Downtown Kitchener cycling grid gets support from councillors

A downtown Kitchener cycling grid, which will see raised concrete divide cyclists from vehicles on some streets, received support from city councillors during a committee meeting on Monday.

The cycling grid will also see some streets become one-way streets to make room for the cycling lanes.

The work will be phased in over three years and will cost $5.9 million in capital costs and an additional $240,000 annually for operation costs.

Councillors heard from several delegations during the community and infrastructure services committee on Monday.

Tavis Weber of Golden Hearth Bakery supported the grid.

"This is definitely great for bringing people downtown. As a small business, that's what we rely on. Thumbs up for this," he said.

Michael Clark, a member of the city's cycling and trails advisory committee, said the group was satisfied with the work that city staff had done on consultations and planning the grid and the committee passed the recommendations unanimously.

Brian Baker lives in a condo near the Kitchener Market and said he had major concerns about how deliveries and taxis to his building would work if there was raised concrete in the middle of the street and people had to cross the bike lanes.

He also said he was worried about increased traffic issues on market days.

"This is going to be a major, major disruption to all our residents and the businesses in this area as well," he said.

In voting in favour, Coun. Sarah Marsh said the grid is the result of consultations with residents, but also years or hearing from people who said they would cycle more if they felt safe to do so.

She said other cities such as Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver made bold investments in cycling and that those cities saw increasing ridership.

The decision by councillors in committee will need to be ratified at a future council meeting. The next council meeting is scheduled for Dec. 14

What this means for downtown streets

The cycling grid will mean changes to some downtown streets.

There will be separated bike lanes on: 

• Joseph Street (Victoria Street to Queen Street).
• Ontario Street (Joseph Street to King Street).
• Cedar Street N. (Church Street to Lancaster Street).
• Duke Street E. (Cedar Street to Frederick Street).
• Duke Street W. (Victoria Street to Water Street).
• Queen Street (Joseph Street to Church Street).
• Water Street N. (Joseph Street to Weber Street).

There will be neighbourhood bikeways on streets that are quiet, residential thoroughfares that can be enjoyed by cyclists without a designated space:

• Breithaupt Street (King Street to Margaret Avenue).
• Maynard Avenue (Margaret Avenue to Young Street).
• Chapel Street (East Avenue to Lancaster Street).
• Lancaster Street (Frederick Street to Weber Street).
• Church Street (Queen Street to Madison Avenue).
• Madison Avenue (Church Street to the Iron Horse Trail).
• Benton Street (Iron Horse Trail to Courtland Avenue).
• Water Street (Jubilee Drive to Joseph Street). 
• David Street, Stirling Lane, Pandora Street (Stirling Lane to Duke Street).
• Waverly Road (Gage Avenue to Strange Street).
• Duke Street W. (Victoria Street to Wellington Road.

There will be boulevard multi-use trails on:

• Margaret Avenue (Victoria Street to Queen Street).
• Otto Street (Queen Street to Frederick Street).

Some streets will also be changed to one-way vehicular traffic. Those are:

• Joseph Street to westbound vehicles between Ontario Street and Victoria Street.
• Ontario Street to northbound vehicles between Charles Street and King Street.
• Cedar Street to southbound vehicles between Weber Street and Church Street.
• Duke Street E. to eastbound vehicles between Frederick Street and Cedar Street.
• Halls Lane will be converted to one-way eastbound vehicle traffic, and on-street parking will be added.

All streets in the downtown cycling grid would have a vehicle speed limit of 40 km/h.