Measuring progress - cycling yearbook

NRU
May 4, 2016
By Peter Pantalone

York Region has created its first ever Cycling Yearbook highlighting the significant improvements the region has made in expanding its cycling infrastructure and setting out its vision for a bike-friendly future.

In an interview with NRU, York Region infrastructure management and project management office director Stephen Collins explained the rationale behind the yearbook, which he says will be available online this summer.

“We think it’s time the region starts marketing and promoting its cycling initiatives to a larger extent and the yearbook is a great medium to do that.”

The Cycling Yearbook provides an overview of bicycle traffic data, existing and planned cycling infrastructure and the cycling experience in York Region.

Traffic data reveals a 233 per cent increase in the number of cycling trips between 2001 and 2011 and shows cycling rates continue to trend upward in the region. However, with a bicycle mode share of 0.3 of total trips, compared with 1.7 Toronto and more than 30 per cent in cycling cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, it is clear that cars continue to be the predominant mode of travel in the region.

Collins said the region has set a target of 30 per cent non-automobile modal share by 2031. This is to be achieved through a combination of active transportation and transit trips.

York’s cycling network spans nearly 1,000 km. The Yearbook provides a glimpse of several innovative cycling infrastructure projects in the planning pipeline, including a centre median multiuse path on Highway 7 to shield cyclists from conflict with traffic entering and exiting Highway 401. Also two physically protected bike lanes are slated to open by summer 2017 in the Town of East Gwillimbury and City of Markham, with six more protected bike lanes projected to open in 2020.

The region is also working on updated design standards to help determine the types of cycling facilities that should be implemented to appropriately reflect traffic speed and volume, cyclist safety, comfort and convenience.

“Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach [to cycling infrastructure] we are now providing infrastructure designed to meet the needs of particular users in particular places,”Collins said.

The Cycling Yearbook identifies the centre piece of the region’s Pedestrian and Cycling Masterplan, a lake-to-lake cycling route and walking trail serving as a north-south spine for the cycling and walking trail network. Collins referred to the lake-to-lake route as a ‘halo project’ to connect Lake Simcoe and Lake Ontario, which is being undertaken in partnership with several region al municipalities and the City of Toronto.

With a population of 1.2 million that is projected to swell to 1.8 million by 2041, York has integrated active transportation infrastructure and program improvements into its long-range Transportation Master Plan to manage the travel demands of a growing region. In tandem with the region’s Pedestrian and

Cycling Master Plan, the Transportation Master Plan focuses on expanding the cycling network, improving connections between urban growth centres and increasing the modal share of active transportation.