Ouellette overhaul won't include bike lanes
A $5.9-million overhaul of Ouellette Avenue in the city's downtown does not include plans for bike lanes, according to a city report going to council Monday.
Without bike lanes the plan to reconstruct the streetscape between Wyandotte and Elliott streets is shortsighted, say cycling advocates.
Officials from the Downtown Windsor BIA regularly asked for bike lanes during consultation for the project, but those requests were regularly rejected.
"They said it simply wasn't feasible and couldn't be done," said Debi Croucher, executive director of the DWBIA.
Have to start somewhere, say advocates
Adding cycling infrastructure to a section of street that does not have bike lanes at either end would not be safe, according to the staff report.
"To only add bike lanes on one block of Ouellette Avenue would not provide cyclists with continuity or connectivity to other routes," the report states.
Croucher disagrees with that reasoning.
"Our argument was: You need it built for the future, not for today," she said.
The DBIA has not pushed the issue any further, but cycling advocates from Bike Windsor-Essex want city council to reject the latest staff report, asking the planners and engineers to come back with a plan for bike lanes.
The staff report also cites the city's Bicycle Use Master Plan, saying Ouellette Avenue is not a designated cycling route. Lori Newton of Bike Windsor-Essex scoffed at that notion, saying the master plan is outdated.
"Relying on a 20-year-old plan to determine where bike lanes go today, is shortsighted," she said. "This is the only artery that goes from all the way from south Windsor to downtown — it should be accessible to cyclists."
Construction starts this year
Bike Windsor-Essex is not concerned about a lack of cycling lanes between Wyandotte and the waterfront on Ouellette because of traffic calming measures already in place.
"Cyclists can pretty much make their way around there," Newton said. "But going south from Wyandotte there should be a plan for Ouellette Avenue that includes, cyclists, pedestrians, public transportation and access for mobility challenged persons."
Reconstruction plans for this section of Ouellette, are the final phase of a six-phase project that also included the overhaul of Ouellette north of Wyandotte, Pelissier Street and Maiden Lane.
Construction for the latest phase is expected to start this year, wrapping up in 2018.
