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City of Nanaimo plans $800k worth of cycling infrastructure additions this year

Mar 23, 2017 | 4:34 PM

NANAIMO — Nearly $1 million will be pumped into new cycling infrastructure around Nanaimo this year.

Of the six projects, one in the north end considered a “high priority” should be finished this spring, according to the City’s senior manager of engineering Poul Rosen. 4.9 km of dedicated bike lanes will be added, linking Dover Rd. to the top of Turner Rd.

“It aims to improve cycling mobility between two mobility hubs, one being the Woodgrove area, the other being north Nanaimo near Longwood,” Rosen said.

Leo Boon, chair of the Greater Nanaimo Cycling Coalition (GNCC), commended the City for taking on a “big piece” with the roughly 6.5 km project.

However, Boon said creating one section will not lead to an instant spike in people choosing cycling over other modes of transportation.

“If it’s only one little section and it’s not bringing you to where you need to go, we need to wait till the entire network is built,” Boon said. “We’ve asked Council to do a five-year continuous support of a bike network that would lead to a high increase in usage, instead of building these tiny little projects everywhere in the city.”

Boon said their group sits down with the City on a regular basis and were highly involved in the Master Transportation Plan. He said the City is following the plan “A little bit. Not exactly, they’re a little behind already.”

He said the GNCC supported the City’s application to the provincial government for funding through the BikeBC fund. Of the multiple applications, only the Dover-Turner project was successful, with the province paying for about half of the $180,000 budget.

Rosen said there will be “some noticeable difference” for drivers in the north end, noting the existing lanes there are extremely generous.

Other cycling upgrade projects on the books for 2017 will happen in areas like Wentworth, Boundary and Townsite.

 

dominic.abassi@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @domabassi