Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

"Multi-use trails everywhere" doesn't make sense. They're a bit wider than sidewalks, but our sidewalks are generally woefully narrow anyway. I don't see why the default would be to take yet more space from people on foot.

They certainly make sense in a lot of places, but not everywhere, and not where there's much foot traffic.

Multi-use trails work here because we have relatively little bike and ped traffic.  If we ever do succeed in building a walkable bikeable community, we'll desperately be replacing them with segregated infra.

The IHT right now is woefully undersized already, and really showing the limitations.  The plan was to go slightly wider which will only improve things a little.  That has of course been watered down into "very slightly wider".

As for "multi-use trails everywhere", a better statement might be "bike AND pedestrian infra everywhere".

As for concrete vs. asphalt, asphalt can be much smoother, if its maintained (which doesn't always happen).  The biggest thing however is that asphalt paths give an indication to users that it is a MUT.

However, what really matters is construction.  Our MUTs vary from poor to awful in design.  Crossings are always illegal for cyclists to use (with one or two exception so far), markings and signage are frequently absent.  Routes are rarely connected.  And, the worst offender, by a large margin is the MUT on Weber St. which from all appearances is just a sidewalk.  The curb cuts are a joke.  It's clear the designers of this gave the following thought to it "What's this 'MUT' they're asking for"...."Oh, a wide sidewalk, got it".