Separated bike lane pilot project in Waterloo to become permanent

Separated bike lanes across the City of Waterloo, which were part of a pilot project, will becomenow be permanent.

Regional council voted Wednesday evening to end the pilot phase of the project by leaving the existing lanes in place and toldstaffto start plans on making the bike lanes permanent.

The pilot was launchedin November 2019 on regional roads like Columbia Street,University Avenue, King Street N.,Albert Street and Erb Street.

The separated bike lanes were implementedon streets that had a lownumber of cyclists, but hadhigh potential for growth, according to a report presented to a committee of the whole on April 13.

Somestreets were modified to havetemporary curbs, bollards orplanters.

During the pilot, thenumber of cyclists on the selected streets increased on average by57 per centand 105 per cent for morning and afternoon peak hours, according to the report.

"The dramatic increase, within the first year, points to the significant latent demand forhigher quality cycling facilities," the report said.

Going forward, staff will explore ways to reduce winter maintenance costs of the separated bike lanesthrough different maintenance delivery.

"The facilities received a high level of winter maintenance," the report said, adding it was "challenging and costly."

The region will also look at developing a functional design and the costof making the projectpermanent with lower operating costs going forward.