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Metro Wpg: Bike grid would boost business - Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce (Nov.24'16)
by Beth McKechnie 28 Nov '16

28 Nov '16

Bike grid could boost business: Winnipeg Chamber of CommerceCoun. Janice Lukes will try to keep the downtown bike grid plan alive with a pitch at the Nov. 29 infrastructure and public works committee meeting. http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2016/11/24/winnipeg-chamber-of-commer… It’s time for Winnipeg to embrace a more bike-friendly future, according to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. President Loren Remillard doesn’t mince words when discussing the potential of a fast-tracked bike grid <http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2016/11/10/winnipeg-councillor-pushin…>, as Coun. Janice Lukes will try to move one forward at the city’s next infrastructure committee meeting, Tuesday. “We’re very supportive of all measures to promote active transportation (AT) in our city” Remillard said. “A downtown bike grid is part of that conversation, one I think Winnipeg should embrace.” Although the chamber hasn’t surveyed its members on the specific plan Lukes has put forward, Remillard said there is near-unanimous “recognition of value in AT and a desire to see Winnipeg move forward as quickly as possible.” He explained the business community feels increasing transportation options through offerings like bus rapid transit (BRT) and AT make Winnipeg a more attractive destination and aids in talent retention. “From an employer standpoint… employers out there are trying to compete for the best and brightest, and particularly among the millennial generation they’re actively pursuing (transportation) options,” Remillard said. “If you have AT infrastructure they can actively engage in it makes attracting that talent easier.” Bike Winnipeg has vocally supported Lukes’ plan <http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2016/11/23/winnipeg-bike-path-plans-s…> for similar reasons, with executive director Mark Cohoe saying the current AT offerings of Winnipeg’s present and near-future are a “bit scattered” and lack the “connectivity people want.” Remillard also thinks a downtown grid would be a boon for business by increasing pedestrian traffic. “In many other cities where their downtowns have an energy and a vibrancy, that’s not from traffic flow of cars, that’s feet on the street, people engaging on sidewalks, physical personal presence,” he explained. “Bikes really in this case allow for that in a much more robust way by getting people out of their cars. “Instead of driving by many of these shops, again that bike allows you to interact with offerings in the downtown in a more immediate and physical way—it definitely adds to that sense of vibrancy.” Remillard and the chamber will not speak in favour of the bike grid at the Nov. 29 committee meeting, but he said he hopes Lukes’ plan gets support because it would send “a message about what our city is like and where it is going in the future.” “’We are a modern city, we offer our citizens a multitude of options, not just a vehicle option.’”

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WFP: No money for Portage and Main but mayor hopeful (Nov.23'16)
by Beth McKechnie 23 Nov '16

23 Nov '16

No money for Portage and Main, but Bowman hopefulDraft budget doesn't include any cash for initiative http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/portage-and-main- unlikely-to-be-open-to-pedestrians-by-summer-2017-402522565.html Mayor Brian Bowman's dream of seeing Portage and Main opened to pedestrians by the 2017 Canada Summer Games is all but dashed after the city's preliminary budget didn't allocate any money for the project. Bowman made removing barriers at the intersection one of his chief campaign pledges in the last municipal election and in June expressed a desire to see it open before the two-week event opens in July. However, continued financial wrangling with owners of the buildings at the intersection prevented the city from including the project in the budget, Bowman told reporters Tuesday. "It is premature to put anything in the budget when those discussions are happening with the property owners," he said. "It is not in the budget because we are not at the stage yet where there is something for council to consider... some of the issues that have been raised (by the property owners) is a desire for more investments — for the city to do its part — while the property owners have been investing millions of dollars in upgrades to their exterior and interior." Budget documents outline more than $20 million in projects either cancelled ($10.6 million) or deferred ($9.5 million) to a later date. The deferrals include a $2-million plan for fire and paramedic station maintenance, $300,000 for land acquisition, $500,000 for library refurbishment and $600,000 of library technical upgrades. "The (preliminary) budget maps what we want to spend money on; the asks far surpass what are you are going to see in the (final) budget," Bowman said. The city signed a 40-year agreement with property owners at Portage and Main in 1979 closing pedestrian traffic at street level, forcing people into the underground shopping mall. The estimated cost of opening the intersection remains unclear. A traffic study prepared by Dillon Consulting has been in the hands of the city's administration for months. Bowman isn't ready to throw in the towel for a summer opening. "If we aren't able to do it by that date, we will try and get it done as soon as possible... it is being driven by discussions with the property owners," he said. kristin.annable(a)freepress.mb.ca

