Cycling Master Plan

[adam]

From the city's Assistant Environmental Planner. Be sure to click on the link in the quoted message and then find updated documents under Public Information Centre #2.

Shifting Gears - Hamilton's Cycling Master Plan

The existing Cycling Master Plan for the City of Hamilton, Shifting Gears, was written in 1999. Thus it is time that this plan is updated. This update commenced in the fall of 2008, and the updated master plan is planned to be finalized by the spring of 2009. The Shifting Gears website provides updates of the Cycling Master Plan study.


If you have any comment on this information - or even questions - please send an email as described on the webpage.

We look forward to any feedback you may have,

[adam]

If you cycle in or around Hamilton, take a couple minutes to do this quick survey
http://cyclingsurvey.mcmaster.ca/

I received it in my email and they'd like as many cyclists to fill it out as possible. An interesting study.

[SteelTown]

Cycling plan sees bike path every 2 kilometres

June 15, 2009
John Kernaghan
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/583607

Bike shops are reporting more people selling second cars and buying commuter bicycles.

And Hamilton is trying to meet that growing interest with a master cycling plan that would quadruple annual budgets for bike paths.

But even that $1.25 million wouldn't complete a recommended network in 20 years.

And the plan, to be presented to the city's public works committee today, offers a more aggressive alternative that would ramp up investment to $2.5 million each year.

That would complete the urban network in 10 years and the rural web of bike paths in 20 years.

The plan prepared by Hart Solomon notes Hamilton would have to match per capita spending in Burlington and Toronto, of $5.25 per person per year, to achieve that. A lower amount of $2.50 per capita "reflects the reality of our limited capital budget for road improvements."

The plan updates the Shifting Gears plan devised by the former region of Hamilton Wentworth.

It suggests a middle ground between no real cycling network and the ideal -- an upgrade of all city streets for cycling use.

It seeks the "satisfactory" concept of a cyclist travelling less than a kilometre to access a formal cycling route. That means a grid with two-kilometre spacing for urban areas.

The total cost to upgrade about 270 links to create that grid would cost $51.5 million over time, split $22.6 million urban and $28.9 million rural.

In asking the plan to be adopted, the report recommended that the position of project manager, alternative transportation, be made a permanent job.

The plan follows a series of six public meetings that left two people in the bike business optimistic.

"It's moving slowly," said Sam DiBussolo, of All The Right Gears cycle shop. "But it is moving forward and I think they'll get it done."

And Elaine Pierik, of Pieriks Cycle in Westdale, said she was hopeful, "as long as they keep moving forward. In the past it's been one step forward, two steps back."

She said customers in her store are increasingly giving up cars and using bikes for work.

"We have a number of people buying folding bikes, so they can cycle to the GO station, then collapse the bike and carry it on the train to work."

[SteelTown]

Should Hamilton spend $51.5M on cycling network?

June 15, 2009
Nicole MacIntyre
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/583765

If we build it, will they bike it?

It’s a question city councillors are pondering as they consider spending $51.5 million to create an integrated cycling network on Hamilton streets.

The investment, which would be staged over numerous years, would more than quadruple the city’s designated bike lanes to 566 kilometres.

But several councillors wondered today if the city can justify the expense, especially in the face of increasing budget pressures.

Councillor Tom Jackson frequently hears from residents who want more recreational trails. He’s not sure if those same people want to bike to work on city streets.

“I’m not detecting a huge clamouring for more commuter lanes.”

Flamborough's Margaret McCarthy is skeptical additional bike lanes would be well used given the escarpment, weather, transit improvements and heavy traffic.

“It seems to me an unsafe practice,” she said. “For my money, this wouldn’t go forward.”

But Councillor Bob Bratina thinks his colleagues just need a bit more education. He points across the ocean for proof that citizens will switch to two wheels when cities invest in integrated cycling networks.

“If you’ve been to Europe and seen it, you believe it,” he said. “We need to evolve a little more.”

[Jon Dalton]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

“It seems to me an unsafe practice,” she said.

I wonder what she means?

Also, $50M for lines on the road?

[SteelTown]

Yea, for 272 roads, 49 rural roads.

