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The fact is that most people don't attempt cycling on Kings Road and this
creates a serious hazard for pedestrians. Many cyclists, mostly junior-high
aged teenagers, use the sidewalks to transit along Kings Road to downtown.
The most significant hazard that I have on Kings Road is getting struck from
behind by a cyclist, when I walk on the sidewalk.
Demands for a three meter wide bicycle lane will require additional land
expropriation and new survey work-more time and more money. Not only is this
proposal unrealistic, it is out of touch.
Anyone who has dealt with the exigencies of provincial budgeting knows that
if funding for a project isn't expensed within a set time frame, then the
funding is reallocated elsewhere. A three meter wide bike lane would involve
the gouging out of landmarks such as the wall at Moxham's Castle Gatehouse.
This is not an astute way in which to garner public support for a bike lane.
A regional perspective is useful. On Brunswick Street in Halifax, a painted
shoulder less that one meter wide is used as a bike lane on each side of the
street. The goal for a Kings Road bikeway is not to run the Tour de France
suitable for a Lance Armstrong. Establishing a modest bikeway that may be
used by all cyclists and not just the spandex country club men in tights, is
where discussions should be focused.
The solution is so obvious: dedicate one of the two planned sidewalks for a
bicycle lane. Pave the lane with asphalt instead of laying another 2700
yards of concrete. Everyone knows that asphalt paving is much cheaper than
concrete sidewalk construction. As the banking advertisement on TV says-
"Save Your Money!" A 1.5 meter (six feet) wide bicycle lane (sidewalk width)
in place of the proposed sidewalk on the west side of Kings Road would be
adequate. It would be safer than what exists on Brunswick Street in Halifax
and better than what we have on Kings Road now.
Some CBRM officials consider a bikeway to be a kind of recreational
infrastructure, which it is not. Bikeways, or bicycle lanes, are
transportation infrastructure, and cycling to work has become the choice of
more and more people in Maritime communities. More and more people want the
opportunity to practice healthy activities in their daily lives.
Consequently, bikeways have become an expected piece of infrastructure of
equal value in the public's mind to "car-ways."
What is lacking here is an effective advocacy group that is dedicated to the
goal of revitalizing urban life in all of the downtown cores of CBRM, from
Florence to Louisbourg. Bikeways are just a part of this goal. One step that
will create a physical link as well as a bond between the communities in
CBRM is a bikeway vision. Imagine the common goal of a bikeway nexus that
runs from Southside Boularderie through all of the mining communities of the
Northside to Sydney and on to the Southside communities, with all of those
breathtaking ocean vistas in between!
Halifax Regional Council struck a Bikeway Taskforce in 1998. The committee
was made up of volunteers and was chaired by a HRM municipal councilor
(Sheila Fougere). Although HRM has significantly more resources, a volunteer
group is very low cost and it is a start. The committee might be made up of
community people who have an understanding of CBRM realities. There is even
seed money available from two federal departments under the Community
Animation Program.
Future Canada/Nova Scotia Cost Share agreements might be amended to allocate
15% of all capital road improvements for bikeways. Consequently, whenever
and wherever a road was upgraded using federal/provincial cost share
agreements, funding would be made for a bikeway, not matter how modest or
large the project. This would assist in achieving reductions in carbon
dioxide omissions under the Kyoto Accord along with improvements in
community health by creating opportunities for healthy lifestyle activities.
As our small Maritime community goes through a wrenching time of renewal and
redefinition, I think it is helpful to see problems as opportunities for new
solutions in CBRM.
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Terry Mulcahy
PO Box 425
23 George Street
Sydney, NS
Canada B1P 6H2
Tel 902.567.0954
Cell# 902.565.8467
MSN Messenger terrymulcahy@hotmail.com
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