02-19-2019, 10:50 PM
Plan for bollards along uptown Waterloo bike lane approved
Quote: Bollards will be added along King Street in uptown Waterloo to keep cars out of the recently installed bike lanes.https://www.therecord.com/news-story/918...-approved/
Parking in the bike lanes has been an issue since the bike lanes were completed last summer, the first phase of roadway improvements along King Street.
The original design had designated but not physically divided areas for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, which proved to cause some crossover by people and cars into the bike lanes.
Vehicles parked and stopped in the bike lanes in particular are creating problems for cyclists, forcing them onto the sidewalk or street on the stretch from the Ion tracks north to Bridgeport Road.
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The regional staff recommendation to install a physical barrier in the form of flexible bollards spaced three to four metres apart to keep vehicles out of the bike lane was approved at Tuesday's committee meeting. Additional signs will also be added to mark the pedestrian and cyclist pathways.
Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky commended the solution to make cycling safer and more attractive in the uptown by making it clear to motorists where they shouldn't be.
"People seem to have no problem parking in a bike lane," Jaworsky said. "People need to have bollards, apparently, to stop them."
Coun. Geoff Lorentz asked if it would be better to have more permanent barriers to deter motorists, rather than flexible bollards that drivers would soon learn are not much of a deterrent.
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Saunderson said staff did consider rigid bollards, but those would be wider and need a more substantial in-ground base.