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Ped and Cycling highlights from 2017 City Budget
by Beth McKechnie 23 Nov '16

23 Nov '16

*AT highlights & lowlights from 2017 budget:* - Invests $13.5 million in active transportation, including $3.6 million for new, buffered bike lanes along Pembina Highway, over $2.8 million for bicycle corridors, $1.6 million for protected bikes lanes along Empress Street and an investment of $1 million in the Transcona Trail walkway - $4.3 million toward Tache Promenade, a pedestrian promenade along the Red River in St. Boniface between the Provencher and Norwood bridges - No money allocated for opening Portage and Main to pedestrians http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/bowman-unveils-city- budgets-this-afternoon-402473505.html -- *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/>

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Pedestrian safety
by c_feaver＠mts.net 22 Nov '16

22 Nov '16

Globe and Mail editorial: “Hey driver, check your privilege. Pedestrians have rights, too” Says; The killing of pedestrians is an overlooked tragedy in a car-centred culture that prefers to regard road deaths as both accidental and inevitable. They are neither – at least not if you’re determined to make our cities safe places where people can go for a walk without fear of sudden death or disability. ... It is time to undo this destructive choice – by dropping speed limits, narrowing roads, extending curbs at crossings, and providing safety islands on broad, busy streets. Politicians must find the courage to resist the crude war-on-the-car arguments that will inevitably result. Pedestrians already have priority under the law. It is time they had it in reality. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/hey-driver-check-your-pri…

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Paper bike helmet wins design prize
by Beth McKechnie 21 Nov '16

21 Nov '16

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.3860483/ disposable-paper-bike-helmet-wins-design-prize-1.3860502 [Thanks to Terry Zdan for the share]

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WFP Analysis: Road safety by design (Nov.21'16)
by Beth McKechnie 21 Nov '16

21 Nov '16

Road safety by design By: Brent Bellamy <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/biographies/304929281.html> http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/road-safet y-by-design-402202515.html If flying were as dangerous as crossing the street, steamships and passenger trains would still be a thing. On average, about 600 people die in plane crashes across the entire world each year, while in Canada alone, one pedestrian per day is killed in a vehicle collision. In Manitoba, a pedestrian is hit and injured by a car five times per week, resulting in death once per month. We have engineered our Canadian cities for speed. Our streets have got bigger; lanes have got wider and traffic flow has been given priority over the safety of other transportation modes, such as walking and cycling. Speed reduces reaction times, increases stopping distances and has a significant effect on accident severity. A pedestrian struck by a car travelling 50 kilometres per hour has an 80 per cent chance of being killed, compared with only five per cent at 30 km/h. Reducing vehicle speeds is key to road safety, but it’s not as easy as putting up signs and red-light cameras. Drivers respond to the physical design of streets and surrounding conditions. Most of us have experienced driving on a road designed for high speeds with a low posted limit. It’s instinctively difficult not to go faster. If we hope to make streets safer, physical design will be a necessary part of the solution. The residential areas of downtown are a significant point of interaction between high volumes of vehicles and pedestrians. A few simple design features could be implemented to make areas such as South Broadway, Central Park and the Exchange District safer, quieter and more comfortable urban neighbourhoods. A first design idea might be to reconfigure the lower-volume, one-way streets in these areas back to two-way circulation. One-way streets are built to funnel traffic quickly, encouraging drivers to increase their speed. Without oncoming vehicles, driver concentration can be reduced, with less awareness of surrounding movements. A study in Hamilton in 2000 found children are 2½ times more likely to be injured crossing a one-way street than a two-way. Another important strategy to increase safety is to begin narrowing roadways where appropriate. As a driver’s field of vision expands, speeds intuitively increase. As an example, regardless of speed limits, we instinctively drive faster on Pembina Highway than on Albert Street. A precedent for road narrowing is Donald Street, where in 2013 a lane was removed beside MTS Centre. The sidewalk was widened; trees were planted and benches and lighting were installed. This made the street feel more enclosed and intimate, a condition that could be replicated on many local downtown streets, having a great effect on pedestrian safety and urban quality without significant change to traffic congestion. Road narrowing also provides an opportunity to install curbed bike lanes, further buffering pedestrians from traffic and protecting cyclists. Where streets can’t be narrowed, curb extensions, or bump-outs, can be built to expand the sidewalk into the parking lane at intersections, where the majority of pedestrian accidents occur. This has the effect of increasing pedestrian visibility as well as reducing the distance and time it takes to cross. The Montreal Public Health Agency estimates that for every extra vehicle lane at an intersection, there are 75 per cent more injured pedestrians. A design tool to increase pedestrian safety used in many cities is the elevated plateau crosswalk. This raises the street crossing to the height of the sidewalk, making pedestrians more visible as they cross and providing a physical reminder to drivers that they are entering a pedestrian zone. The plateau is gently sloped on each side and much lower than a speed bump, making them easy to clear of snow in winter. They are generally the width of the sidewalk and are often marked with contrasting paint or constructed with paving stones to give the appearance that the sidewalk is continuous as it crosses the road. In Copenhagen, Denmark, the gold-standard city for pedestrian and bike safety, raised crosswalks are a common element at intersections. Renowned Danish urban designer Jan Gehl has remarked that because of these features, when his granddaughter walks to school, she feels like she never crosses a street. This anecdote demonstrates that raised crosswalks would not only be effective traffic-calming elements in downtown neighbourhoods, but they could also be implemented throughout suburban residential areas, particularly in school zones, where more than 4,000 Canadian children are hit by motor vehicles each year. A few Winnipeg schools have already begun building raised crosswalks as a model to study. In response to recent pedestrian accidents, Coun. Janice Lukes has been calling for Winnipeg to follow other Canadian cities and adopt Vision Zero, a global initiative that promotes a holistic approach to road safety. A fundamental pillar of the strategy is to use tools such as these to design physical environments that intuitively calm traffic downtown and in residential neighbourhoods. Slowing traffic is never a popular suggestion, but when designed carefully, these initiatives can be implemented without increasing congestion and may have valuable side benefits beyond pedestrian safety. Safe streets are inviting streets. Their slower pace creates a more comfortable physical environment that attracts people. This gravity supports commercial growth, increases property values and improves the quality of life in our communities. Great walking cities have suburban subdivisions with sidewalks on every street, school zones and residential intersections that are prioritized to foot traffic and complete urban streets that are designed equally for all users: transit riders, cyclists, drivers and pedestrians. *Brent Bellamy is chairman of CentreVenture’s board and the creative director at Number Ten Architectural Group.*

