclists. With better synchronizing of lights and a two-lane system with a passing lane ... I'm sure there's a way around [traffic congestion].''
He added there are also ways to fit in bicycle lanes without losing any traffic lanes.
A city official said Mississauga is planning to look at how to incorporate cyclists into the city's plan.
''Next year is actually a pivotal year,'' said Andy Harvey, Mississauga's manager of traffic engineering and operations. ''We're going to be looking at updating our cycling strategy for the city. That really will answer some questions as to what kind of cyclists we'll be catering to.''
He said the Mississauga cycling advisory committee has already recommended a series of bike lanes attached to roads criss-crossing the city.
It's a plan very similar to Mr. Wachman's own proposal to add lanes to five east-west routes and four north-south routes.
Those routes include Lakeshore Road, Dundas Street, Burnhamthorpe Road, Eglinton Avenue and Central Parkway going east and west, and Southdown Road to Erin Mills Parkway to Glen Erin Drive, Winston Churchill Boulevard, Mavis Road and Cawthra Road going north and south.
Mr. Harvey said there hadn't been much thought in the past about the number of bike lanes in the city. ''We're starting to inventory them now. The city really has to come to grips with what the mandate is going to be for future cycling.''
Ms. McCallion said the petition to add bicycle lanes will be given its due consideration, but no traffic lanes will be lost to include cycling commuters.
''It's a pretty expensive thing to do just to find out if it works or not,'' she said.
Ms. McCallion said yesterday the city would only consider new bike lanes when a road was undergoing construction anyway.
*****
If you want to get more people to bike in Mississauga, just get more immigrants from mainland China to move there.
Here in north Scarborough bike use has skyrocketed to the point where you can't go out for a walk without some person on a bike brushing past you on the sidewalk (none of them ever bike on the street). They take them to work, to shop, to school but I don't know if they have time for recreational rides.
McCallion rejects bike lane plea
Won't consider turning existing traffic lanes over to cyclists
Matthew Coutts
National Post
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Mississauga cyclists will ask today to take a lane on the city's major roadways from cars, but Mayor Hazel McCallion says she's not on the same path.
Jeff Wachman, a Mississauga businessman and cycling enthusiast, will take a petition to council at a 9 a.m. meeting. He said yesterday the city needs to become more bike-friendly.
''Mississauga is a car city. It's a car suburb, and there really isn't a safe place to cycle,'' he said.
But Ms. McCallion said she rarely sees people using their bikes to commute to work and doesn't like the idea.
''When the roads were established in Mississauga, they were not established on the basis of bicycle lanes. The roads were built for cars and trucks,'' she said.
The petition, supported by nearly 400 signatures and an uncounted number of e-mails sent directly to City Hall, requests that the city ''designate a one-metre-wide path ... in both directions along the full length'' of nine major routes.
Mr. Wachman says the best way to make room would be to eliminate a lane of traffic on six-lane roads.
''I don't think the city needs three-lane boulevards everywhere,'' Mr. Wachman said. ''They don't work for store owners, they don't work for pedestrians and they don't work for cyclists. With better synchronizing of lights and a two-lane system with a passing lane ... I'm sure there's a way around [traffic congestion].''
He added there are also ways to fit in bicycle lanes without losing any traffic lanes.
A city official said Mississauga is planning to look at how to incorporate cyclists into the city's plan.
''Next year is actually a pivotal year,'' said Andy Harvey, Mississauga's manager of traffic engineering and operations. ''We're going to be looking at updating our cycling strategy for the city. That really will answer some questions as to what kind of cyclists we'll be catering to.''
He said the Mississauga cycling advisory committee has already recommended a series of bike lanes attached to roads criss-crossing the city.
It's a plan very similar to Mr. Wachman's own proposal to add lanes to five east-west routes and four north-south routes.
Those routes include Lakeshore Road, Dundas Street, Burnhamthorpe Road, Eglinton Avenue and Central Parkway going east and west, and Southdown Road to Erin Mills Parkway to Glen Erin Drive, Winston Churchill Boulevard, Mavis Road and Cawthra Road going north and south.
Mr. Harvey said there hadn't been much thought in the past about the number of bike lanes in the city. ''We're starting to inventory them now. The city really has to come to grips with what the mandate is going to be for future cycling.''
Ms. McCallion said the petition to add bicycle lanes will be given its due consideration, but no traffic lanes will be lost to include cycling commuters.
''It's a pretty expensive thing to do just to find out if it works or not,'' she said.
Ms. McCallion said yesterday the city would only consider new bike lanes when a road was undergoing construction anyway.
*****
If you want to get more people to bike in Mississauga, just get more immigrants from mainland China to move there.
Here in north Scarborough bike use has skyrocketed to the point where you can't go out for a walk without some person on a bike brushing past you on the sidewalk (none of them ever bike on the street). They take them to work, to shop, to school but I don't know if they have time for recreational rides.