Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

That being said, I don't think the time consuming part is construction. Downtown grid took years of advocacy and planning and public consultation and work. And the delays in construction were largely to do with resistance to the work being done

My hope is that we've built enough infrastructure now that the city has largely established a preferred design, and that the back-and-forth for public consultation largely disappears for projects that are straight-forward. For example, there are new separated bike lanes planned for East Ave between Frederick and Krug next year to replace the current painted lanes, and the full designs are posted on EngageKitchener, but there was no explicit community input sessions for this reconstruction. They have made it possible for people to reach out about the project, but they really aren't asking for input - the design has been chosen and the work is getting done. It's just outside the bounds of the downtown grid (the neighbourhood bikeway on Chapel is part of the grid, which will connect with the East Ave lanes), so wouldn't have been involved in that planning process.

I am not sure what criteria they use to decide when a public consultation is needed.

In the East Ave. case there is already some right of way and buffer space that can add protection without moving any painted lines (that was an...intense...public consultation where those lanes were discussed). I suspect that a public consultation would still be required any time lanes are reconfigured.