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Bikeyface TEDx talk
by Kevin Miller 14 Nov '16

14 Nov '16

Interesting/informative/entertaining 6:16 TEDx talk by the creator of the Bikeyface comic strip blog. I had to hit pause for most of her comic slides because there is so much to read/see in them and she's changing slides quite quickly. http://bikeyface.com/2015/10/08/moving-people-bikeyface-at-tedxsomerville/ Kevin Miller k.a.miller(a)mts.net

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AT Webinar invite: Transitions between bikeway facilities, Wed, Nov 16, 2-3pm, EcoCentre
by Beth McKechnie 14 Nov '16

14 Nov '16

Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg invite you to join us for a local viewing of this month's APBP <http://www.apbp.org/> webinar. The webinar viewing takes place in the EcoCentre boardroom (3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave) and will be followed by group discussion of local applications. RSVPs appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then! cheers, Beth * * * * * *Transitions Between Bikeway FacilitiesWednesday, November 16 | 2:00 - 3:00 pm CST * *Speaker:* Sarah Kraum, Multi-Modal Program Specialist, Space Coast TPO Sarah will discuss various bicycle and pedestrian features and connections that have been used and are planned along Brevard County’s regional trail system. These features have made it possible for the trails to transition through various environments, municipalities, and overcome “roadblocks.”

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Metro News: Wheels are in motion for fast-tracked bike grid in Winnipeg
by Beth McKechnie 10 Nov '16

10 Nov '16

Coun. Janice Lukes put rubber to the road on a fast-tracked downtown bike grid this week. After a well-attended forum <http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2016/10/13/winnipeg-forum-planned-for…> proved there's interest in speeding up the cycling network, Lukes drummed up a pitch for a “downtown grid of adjustable bicycle lanes before the end of 2018.” She presented it to the Riel community committee on Monday. The motion has been forwarded to the infrastructure renewal and public works (IRPW) committee for further consideration at its Nov. 29 meeting. *Read full article*: http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2016/11/10/winnipeg-councillor-pushin…

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WFP: Pedestrian safety requires a new Vision - Swedes have the right idea (Nov.3'16)
by Beth McKechnie 03 Nov '16

