Cycling in Waterloo Region

[ac3r]

How does this differ from a sidewalk? Wouldn't it just be cheaper to let cyclists legally use existing sidewalks - especially since most cyclists ride on the sidewalk anyway? Really, is it a big deal? Do you regularly hear on the news stories about horrific bike and pedestrian crashes that take place on sidewalks? Of course not.

A lot of the "multi-use trails" don't make sense. Sure some are wider - especially downtown, we're just turning the whole place into a sea of concrete and asphalt, nice...I mean look at that, it looks like shit - but many of them aren't. By definition, pedestrians can use them and thousands do each day. Why is sharing a space with pedestrians okay if you call it a "multi-use trail" but not okay if it's a sidewalk? Trails are good but what the hell was the point in spending millions of dollars just to pour some asphalt and paint it? Pic related. Barely anyone walks here, let alone cycles. The sidewalks were just fine to handle both. I look at these pictures and think wow they are just burning my money in front of me instead of using it for something important. This is not to say trails are bad, but whoever is demanding, designing and approving these needs to be shot into the sun.