Cycling in Waterloo Region

[ac3r]

I've been looking at the satellite photos of Northfield over the Expressway, and I must admit that I just don't see away to do that bike lane any differently.

Investing in a pedestrian/cyclist bridge over the expressway could have been possible...but that would have required spending more money than on just a couple buckets of paint. It would have been the best solution though instead of having bikes contend with an unprotected bike lane, 4 lanes of fast moving traffic, a partial cloverleaf interchange with 4 lanes of traffic mixing to/from a fast moving expressway, often congested and impatient traffic whenever both the slow LRT and its screwy signaling cause traffic to get backed up and plenty of other issues.

And since they want to densify this area (though it's Waterloo, who knows if that'll ever happen) then investing now in infrastructure is smart. I know the Kraus development has proposed a bridge and that's great, but we shouldn't have to rely on private companies to handle infrastructure like this (nor would I want to, they could decide to close it to public if they wanted).

However, given that it's in basically an industrial park area, the likelihood of better pedestrian/cyclist infrastructure investment around here is probably impossible. Maybe if there were more people living around here then we could have seen something different, but as it stands now...few people bike around here on this death trap or even if they had a bridge. And while there are some developments proposed, those will probably not be done for many years, assuming they even get built.

But just imagine if the region was daring and had any will power and pride in this region. We could have something gorgeous like this pedestrian/cyclist bridge designed by 64North which goes over a highway in Palo Alto, California - one of the most car-centric places in the world. It acts as infrastructure for transportation, but it also has some unique features: a second bridge with benches that overlook a forested area; underneath the bridge is a walkway which overlooks a pond; the pond and some added surrounding greenery filters storm water run off from the highways, allowing the pond the act as a filter to clean it as it seeps through the ground (they also clean grey water here, aka water discharge from houses/businesses...so sinks etc, not sewage). Best of all, it's made of COR-TEN steel!

Meanwhile in Waterloo Region and the cities...we're lucky to get them to install bollards on dangerous bike lanes because those on council are way too fiscally conservative and lack any willpower or foresight in their geriatric stages. It's a shame.