Comment 39260

By Kiely (registered) | Posted March 29, 2010 at 15:16:53

"By the time the technical limitations of painted-on bike lanes compared to grade-separated start to manifest, bike lanes will have strong and broad enough public support to overcome political obstacles to upgrading those lanes" - Ryan

Maybe a broader vision rolled out in stages is the answer Ryan? That would allow the bike lobby to get agreement up front that the spray on lanes are just the first stage and are not the be all and end all. What can we do today, cheaply? What will it link into in the future when demand increases? How will the road side bike lanes tap into a broader bike path network (I think this is important)?

I am a bit biased toward the bike path because I grew up in a city that had this in the 1970s. In KW a bike and walking path network was built alongside the storm sewer system and you could get from the far suburbs (of the 70s anyway) to downtown Kitchener by biking or walking along those paths. Those paths ran throughout Kitchener but ran predominantly north-south and then the addition of the Iron Horse trail, which was an old rail line, added the east-west connection in more recent years. The increased safety and wider range of use these paths provide is much better than just bike lanes. I'm not saying this is all possible in Hamilton - frankly I don't know, someone with a better understanding of land availability would have to answer that - I'm just explaining my bias.

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