General Road and Highway Discussion

[jamincan]

I was in touch with Barry Cronkite, the manager of transportation planning with the City of Kitchener awhile ago. My impression was that the changes were sincerely made with the goal to improve cycling safety and reduce vehicle speeds on Glasgow. The disappointing part was that there definitely did not seem to be an openness to hearing about how my actual experience on that part of the road did not live up to their goals.

The correspondence for the record:

Dear Mr. Cronkite,

I am writing regarding the newly installed speed bumps on the Glasgow Street bike lanes. I have read the justification that the City of Kitchener has provided to others by e-mail and twitter that the speed bumps were installed to calm traffic and discourage drivers from travelling into the bike lane.

Unfortunately, despite the intentions of the city, in the context of this location, this measure has made the street feel very unfriendly toward cyclists and made it even more unsafe for cyclists. This is discouraging, as existing traffic calming infrastructure on the street is already very unpleasant and dangerous for cyclists and the situation has only worsened. A dangerous and unpleasant space for cyclists should not be the outcome of traffic calming.

I am a very strong advocate for traffic calming measures and appreciate that the city would like to encourage cycling; however, if the city had done proper consultation with the cycling community in Waterloo Region, I believe they would have found very strong opposition to this particular measure and the calming measures already implemented on Glasgow. While they may have the intended effect of slowing down car traffic, it comes at the expense of making this street feel very unsafe for cyclists.

Glasgow Street is an important East-West artery for cyclists; avoiding it forces very long detours. This infrastructure, therefore, will not only have the effect of pushing cyclists away from Glasgow Street, but also discouraging cycling in general. I hope that the City will:

- replace the speed bumps and other dangerous traffic calming measures on Glasgow St. with calming measures that better accommodate cyclists
- include cyclists in consultation when designing calming measures that are intended, in part, to make the street safer and more friendly toward cyclists
- refrain from installing this form of calming on other streets in the city.

Respectfully,

Hi Jeremy,



The latest measure isn’t complete; there is a center mountable island with flex pole to preclude drivers from weaving through.  I recognize that may sound counterintuitive, but a speed hump actually has negligible impact on cycling, as there is only a slight vertical rise (8cm) spread out over 2 meters.  In short, it shouldn’t impact cycling speeds or rider comfort at all.  As a cyclist myself, I can tell you that I’ve biked over speed humps without concern. The main reason that they are so impactful for vehicle speeds is the higher rate of speed (these reduce vehicle speeds to app. 45 km/h), in conjunction with the wheel base and overall weight of vehicles.  When considering cyclists safety, we shouldn’t discount the speed of which traffic travels on the adjacent roadway. Our goal on Glasgow Street has always been to reduce that operating speed to at or below 50km/h, which in turn reduces the overall potential of serious injury in the unfortunate event of a collision.



I recognize that maintenance along the raised portions of the cycling facility is an issue (lawn care, snow buildup, leaf removal), and it’s an issue that we’re investigating and hope to solve moving forward.  As staff, we also recognize that this street isn’t as straight forward from a cycling perspective as it once was, but the slower vehicle speeds should help to increase overall safety.  



Again, we recognize the perception of what has been installed, but there was significant consideration and forethought involved in the design of this measure as it relates to cycling safety and roadway operating conditions.



If you would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Regards,

Barry Cronkite, CET

Hi Barry,

I must respectfully disagree with your assessment of the safety of the cycling infrastructure on that part of Glasgow Street. If this were on a flat portion of the street, the consequences would not be quite as severe, but in the context of the hill on Glasgow, the shifting of the cycling lane over the curbs and the newly installed speed bumps are not only dangerous (particularly in rainy or icy conditions) but, importantly, feel unsafe. Bike handling is already compromised in both directions due to the hill, adding these hazards make the situation much worse.

I completely agree that it is important to reduce the speed of cars on the road, but this is not the correct solution. Although you intended to make the street feel safer, you have made it both feel less safe, and, in my opinion, made it more dangerous. There are other traffic calming measures that could have been adopted instead that would have reduced vehicle speeds without compromising the safety and security of cyclists.

If the city had properly consulted with the public prior to installing these measures and evaluated these measures against alternative measures, I am sure that they would have found that cyclists are very opposed to the particular measures that were adopted here. The almost universal condemnation of this particular measure by cycling advocates in the region must surely indicate to you that the city was mistaken in proceeding without proper public consultation and reconsider the wisdom of their adoption. I hope that the City of Kitchener will do the correct thing and reassess this part of Glasgow Street and make an honest effort to correct the mistakes there and avoid repeating them elsewhere in the city.

Best Regards,

Jeremy