Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketphish
Bill 60 likely forcing Ottawa to cut at least 3 bike lane projects
City staff believe 2 downtown projects, 1 in Orléans cannot move forward
Nathan Fung · CBC News
Posted: Nov 27, 2025 8:57 AM EST | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago
New provincial legislation prohibiting how municipalities can build bike lanes means three projects in Ottawa likely can't move forward and others will get more expensive, according to a city report.
The report to the city's public works and infrastructure committee Thursday goes over some of the high-level effects of Bill 60, an omnibus bill that passed third reading Monday.
Part of that legislation prohibits municipalities from reducing the number of lanes available for motor vehicles to add bicycle lanes or "any other prescribed purpose" if they haven't already signed a construction contract.
Two such projects are in downtown Ottawa: extending the bike lane on O'Connor Street north to Wellington Street and changes to Albert and Slater streets when existing bus lanes are decommissioned.
About $1.7 million has already been spent on them, city staff said.
<more>
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/bill-60-ontario-bike-lane-ottawa-cancel-9.6993815
|
What a shame. This is going to result in a much worse situation where bike lanes that have already been partially build start and stop and throw cyclists into traffic. That creates danger for virtually no gain in mobility for anyone.
The one on O'Connor is particularly bad. There is so little traffic on the remaining stretch that it makes no sense to force the city to keep 3 or 4 traffic lanes there. It's ridiculous that the province has any involvement whatsoever in this kind of local planning. Hopefully the next government comes in and kills this law immediately, as the opportunity cost it is creating is huge.
Threaded Mode