By DENIS LANGLOIS
Sun Times staff
Bike lane advocates say now is the time to pressure the provincial government to link together southern and northern Ontario.
The Ministry of Transportation plans to resurface Highway 6 this summer from Mar to Tobermory and from South Baymouth to Little Current on Manitoulin Island.
Half-metre shoulders will be paved. Bike lane advocates are lobbying the province to increase the width to one metre to create dedicated bicycle/fitness lanes.
“If we bit by bit, stretch by stretch, as it’s being resurfaced, create a one-metre paved shoulder, eventually we can have a cross-Canada bike trail,” said Maja Mielonen, who is leading a fight for bicycle lanes on Manitoulin Island.
A rally is planned for Sunday at 2 p.m. in Manitowaning to show support for a cross-island paved bicycle route.
Mielonen and her supporters say bike lanes foster a healthy lifestyle and boost tourism and road safety.
The MTO says adding an extra metre of road is costly — about $15,000 per kilometre.
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Conservative MPP Bill Murdoch has called on Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne to include cycling lanes as part of the $20-million project to resurface 70 kms of Highway 6 on the Bruce Peninsula.
“The people of Grey-Bruce-Owen Sound have been told that the Ministry of Transportation is committed to encouraging active forms of transportation, like cycling, but no such commitment (for bike lanes) was delivered,” Murdoch said Tuesday in the Ontario Legislature.
He said his office has received numerous calls of support for bike lanes from Mar to Tobermory.
“Now that they’re doing the road, now’s the time to do it,” he said in an interview.
The MTO says it is reviewing its policies to increase “active transportation” routes as part of its road network.
However, “no decisions have been made about the location or appropriate width for a paved bicycle lane,” said MTO spokeswoman Emna Dhahak.
Bruce County tourism manager Chris Hughes said cyclists now have no choice but to take Highway 6 between Dyer’s Bay Road and Tobermory, so bike lanes on the busy corridor “would be a huge, huge asset.”
Bruce County plans to construct bicycle lanes on Bruce Road 13 from Southampton to Oliphant. From there, cyclists can travel quiet, paved back roads to Dyer’s Bay Road and Highway 6, he said.
The Chi-Cheemaun is used by cyclists to get from Tobermory to South Baymouth. A bike lane from South Baymouth to Little Current would link cyclists to an already constructed bicycle lane that runs from Little Current to Espanola, which is just south of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Eleanor McMahon, founder of Share the Road cycling coalition, said her group is lobbying the province to create a policy framework that aims to increase bicycle-friendly infrastructure in Ontario.
She said Ontario is behind other provinces and American states.
“We have found that the Number 1 reason people do not ride on Ontario’s roads is because they are afraid to do so,” she said.
Hughes said more and more on-road and off-road cyclists are visiting Bruce County. Many people use the route through Owen Sound and up the Bruce Peninsula each year to get to northern Ontario.
He said creating dedicated bike lanes will boost cycling tourism further.
“It’s a big part of our tourism strategy to continue adding cycling opportunities in Bruce County.”Steve Furness, Owen Sound’s tourism manager, said tourists enjoy exploring, so bike lanes on the Bruce Peninsula will also boost tourism in Owen Sound and other Grey-Bruce communities.
“Having bike trails, dedicated trails, is one of those assets that helps to promote our area,” he said.