[thistleclub]

Add the two stories up for the complete picture: $51.5M amortized over "numerous years" -- 20, to go by the Kernahan piece. Might have read "Should the city spend $2.5M a year on cycling network?"

[thistleclub]

Flamborough Councillor Margaret McCarthy: “For my money, this wouldn’t go forward.”

$28.9 million in rural cost rolled out across 20 years seems to make the routes in her constituency cheaper year-by-year, if not road-by-road.

Besides, we can pay for it with slots revenue.

[emge]

I don't want the city to spend a cent more on bike lanes and transit than they have on expressways...

Oh wait... there's a little catching up to do.

Even when one is primarily or only a driver and not a cyclist, I can't see why understanding the value of doing projects like this, especially with a relatively small price tag, is so difficult.

[Millstone]

$51,500,000

[thistleclub]

Titled less sensationally in the morning light: What would get you to cycle to work?

For transpo contrast, $20.3M was the amount earmarked for the six road repair projects on the city's stimulus wish list, and $36M the chunk of the city's 2009 budget going to road work on Hamilton Mountain and funding for the East Mountain Loop Trail.

[SteelTown]

I believe majority of the road work will be for Stone Church from West 5th to Garth and building a roundabout at Omni and Stone Church.

[highwater]

Originally Posted by Millstone

$51,500,000

...and your point?

[BrianE]

I wish media articles would stop quoting the final costs for projects like it's all going to be spent in one year.

$51 mil over 10 or 20 years is probly the bare minimum that should be spent developing a bike network.

But as Millstone pointed out all most people will see is $51 Million!!!!!!!!! No way! I'm not paying that.

[adam]

The part of the article where Tom Jackson brings up funding for a path in a suburban park using cycling infrastructure money is silly. We are trying to build infrastructure for commuters and getting people out of their cars. A path in a park should be funded from parkland funding. The park path would only be used on weekends unlike urban cycling paths that would be used on a daily basis.

[oldcoote]

I frequently bike to work. York Street east is fine as far as Locke where the bike lane ends. For some reason York St west bike lane doesn't start until Dundurn.
King Street west is terrifying. Its like biking on a highway. Doesn't help that buses seem to relish the opportunity to constantly cut you off and city trucks are often parked in the bike lane.
This city needs to commit to dedicated bike lanes because someone is going to get killed. Two way conversion would also help bike travel immensely. As it is, drivers are conditioned to look for cars but not pedestrians or bikes.

[ryan_mcgreal]

Originally Posted by oldcoote

I frequently bike to work.

The secret to cycling on our multi-lane one-way thoroughfares is to lane-block aggressively. Cars have plenty of lanes to pass you, and if you take the full lane, you force them to change lanes to pass.

Otherwise, they pass you at 60 km/h in your own lane with only inches of clearance, which is definitely not safe. The Highway Traffic Act specifies that cyclists should stay as far to the right as safety allows, which on a road like Main or York means you should take the full lane.

Another option, particularly on Main and King, is to take the leftmost lane, since motorists are uncomfortable to drive in that lane anyway - though this is not legally defensible unless you're getting ready to make a left turn.

[markbarbera]

IMO assigning dedicated cycling lanes is going to worsen the situation for cyclists rather than improve it. Having specific cycling lanes will strengthen the mindset that cyclists do not belong on 'regular' roads. I'd rather see two-way conversion and roadway design that encourage shared use of all roadways. And overall enforcement of traffic laws on motorists and cyclists alike.

[ryan_mcgreal]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

IMO assigning dedicated cycling lanes is going to worsen the situation for cyclists rather than improve it.

I used to be inclined toward this view as well, but here's why it doesn't work this way:

1. It is proven in city after city around the world that the only way large numbers of citizens will commute by bicycle is if the city provides bike lanes. Right or wrong, people respond to perceptions of safety.

2. At the same time, it's also proven that the more cyclists are on the road, the lower the rate of cycling crashes, collisions and injuries. In fact, the reduction can be so dramatic that the actual number of accidents goes down as the number of cyclists goes up.

As more cyclists are on the road on a regular basis, their presence will be increasingly normalized for everyone, including motorists, in a self-reinforcing cycle (no pun intended) of increasing bicycling.

[emge]

I'm rather of the opinion that motorists understand "painted line, do not cross" better than "squishy human, do not hit"