03 Nov '16

Pedestrian safety requires a new VisionIn the bid to eliminate pedestrian fatalities, Swedes have the right idea http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/pedestrian-safety- requires-a-new-vision-399749531.html I hadn’t planned to take you back down the same old road by writing yet another column on traffic and saving little lives. But then I received another personal and passionate email from a reader: my big boss. It was a fresh take on the subject from *Free Press* publisher Bob Cox that pointed me beyond that well-travelled road to a model for safer streets that we should consider. I had already written about the Calgary model for keeping kids safer by combining reduced-speed school zones with playgrounds, creating child-safety zones that operate 365 days a year. Bob is advocating a plan called Vision Zero, which has a goal of eliminating fatal and serious traffic accidents. Hence, the "zero" in its name. It’s a strategy recently embraced by Edmonton — another Alberta city we might learn from – although that’s not where Bob pointed for the best example. Instead, Bob referenced Sweden — the birthplace of both Vision Zero and, not-so-coincidentally, his wife Lena. He noted Vision Zero has been in place in that famously progressive country for almost two decades and it’s working. "It is a full program that looks at all aspects of roads," Bob explained, "from the way they are constructed to who uses them to how fast you should drive. It has produced a lot of study of what are appropriate speed limits and the conclusion has been that the safe speed limit in built-up urban areas is 30 km per hour." That’s the same speed Winnipeg posts in reduced-speed school zones, but only during the school year. To put that speed in the context of safety, someone struck by a vehicle going 30 km/h has a 95 per cent chance of survival, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, although I suspect a small child’s survival rate might be less. At 50 km/h, the chances of survival mirror that rate of speed; 50-50. That’s why 30 km/h makes safety sense and, as Bob pointed out, in Sweden — where, for example, almost all the residential streets of a big city such as Gothenburg are posted at that reduced rate — the country has virtually no cases of children being killed while crossing the street. "Why does it work?" Bob asked, rhetorically. "One of the main reasons is consistency. You’re not constantly changing speed limits depending on whether you’re near a school or a playground or whatever. It just is the speed limit. All the time." But Vision Zero isn’t just about reducing road speeds. As Bob suggested, it’s also about designing and building safer roads that are more about keeping people safe than moving them in a huge hurry. It’s about a country with a different mindset. "Long before Vision Zero, my wife’s home town of Alingsas implemented a system that allowed cars and people to almost never meet — bike and pedestrian paths are separate from roadways," Bob explained. "They don’t even have level crossings, only underpasses or overpasses. On the residential street outside her parents’ home there is a sidewalk on only one side of the street — that way it can be twice as wide as a normal sidewalk, broad enough for both pedestrians and cyclists to use with no need for either to be on the street with cars. Signs that warn motorists of possible pedestrians depict a woman holding a child’s hand, a reminder of what’s at stake." So are we ready for 30 km/h zones on residential streets? Are we ready for safer and more progressive approaches to designing and building roads, sidewalks and bike paths? We’ve been down this go-slower road before with city administration — as recently has two years ago — and it has gone nowhere. The problem is our own mindset. It, like the roads we’ve designed and built in the past — and even those we’ve constructed in more recent years — seems to be set in concrete. It’s about what’s best for motor vehicles, not pedestrians and bicyclists. It’s more about reducing infrastructure costs than about reducing deaths and serious injuries. All of that, alas, comes from a far different kind of vision zero. gordon.sinclair(a)freepress.mb.ca Manitoba Fatalities Manitoba Public Insurance didn’t have readily available historic numbers for traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries in Winnipeg, only province-wide. But according to MPI, on average, 75 to 80 per cent of fatalities occur in rural areas. 2016 92 2015 78 2014 68 2013 85 2012 96 2011 110 2010 87 2009 86 2008 92 2007 109 Source: MPI Get the data Manitoba Serious Injuries 2015 415 2014 303 2013 307 2012 339 2011 337 2010 312 2009 384 2008 396 2007 426 WHAT’S THE HURRY? Here is a breakdown of school-zone speeding tickets issued last month compared with September of last year. *September 2016* Mobile enforcement in reduced speed 30 km/h school zones -- *8,704** ** Mobile enforcement in regular 50 km/h school zones – *3,129* Total – 11,833 *September 2015* Mobile enforcement in reduced-speed 30 km/h school zones -- *6,838* Mobile enforcement in regular 50 or 60 km/h school zones – *2,717* Total – *9,555=* **Highest speed recorded - 75 km/h* *** Average Speed - 47.8 km/h* *Source: Winnipeg Police Service* PAY UP Fine for going 10 km/h over 30 km/h — $181.50 Fine for going 15 km/h or more over 30 km/h — $246.25

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