bikeToronto: Proposed Waterfront Trail projects wait for provincial funding

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Posted to Recreational Trails by: Martin Koob on Friday, March 15, 2002 @ 7:04 am
There is a story in the Toronto Star today, March 15, 2002 on page A4 about the delay in approving several Waterfront Trail Projects along lake Ontario and Lake Erie from Kingston to Port Colbourne. They are waiting for money from the Provincial Government SuperBuild fund. On the Star's web site there is also a list of projects that are waiting for money from the SuperBuild fund to go ahead. The list of projects is impressive. These projects, if completed, will enhance the experience of cycling the Waterfront by filling in the missing links. It will enhance the cycle tourism opportunities for Ontario and Toronto. This decision is in the hands of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. The Minister is Tim Hudak. You can contact him at Minister.Hudak@omt.gov.on.ca and lend your support to these projects. Martin Koob tcc-rep@tbn.ca



Article Comments:
I posted my comments to Martin's announcement on the TBN www forum. I proposed that TBN members not write to the Minister in support of these projects. Instead to write and request information on what work is being done to improve the conditions on the facilities that the club uses. It has been suggested by another club member that I re-post my message on this group list. Instead of repeating my posting here, please visit: http//tbn.on.ca/members/wwwboard/messages/718.html or go to the main TBN site and scroll down to the bottom of the page. I wanted to add some further thoughts. Minister Hudak's riding is Niagara so it’s not surprising to find generosity of funding there. And since the Superbuild is a joint federal program it’s not surprising that Hamilton gets a huge chunk - Sheila Copps being the MP there. Frankly, I don’t think either Minister needs our help to move forward on these projects. But they do need some critical appraisal from the perspective of an active cycling club, since there is a suggestion that such work will improve the lot of a cycle-tourist. I get very nervous when I read such things as “add 1.4 km of safe, on-road, hard-surfaced trail along both sides of County Rd 31", “separate trails for Pedestrians and Cyclists” and “establishing cycling lanes and/or off-road trail along regional roads”. On the Toronto Montreal ride that Bud operates we see the effects of such plans. In the Thousand Islands area there is an off-road paved “cycling” path built many years ago, inferior in quality to the adjacent road surface. The path was built at a point where you have no view of the lake, you cross multiple driveways and you put up with the bumps commonly found in sidewalk construction. Riding the road is far more appealing but this can be at the risk of being yelled at to get off the road and onto the path. Since parts of Bud's route do coincide with the Waterfront Trail, where the routes diverge riders haven chosen the Waterfront Trail Route instead of his. And these riders often end up on gravel roads. Quite aside from the known problems of bikes meeting dogs on multi-use paths, there is a new danger. Toll booths. Now when you ride the Soulange multi-use trail into Montreal, you do so for a fee, ($5 to pass through). Get ready for toll booths. And, as a board member of Tour du Canada recently reported to us “I was most disappointed when Northumberland County rebuilt old Hwy #2 from its boundary near Newtonville to Port Hope and made it about ½ metre narrower on both sides than the section from Oshawa to Newtonville. When I asked the construction foreman why it was done he said it was to save money (short term). He pointed out that there is long term saving by having a bike lane because the cars don t drive on it and cause the edges to break away”. We have a tremendous amount of excellent roads that we can access near Toronto. Other countries and provinces are not so lucky. Rather than encouraging work that ghettoizes us onto particular routes and multi-use trails it seems to me that the TBN advocacy work should be to make improvements to roads in regions where we most ride. We should be asking for an inventory of road work being planned for this summer, say within a 100 km radius of the end of the subway lines. This is where the bulk of our cycling occurs. We need to find out what consideration has been given to our needs in planning for construction. And we must present information on what roads we feel are a high priority for repair or improvement. And finally, we should strongly oppose any attempts that would lead to us being directed onto designated routes or mult-use paths. Posted by: Margot Jorgensen on 19-Mar-2002 at 10:42 am