13 Ottawa councillors have launched a web-based petition calling on Premier Doug Ford to hit the brakes on laws that might limit the place bike lanes might be inbuilt Ontario.
The Ontario authorities launched laws earlier this month that may require municipalities to obtain provincial approval earlier than eradicating visitors lanes to put in new bike lanes. Ford says Ontario can even take a look at eradicating and changing “existing bike lanes on primary roads that are bringing traffic in our cities to an absolute standstill.”
An open letter on Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster’s web site asks folks to “stand up for cycling infrastructure in Ontario.” Troster says the Ontario authorities’s new laws on bike lanes would “put almost all of the projects in the City’s Active Transportation Master Plan at risk.”
“This legislation undermines good transportation planning, and we are concerned it will make it more difficult to build bike infrastructure that can reduce the number of deaths and catastrophic injuries on our roads,” the letter states. “It will also put all of the city’s goals to mitigate climate change at risk.”
Twelve councillors joined Troster in signing the open letter – Laura Dudas, Glen Gower, Theresa Kavanagh, Laine Johnson, Sean Devine, Jessica Bradley, Stephanie Plante, Rawlson King, Jeff Leiper, Riley Brockington, Shawn Menard and Marty Carr.
“While it often goes underdiscussed in conversations about traffic and modal share, the reality is that many cycling infrastructure projects are put in as a direct response to tragic accidents and deaths of cyclists on the road,” the letter states.
“Cyclists are not just statistics – they are beloved family members, colleagues, and community members. This legislation is profoundly disrespectful to thousands of Ontarians whose lives have been profoundly changed by a road accident.”
Council is at the moment finalizing Ottawa’s Transportation Grasp Plan, the long-range blueprint for transportation plans for Ottawa. Workers say the plan addresses, “critical missing links in the city’s active transportation network.”
There are over 100 biking tasks listed within the draft Transportation Grasp Plan, together with separated biking lanes on Innes Street, Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard, Richmond Street, Maitland Avenue, Pinecrest Street and Greenbank Street, Woodroffe Avenue, Meadowlands Drive, Smyth Street, Riverside Drive, and Financial institution Avenue south. The plan additionally proposes trying on the feasibility of motorcycle lanes on Financial institution Avenue by means of the Glebe, on Elgin Avenue, Sussex Drive and Somerset Avenue.
The Transportation Tendencies Report as a part of the Transportation Grasp Plan replace reveals biking accounted for 3.9 per cent of all each day journeys in Ottawa in 2022, up from 1.9 per cent in 2011.
“Premier Ford, Ontarians want common sense policies – to get from Point A to Point B safely and securely whether that’s on foot, by bike, by bus, by train, and by car,” the letter states.
“Bicycles are part of traffic and deserve space on our roads. Municipalities know what their residents are asking for, and it’s safer streets. There’s still time for the province to do the right thing for Ontarians, and to pull back from this outrageous over-reach and withdraw this uninformed and dangerous bill.”
