16 May 2007
now.....
Over the past month, RR conversed with two men who regularly use the Iron Horse Trail to travel to/from their respective workplaces. The first man begins his daily commute at Fischer-Hallman/Erb Street in Waterloo and bikes the trail to where it ends at Ottawa Street in Kitchener. Apparently, he can cycle the entire route in 20 minutes-- the exact amount of time it takes a colleague to travel the same distance by car. The second man begins his jaunt to work at the Ottawa Street trail terminus, travels the Iron Horse Trail to Victoria Street, and then uses Victoria Street to Westmount Road to get to his workplace. As he said, " Taking the car would only get me there in three minutes less time. Biking is environmentally friendly." Although RR has walked stretches of the trail, she was anxious to locate a trail map and more background on the trail itself. Thus, this weekend's etc. feature on the Iron Horse Trail proved serendipiditious indeed!
Summarized for herself and you, gentle reader, the following key points from last week's Record articles(1) and (2):
"In 1995, a partnership between Kitchener (4km) and Waterloo (1km) was formed to convert the abandoned Grand River Railway (CP) rail line into the Iron Horse Trail --5.5 km @ cost of $720,000 to purchase the land from the railway, $100,000 for the environmental study. The Iron Horse Trail is supposed to be Kitchener's contribution to the Trans-Canada Trail. But from Ottawa Street to where a pedestrian bridge will soon cross over Highway 401, the Trans-Canada Trail doesn't exist for the most part, and cyclists are forced to ride on busy roads. However, as of the 10th anniversary of the trail, Kitchener has plans to add better signage, including kilometre markers and indicators of trail direction as well as nearby highlights, such as pointers to the downtown core. As of the 2007 budget, Kitchener city council has doubled the 10-year budget for trails to about $2.8 million. However, the day when the Iron Horse Trail is extended to link up with the pedestrian bridge over the 401 is a long, long way off. There is just too much private property in the way. The city either has to buy the land, or secure permission to construct a trail through it. But note this: "Bicycle trails... are relatively inexpensive to build. The City of Kitchener builds a kilometre of bike trail for about $30,000. That's a stone-dust trail with a gravel base."
What's missing here? "No one on Kitchener city council champions this cause, and there is no cycling advisory committee or trails advisory committee."
Compare elsewhere:
- Waterloo Region has a cycling advisory committee& will spend $2.7 millionto add about 17 kilometres of bike lanes along regional roads. More than nine kilometres will be added to major roads in the three cities this year, and about eight kilometres will be added to roads in rural areas.
- City of Waterloo also has a trails advisory committee & will be spending $164,000 this year on building new trails.
- City of Cambridge has the best collection of bike trails and on-road bike lanes in the region & spends $150,000 a year.
Labels: urban planning
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